03/19/2024
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In light of Hurricane Matthew, Bladen County Health Department and Bladen County Emergency Management have partnered to create a Special Needs Registry Form that will help first responders identify individuals with special needs within the county. Completion of the form is completely voluntary and will assist with efforts to better serve our residents. Information from the form will be kept secure and confidential, with respect to all HIPAA laws, and will be shared only within health professional networks. The 911 Call Center will also be able to input the information provided into their database which will flag when any individual on the registry calls, allowing first responders to be better prepared in the event of another disaster.

For the purpose of this form, some examples of special needs are identified as:

  • Medical (daily dependence on electronic medical equipment, oxygen/Insulin dependent, receiving Wound/Home Health Care, Medication dependent, etc.)
  • Physical (Hearing/Vision/Speech impairment, Bed-Ridden, Home Bound, Ambulatory needs: wheelchairs, etc.)
  • Mental (Developmentally disabled, medication dependent, social challenges)
  • Elderly and lives alone

Our goal is to assist all Bladen County residents in remaining safe in any emergency event by ensuring they are able to safely remain at home, travel out of the area before a storm, or travel to safe shelter.  This also helps ensure the safety of emergency response personnel.  We will make the form available and collect them year-round with hopes of reaching as many as possible. Your assistance in informing and educating our community about this initiative is greatly appreciated and will help us provide better emergency response and care for Bladen County.

The Special Needs Registry Form can be viewed and printed from our website at: http://www.bladennc.govoffice3.com/. From here click on the blue Departments tab at the top. From the drop-down menu choose Health & Human Services- Health Services. The County Seal will be displayed as an icon on the right-hand side of the page. Click this icon for access to the form. 

It can also be picked up at the Health Department main entrance.  Additional locations will be made available soon and announced when available.

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