Guidelines for Emergency Situations

Tips for All Students with Disabilities:

• Make sure your evacuation route has signs that are easy to follow
• Ask someone to guide you during an evacuation if you feel you need assistance
• Practice your evacuation routes regularly
• Develop strategies for remembering the most efficient evacuation route
• Make sure to share your plan with someone else (an RD and/or campus security)
• Keep at least three days of all needed medications in your emergency kit
• Have an emergency kit prepared and easily accessible
• Follow basic Whitman College emergency guidelines
• If possible, call campus security and/or emergency services
• Decide whether to evacuate or remain in place
• Inform emergency personnel of area evacuating to and of any assistance needed
• If unable to contact emergency services, move to planned evacuation target area
• Ask others to notify emergency services of any needed assistance
• If trapped, try to gain attention by calling out, placing a flag out of window, or making noise
• Always consider whether you are in immediate danger when making decisions about evacuation and choose the lowest risk option
• Make sure someone else is aware of your disability, location, and evacuation plan prior to emergency situations

Students with disabilities may not be required to evacuate during false alarms, drills, or isolated situations. The Walla Walla Fire Department (WWFD) and campus security will decide whether the evacuation is necessary. Students with disabilities should always evacuate unless they have been told otherwise by the WWFD or campus security.

Following are suggestions for students with specific disabilities:

• Emergency kits should include heavy gloves for traveling over glass or debris, extra battery for electric wheelchairs, and a patch kit for punctured wheels
• Store a lightweight manual wheelchair, if possible
• Arrange and secure furniture and other items to provide barrier-free paths
• During earthquakes, find a safe and protected place, lock wheels, bend over your knees, and cover your head
• If you are not in your wheelchair, or if escape routes are blocked, seek cover under a bed, a desk, or a table

Students who are Deaf or have Substantial Hearing Loss:

• Emergency kits should include a pen, paper, and flashlight (with extra batteries) to communicate in the dark, extra hearing aid batteries, batteries for TTY and light phone signaler
• Install both audible and visual smoke alarms
• Be cautious of falling objects as you evacuate an area

Students who are Blind or have Low Vision:

• Emergency kits should include folding white cane, heavy gloves for feeling way over glass and debris, colored cape or poncho for visibility by others
• Know where the nearest telephones and alarm boxes are located
• Be aware of how to describe your location
• Mark emergency supplies with large print or Braille
• Practice your evacuation route both with your service animal (if applicable) and with your guide cane
• Be cautious of obstructions and falling objects during emergencies

Students with Service Animals:

• Be sure that your evacuation plan includes instructions for your service animal
• Practice routes to make sure your dog is accustomed to, and comfortable with, all necessary paths (such as metal grates, stairs, etc.)
• If the only stair rail is on your left side, where the dog would normally be, train the dog to heel down the right side
• If a dog usually stops at each new flight of stairs, people behind you may panic. In some cases, heeling the dog may be safer than following

Students with Limited Communication:

• Emergency kit should include extra batteries for communication equipment, paper and pen, and a card with emergency evacuation instructions written down
• Determine the best route of communication during different types of emergencies