Search. Find. Help.: Connecting Organizations to Resources that Help Older Adults and their Caregivers During Emergencies
Community-based organizations play a critical role in promoting health and safety during public health emergencies, including disease outbreaks like COVID-19, natural disasters and severe weather. Organizations understand the unique needs of the populations they serve and are well-suited to respond during emergencies and assist communities in recovery.
Today, a new resource is available to help leaders and staff at organizations serving community-dwelling older adults and their caregivers find resources to support these populations during public health emergencies.
Search. Find. Help. is a searchable online library that connects organizations to approximately 300 existing resources that can help older adults and caregivers—ranging from tip sheets to prepare older adults for public health emergencies to tools to identify individuals in a community who need support following a disaster. The resources focus on addressing social isolation, chronic conditions, elder abuse and neglect, caregiver support, delayed medical care and emergency preparedness.
Search. Find. Help. was born out of the need to connect organizations to existing resources that can help older adults and their caregivers before, during, and after an emergency. A recent formative research study found hundreds of resources that could help older adults and their caregivers—but there was a need to centralize the resources and connect them to organizations that could use them. Search. Find. Help. organizes hundreds of resources and offers easy-to-use search features for organizations to identify and learn more about resources that can meet the needs of their populations.
The website is a project of the CDC Foundation, with technical assistance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and development support from the nonpartisan and objective research organization NORC at the University of Chicago and Burness. The resources available through Search. Find. Help. were identified through an extensive search of publicly available literature to identify resources, programs, services and strategies to support the physical and mental health of older adults and their caregivers during COVID-19 and other public health emergencies.
Search. Find. Help. also includes an action plan to help organizations select, adapt, and implement programs to meet the needs of their communities. The action plan, Helping Communities During Public Health Emergencies: An Action Plan for Organizations, can help organizations use the resources in Search. Find. Help. to support older adults and their caregivers during public health emergencies.
According to CDC Foundation president and CEO Judy Monroe, MD, “There are many existing resources available to help older adults and their caregivers during public health emergencies. Search. Find. Help. is a home for these resources. We hope this website will help organizations to promote the physical and mental well-being of older adults and their caregivers now and during future public health emergencies.”
Search for resources that can help:
- Search. Find. Help.
- Helping Communities During Public Health Emergencies: An Action Plan for Organizations
Learn about needs of older adults and their caregivers:
- Maintaining Physical and Mental Well-Being of Older Adults and Their Caregivers during Public Health Emergencies: Executive Summary and Final Report
We gratefully acknowledge this project utilized donor funds from the flexible COVID-19 Response Fund and received technical assistance provided by CDC.
