Vulnerable/Special Needs Sector: Stored-Value Buddy Card AD | 11.19.2006 | 14:53:21 | Views: 6759 | ID: The private sector has developed technology that stores digital information and cash value on simple credit-type cards. Pre-paid phone cards contain chips that can be charged with money and information for use in pay or cell phones. The advent of pre-charged gift cards uses slightly different technology, but still follows the same general process: money and information is encoded on a magnetic strip on the back of a credit-type card, which then allows the possessor to use it for purchases or, in some cases, to confirm identification. Either of these technical approaches would accomodate information and cash value sufficient to help provide a vulnerable/special needs individual with identification and money during crisis (see Vulnerable/Special Needs), particularly if in the possession of a paired buddy who has custody of the card and has agreed to deliver the individual to the staging/processing center. Using the Virtual Surge Depot that organizes people and assets, a local program can be developed that identifies and pairs each vulnerable/special needs person with a volunteer, who would know where the person is located, and the pre-designated staging areas assigned to that person in the case of crisis. Arranged through a community CRO, the volunteer would train and practice the various alternate routes and staging areas required to transport the person during crisis, and be the custodian of the Stored Value Buddy Card, to turn it over to the staging area manager when the person is delivered. Because both the volunteer and the vulnerable/special needs person is identified in the Virtual Community Depot, EMS managers can use the GIS overlay (see Crisis Decision System) to see where all individuals are located in relation to the alternate routes and designated staging areas, and develop a training and tracking capability, so that a real-time mitigation capability is available to community responders and designated volunteers. The Stored Value Buddy Card provides 1) a critical piece of information and security for an individual who may not be able to identify themselves or their condition during an evacuation; and 2) a method of combining transportation and dependable information transfer using pre-trained volunteers. In a collaboration between the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC), Innovative Process Solutions of Chattanooga, TN, Medical Device Development Group of Gainesville, Georgia and the Morton J. Kent Habilitation Centre, Chattanooga TN, the Stored Value Card responds to an initiative of the National Organization on Disabilities and the work of DHS to implement the President's Executive Order on Emergency Preparedness and Individuals with Disabilities - Executive Order No. 13347
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