ML20083Q448

Testimony of C Awalt Re Evacuation of Mentally Retarded Patients in Homes.Neither Ofc or Homes Contacted Re Emergency Planning for Nuclear Accident

ML20083Q448
Person / Time
Site:	Indian Point
Issue date:	02/18/1983
From:	Awalt C PARENTS CONCERNED ABOUT INDIAN POINT, WESTCHESTER PEOPLES ACTION COALITION, INC.
To:
Shared Package
ML20083Q370	List: ML20083Q368 ML20083Q382 ML20083Q393 ML20083Q408 ML20083Q428 ML20083Q442 ML20083Q448 ML20083Q474 ML20083Q489 ML20083Q499 ML20083Q505 ML20083Q523
References
NUDOCS 8302250399
Download: ML20083Q448 (2)

Text

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unr> k STATE OF NEW YORK Zygmond Slezak Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Ivo J. Corazza Commissioner WESTCHESTER DEVELOPMENTAL DISA81LITIES SERVICES OFFICE Acting Director 580 White Plains Road Wilbur Rouse Elin Howe - Tarrytown, N.Y.10591 Dep. Dir. Treatment Associate Commissioner (914) 631 8188 Dep. Dir. Admin.

February 18, 1983

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My ntme is Charles Awalt. I at Conmunity Residence Fpecialist for the Weatchestar Developmental Disabilitf.es Services Office of the New York State Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities. Shr otfice is located at 530 White Plains Road, Tarrytown, New York.

f WDDSO has 12 group residences in the towns of Cortlandt, assining, and Ycrktown, including the Villages of Cruton, Ossining, and Briarcliff Manor which are within the 10 mile Emergency Flanning Zone.

Eech of our residences services 8 to 10 severely and profoundly retarded persons, includinF some with ambulation handicape. The ages of our clients range from 8 to 70.

Some of our residents take medication for seizures, and some have other medical probl'mse which require medication. Every home has a nurse and a locked medicine cabinet. Dispensation of medicine is supervised by an M.D. All prescriptions and administration of medication are recorded. If evacuation were required, staff and medication would have t' go with

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residents.

l We provide 24 hour2.777778e-4 days <br />0.00667 hours <br />3.968254e-5 weeks <br />9.132e-6 months <br /> care. Each residence has a supervisor and a total i staff of about 12.

At night when the residents are sleeping we have 1 person awake on duty, and

! sometimes another staff person sleeps at the residence. We have a back up system of staff on call to come in in case of an emergency at night. Each of our residential staff is required to take 200 hours0.00231 days <br />0.0556 hours <br />3.306878e-4 weeks <br />7.61e-5 months <br /> of formal classroom train-ing during his or her 1st year, in addition to on the job training. This education does not include any training in recognizing or treating the effects of radiation.

Each residence owns at least one van. The residences which house wheel-chair patients also have a wheelchair van.

I Our residences have a system of drills for internal emergencies such as fire. We conduct 3 drills per month; one early morning, one daytime, and one early evening. It is a requirement for admission and continued residence that our clients be able to evacuate the building within 2 minutes.

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- Our homes have sophiIsticated' fire and' smoke detectors.

'We also.have an. internal emergency plan for snow' days: staff people who live near a WDDSO residence _ know that they may be called on to staff that -

. residence,' even though it is not their regular assignment. This. system depends on telephone communications.

- I am not aware of any involvement on the part of WDDSO or individual resi-dences in emergency planning for an accident at Indian Point. 'No supervisors-

- have reported receiving informational brochures and none have reported parti-

, cipation in the March 3,.1982, drill.

Our ordinary emergency procedures call for evacuating the residents of one

. - home to another. It is safer to keep our clients in an environment where all are familiar with ; hem and their special needs. The logical places to evacuate in a nuclear emergency would be our 11 new fire proof and barrier

' free buildings outside the 10 mile EPZ.

g Asi for transportation, we would be dependent on staff vehicles. If a

nuclear emergency occurred during office hours an evacuation could pro-

- bably be effected with staff vehicles _from headquarters. We.would have a greater problem if the emergency occurred during the night.

.. Although each home de equipped with an integrated fire-smoke detection system, these systems do not pick up atomic radiation.. During our normal

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. evacuation drills, the developmentally disabled residents are slow to respond

' in_ leaving the building and tend.to cluster just outside the door. When the staff is trying to get the residents ready for normal operations such as going to work, movies and shopping, it takes a lot of time to get each resident dressed and in a vehicle. They move very s2owly. None of the

- houses have tone-aletc radios.

Speaking personally, I question the wisdom of evacuating south into a bottleneck. The Tappan Zee bridge (I-87) traffic is frequently slowed down to a crawl by wind, rain, snow, flat tires, etc. NO intelligent evacuation plan should depend on anyone going across the Tappan Zee Bridge. I also question the 10 mile limit,.and would like to know how far away one would have to go to be really safe from a release of radiation.

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