Disaster Preparedness:nephron.com's interactive forms for potential evacuees

Houston, 6/5/2006. The Nephron Information Center http://nephron.org/disasters has created interactive forms that will assist dialysis patients who must evacuate if a storm or other disaster threatens their area. These are based upon the Microsoft Excel form created by the National Disaster Coalition. The forms can either be printed and then completed by the patient along with a dialysis nurse, social worker or provider. Also, the forms can be completed online and then printed. This process is made easier by using special dropdown menus where types in the value (like number of days) if we did not already include it. The form has not been designed to capture and save data, just print it. It is in Adobe Acrobat's "pdf" format. Any questions or suggestions on how to make the form even easier to use will be appreciated at info@nephron.com

The National Kidney Foundation is hosting the help website for disaster preparedness.

More information about disaster preparedness from nephron.com can be found at http://nephron.org/disasters

Evacuation Forms

Important Points

  • The interactive form lets you type in any value if it is not an option - like "blood flow" or "treatments per week."
  • No data is ever saved on the web for security and confidentiality purposes. So, the best advice is to print the form, have the nurse or doctor help you fill it out while on dialysis, type it into a downloaded interactive form when back at your computer, then print the final copy. If you are using a public computer, please don't forget to close the form afterwards so the next user does not see your sensitive and confidential information. Never save any form you fill out with sensitive information on a public computer, including these forms.
  • Don't forget to put it with your evacuation kit so you can take it with you if you must evacuate. If your dialysis prescription changes, don't forget to correct your form.
  • These forms are still in beta testing, meaning that we are still working out the kinks and bugs and making them even easier to use. Let us know at fadem@nephron.com if you spot something wrong, or want to send in an idea. We are also looking at ways to make the forms more accessible to people with disabilities or visual impairments.
  • This is brought to you as a public service by The Nephron Information Center, a non-profit organization also bringing you dialysisunits.com and many other features to help make living with kidney disease easier. You can access the mobile disaster alert page from hh.nephron.com during an emergency.
  • This is an Adobe form so you must have Adobe Reader on your computer to download the interactive form and then use and save it. For more technical information about Adobe Acrobat or pdf or XML please go to their website or Wikipedia.
  • Since this format uses a very advanced type of computer language to "markup" your text (XML) there are ways to make this form more useful for those with visual impairments. Send us your thoughts.