Jayel Kirby

Dr. Maura Hahnenberger

GEOG 1700
T/H 1:00 2:20
May 1, 2016
Personal Reflection On
Disaster Preparedness and Seniors: Personal Views Before, During and After
Our Service Learning Project
In the beginning of the semester, my impression of what it would be like to present
disaster preparedness to seniors was mostly concerned with preparing an interactive presentation;
one that would first draw on their knowledge and experience and then add any new information
to that and make sure they understood their centers emergency procedures.
What I hadnt counted on was to have technology let us down. We were promised that the
appropriate cable to hook up our PowerPoint presentation would be available, but when we went
in to present, nobody knew where the cable was. This turned out to be a good thing, because
instead of barraging them with all of the science facts that we had prepared to share, we just sat
down with them in a small circle and discussed general topics. This turned out to be even more
interactive than wed planned. And that was good because we hadnt realized ahead of time
how much more responsive they would be in a small group discussion.
Another thing I hadnt anticipated was the presence of post traumatic syndrome
disabilities (PTSD) in the residents of the center. My contact person didnt want to use our
advertisement because she felt that it would lead to panic in some of their residents. We tried to
use scare tactics to raise interest and to help them realize the likelihood of needing to be prepared
for an earthquake. But with the presence of PTSD issues, we were asked to tone down our
message. I was worried that my group members wouldnt understand this; that theyd be more

interested in presenting what theyd already planned than in adapting to the specific needs of the
residents. With our inability to use our PowerPoint, everyone was forced to adapt anyway, so it
was easier to incorporate sensitivity.
One other thing we hadnt anticipated was that the center had previously held a roleplaying emergency preparedness exercise. It was nice to use that experience as a springboard for
further discussion after wed covered our prepared topics. This brought the conversation closer to
home for them and increased participation. It also brought up resident questions that we didnt
have the answers to, but that our center representative did know so having the conversation
helped bring them together for answers.
So, we started out wanting to draw on the seniors knowledge and experience in an
interactive way, and we accidentally ended up doing that more than we had planned.