Montana Tech student uses own experience to craft new emergency evacuation plan for those with disabilities

Lucy Galarus lives with cerebral palsy, leaving her motionless in her legs and only partly functional in her arms. She uses a power wheelchair to get around, meaning that she's unable to traverse stairs by herself.

As a freshman at Montana Tech last fall, Galarus noticed that the school's emergency evacuation plan did not adequately account for people with disabilities like hers.

"Under 'mobility-impaired wheelchairs,' there's three paragraphs, but I can summarize it as: 'Call 911, get out of the way of the walking people, and hope...' And I was not OK with that," Galarus said. "For firefighters, it's six to eight minutes to get from the firehouse to here [on campus]. If you think about that in a fire context--smoke inhalation, I'm done. I would probably be dead in three to four minutes."

So, Galarus and her team, including her father Doug, a computer science professor at Montana Tech, and the newly formed Emergency Management Club, drafted a new plan. It involves the implementation of special evacuation chairs, onto which someone with disabilities like Galarus can be transported, as well as a program to certify able-bodied students for lifting those chairs and CPR.

The plan succeeded when put to a real-life test last December, as Galarus was carried outside from the second floor of Montana Tech's Museum Building in minutes.

"We had that windstorm, and the power went out, which also means that the elevators go out," Galarus said. "Well, I didn't feel like staying for the 12 hours that it took for them to turn the power back on. So, that's where the evacuation worked out really well."

Galarus' ideas are making a splash at multiple levels. She and her team presented at the Montana Disability and Inclusive Health Summit in Missoula back in March. Now, they'll be heading to the National ADA Symposium in Phoenix next week from July 19 to July 22.

Bringing about countrywide awareness to the issue--in hopes of saving more lives than just her own--is Galarus' ultimate goal.

"For me, it was self-advocacy as in something that I needed, but it can help other people too," Galarus said. "We knew it was a widespread problem. So, we were confident that something like this could work. It's just getting it out there and making it happen."

In addition to spreading the word of her research, Galarus is hoping to establish better disability evacuation resources at Montana Tech. She says that her team has secured the funding for the implementation of three evacuation chairs, which typically cost about $2,500. She hopes to eventually have one in every building on campus.

More information about Galarus and the Montana Tech Emergency Management Club can be found online via Montana Tech's news website.

Those interested in either joining the Emergency Management Club or making donations to help their goals of implementing more evacuation chairs on campus can contact Lucy Galarus at her email lgalarus@gmail.com.