Advocate wants province-wide voluntary Vulnerable Persons Registry

Anne Camozzi said Hurricane Fiona could have been a ‘recipe for disaster’ for vulnerable Nova Scotians

CITYnews halifax \ Meghan Groff

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Anne Camozzi spent the height of Hurricane Fiona worrying about what would happen if she needed to be evacuated.

“I am in a power wheelchair. If I needed to be evacuated, what was the plan for evacuating me?” the Antigonish-area artist asked. “Shingles were hitting my window, I had to hide out in my bathroom all night basically.”

“I felt very vulnerable and quite traumatized and I think quite a number of people did.”

She said the historic tropical system could have been a “recipe for disaster” for vulnerable Nova Scotians and she’d like to see some changes made before the next storm hits.

For starters, Camozzi would like to see the government establish a province-wide voluntary Vulnerable Persons Registry.

“I feel like I’m not just talking on behalf of myself, but the 30 per cent of people in Nova Scotia with disabilities and all the vulnerable seniors,” she told CityNews Halifax. “The thing that happened to everybody is we had absolutely no telecommunications and no way of reaching anybody if we did need help.”

“Fortunately I had family who were able to get through the trees to come check on me, but not everybody is in that position.”

She’d like the Emergency Management Office spend more effort preparing seniors and those with disabilities for disaster situations.

“Some people need back up power to run medical devices, some people need help to get out of bed to get fed, some people need nurses,” she explained.

Camozzi would also like to see steps put in place to make sure home care workers can reach their clients in an emergency situation.

“It’s a no-brainer in my view to make home care workers to be considered to be essential workers,” she stated. “I’m quite sure that the ambulance drivers and the power crews were not lining up in 3 kilometre gas lines.”

She said, in addition to going out of their way to gas up their vehicles, many of those home care workers put themselves at risk to reach their clients, venturing out in the wind and rain, and driving around downed powerlines and trees.

“Really, the heroes of this hurricane in my view are Nova Scotia’s frontline home care workers and VON nurses who somehow got to their clients,” Camozzi said.

“They could very much be a part in helping identify vulnerable people if we did put in place some kind of registry.”