A Registry of People with Special Needs is maintained by Sarasota County Emergency Management. If you are unable to respond independently to an emergency situation and have no other means of assistance, should you be required to evacuate your home, then you should register.

• Register in advance.
• Contact Sarasota County Emergency Management, People with Special Needs Office at 941-861-5000 for the necessary forms and registration information.
  • The information you provide is confidential and will be available only to Emergency Services personnel.

General hurricane shelters can only provide first aid, not nursing care or medical assistance. Special needs shelters can provide limited medical care and oxygen, but if at all possible, a caregiver should accompany the special needs person to the shelter.

• Keep a list of your prescribed medications and include them in your disaster kits.
• Make sure that you have at least one to two weeks of medications both prescription and over-the-counter with you.
• If you require a special diet you will need to have your food with you.

Make a plan now

• Have your shelter kits ready and packed near the door in case of an emergency.
• When emergency personnel arrive to assist you to a safe place you should be ready to leave immediately.

Who is a Person with Special Needs (PSN)?
A PSN is an individual who would require special medical sheltering or transportation during a declared State of Emergency.

People with Special Needs registrants are assigned to one of three types of shelter facilities based upon their medical needs. The shelter options include:

Public shelter – is for someone who is ambulatory, without life-threatening medical conditions and does not require outside professional assistance in performing daily activities.

Special Needs shelter – is for anyone requiring minor to moderate medical assistance in daily activities and is generally accompanied by a caregiver.

Hospital – is for anyone on life support who may have an unstable medical condition and/or requires constant medical attention.

911 Use for Hearing Impaired Callers
Sarasota County 9-1-1 Communications Center is equipped with the TTY/TDD system. 

Here are accepted abbreviations adopted to ensure accuracy.

GA means ‘go ahead’
SK means ‘stop keying’
Q means ‘question’
xxx indicates a mistake

A call to 9-1-1 will always be responded with “9-1-1, what is your emergency Q GA?”

The TTY/TDD’s are designed to follow a few simple rules.

Punctuation is not used.
Contractions are written as one word.
Apostrophes are replaced with a single space.
"Hang up now” indicates help is on the way.

For more information call Public Safety Communications at 861-5000.