Emergency registry for older adults with disabilities

It is a list the Government must build so that, before the hurricane arrives, it knows who lives alone or bedbound and will need help getting out of their home. The idea is simple and the law writes it out in detail: the person is enrolled with their consent, what they need is recorded — medicines, medical equipment, transport, safe housing — and the municipality and the Emergency Management Bureau can see that information. There is an important notice about whether the registry is operating today, and it comes first.

The Resolution speaks of “older adults with disabilities or with pressing health conditions,” and here we must be honest: it publishes neither the age nor the medical criterion. Section 2(c) expressly charges the regulation with “clearly defining the concepts” of that population, and we did not read that regulation. What is in the text is who may give consent: the older adult themselves, their legal guardian or their representative, through a form that must state that participation is voluntary. And it is in the text that the information is collected with the collaboration of all municipalities, so the nearest door is usually the municipality.

• Be an older adult with disabilities or with pressing health conditions, as those concepts are defined in the regulation the Resolution orders adopted.Verified against the official source
• Consent to or authorise participation through the corresponding form: the person themselves, their legal guardian or their representative.Verified against the official source

Information pending verification.

1. 1

   Step 1: First of all: we do not know whether it is operating yet

   We put this first because it is what most matters before you count on it. Section 2 says: “Within a period of not more than one hundred eighty (180) days the Department of the Family together with the Department of Health shall establish all the procedures and regulations necessary.” The compilation we read is revised to 6 November 2024. We write in August 2026, well past that window, and the source does not tell us whether the Registry was built, whether it is open, or whether it is taking enrolments. We are not telling you it exists and we are not telling you it does not. We are telling you what the law requires and whom to ask: the Department of the Family, the Department of Health or your municipality.

2. 2

   Step 2: What they will ask you, exactly

   Section 3 does not leave this to regulation: it lists what is collected from each participant. “Full name with surnames, age, gender, telephone, physical address, health conditions, number of people residing with the Registry participant in the home, full name and telephone number of a contact person (relative or close neighbour).” Note the last two: how many live with the person, and a contact who may be a close neighbour, not necessarily family. Have those details ready when you call.

3. 3

   Step 3: The question that decides the rescue

   That same Section 3 continues with what really matters when evacuation is needed: “it shall be required to establish whether the Registry participant will, as a result of an emergency, need assistance to move from their residence.” And it adds: “There shall also be included identifying their needs in the areas of health, transport, safe housing, medicines, medical care or medical equipment.” Six areas. If the person depends on oxygen, dialysis, an adjustable bed or a refrigerator for their insulin, that is the line where it gets said, and it is the reason enrolling them is worth it.

4. 4

   Step 4: It is voluntary, and the form must say so

   Nobody may enrol a person by force or without their knowledge. Section 2(e) requires creating “a form by which the older adult with a disability or with pressing health conditions, their legal guardian or representative may consent to or authorise participation in the Registry,” and adds that “it shall be stated as part of the form that participation in the Registry is voluntary.” We reproduce the phrase as it appears, with the compilation’s typo of “partición” for “participación.” Three people may sign: the person themselves, their legal guardian or their representative.

5. 5

   Step 5: Who can see that information

   It is the question that stops many families, and the Resolution answers it in two parts. On one hand, Section 2(b) requires rules that “shall guarantee the privacy and confidentiality of the Registry’s participating population and of the collection, updating, handling, use and access to the information contained in it,” under the laws of Puerto Rico and the United States. On the other, Section 2(d) says who is guaranteed access: “all the municipalities of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, which shall collaborate in the process of collecting and updating the Registry’s information, and the Department of Public Safety through the Bureau of Emergency Management and Disaster Administration.” Municipalities and NMEAD. That is the point: that whoever will knock on the door knows the door needs knocking.

6. 6

   Step 6: It is updated once a year, before the season

   Section 2(g) sets the rhythm: the regulation must provide “that once (1) a year, before the start of hurricane season, the Registry’s information be updated.” That means two things for you. That if the person is already enrolled, it is worth confirming before June that their details still hold — the telephone changed, the contact changed, the medical equipment changed. And that if you are going to enrol them, the natural window is before the season starts, not in the middle of a hurricane watch.

7. 7

   Step 7: Whose job it is to tell you this exists

   Worth quoting because, if you never heard of the Registry, that too falls short of the text. Section 5: “It shall be the responsibility of the Department of the Family and the Department of Health, with the participation and collaboration of all the municipalities of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, to inform the public about the creation and the procedures that will govern the creation and use of the Registry, using all available information technologies and communication media for the general public’s knowledge.” And Section 2(h) requires using “in an advisory capacity the Office of the Ombudsman for the Elderly,” which is another door to ask at.

At the Department of the Family and the Department of Health, which the Resolution orders to create and administer the Registry, and at your municipality, which collaborates in collecting and updating the information and has guaranteed access. The Office of the Ombudsman for the Elderly participates in an advisory capacity and can also orient you. The Resolution publishes no form, office, address, telephone or deadline, and we do not invent them.

• Assuming the registry already exists and is open: the Resolution ordered it created within 180 days and we could not confirm that was completed.
• Waiting for a hurricane watch to enrol someone: the update happens once a year, before the season begins.
• Believing a person can be enrolled without their consent: the form must capture consent from them, their legal guardian or their representative.
• Thinking the municipality has nothing to do with it: municipalities collaborate in collecting and updating the information and have guaranteed access.
• Listing only a contact who lives far away: the Resolution expressly allows a close neighbour as the contact person.
• Not saying what medical equipment is needed: the Resolution requires identifying needs in health, transport, safe housing, medicines, medical care and medical equipment.
• Assuming the information is shared with anyone: the regulation must guarantee privacy and confidentiality, and the named access is for municipalities and NMEAD.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Departamento de la Familia

  Familia

  bvirtualogp.pr.gov