A benchmark for disability services to aspire to
People living with a disability are among the most vulnerable in our community when disaster strikes.
More than one in six people in Australia have a disability and they are twice as likely to be injured or be socially isolated during a disaster.
NDIS Practice Standards require registered providers to address a range of issues critical to the health, safety and wellbeing of NDIS participants during emergency situations.
Burnett Respite Services, trading as Carinbundi, is a registered provider of support services for many of the almost 3,830 active NDIS participants in the Bundaberg Service District.
Carinbundi's vision is for vulnerable people to live fulfilling lives with dignity, freedom and safety in a community that encourages, supports and values their independence and inclusion.
With the Bundaberg area regularly exposed to a range of disasters including floods and bushfires, that vision is particularly important.
Accordingly, since their establishment in 1994, Carinbundi has been helping their clients prepare for disasters and emergencies to ensure their safety and wellbeing.
However, the effectiveness of existing resources to reduce the risk of danger for people living with a disability during an emergency or disaster is limited.
While those resources satisfied NDIS Practice Standards, Carinbundi identified a need for a person-centred approach to support people with disabilities and develop their confidence and capability to act and feel safe should there be an emergency or disaster.
In collaboration with Bundaberg Regional Council’s disaster resilience officer, Carinbundi developed the Emergency and Disaster Management Preparedness Training Program to specifically target the needs of adults with disabilities, providing them the opportunity to consider their individual needs and develop their own plans.
Clients attend weekly workshops where representatives of local emergency services talk about disaster preparedness and safety and help clients discuss their own needs and plans.
Topics include how to be safe in a storm, who to call in an emergency, what to take, and where to go if you need to evacuate.
The program was designed to give clients the skills and confidence to manage their support needs during an emergency or disaster, thus reducing the risk of social isolation and increasing a sense of belonging.
Including people with a disability in the development and implementation of their own personal disaster plans increases self-reliance, empowerment, and self-wellbeing.
Carinbundi has already successfully delivered two programs, with more planned over the coming year, and have assisted the local NDIS agency to run a program based on theirs in the broader community.
They've also collaborated with council to deliver Person-Centred Disaster Planning Workshops for disability, aged care, and other human service providers.
There is no denying the success of the program. NDIS Compliance Audits conducted in 2022 and 2024 endorsed the program as "impressive", and called it "the best system I have seen – [creating] a new benchmark for other services to aspire to".
These impactful outcomes were acknowledged during the 2024 Queensland Resilient Australia Awards, where Burnett Respite Services received top honours in the Mental Health and Wellbeing category for the Carinbundi Emergency and Disaster Management Preparedness Training Program.
