Skill · Extra time
Infants, elders, and access
The basic kit assumes an adult who can carry it. Adjust for the people who actually live here.
Federal steps in this chapter do not change by state. Local orders for Arizona come from Arizona Department of Emergency Management.
6 min read · Updated October 2026
Build around real bodies
Ready.gov keeps separate pages for children, older adults, and people with disabilities because a generic list leaves them out. Infants need formula or the feeding plan you already use, bottles, diapers, wipes, rash cream, and extra clothes. Do not invent a new formula in a shortage. If you are pregnant or nursing, your water need is higher and your clinician’s advice outranks this page.
Older adults may need spare glasses, hearing-aid batteries, a walker, a printed medicine list in large type, and a cooler plan for medicines that must stay cold. Anyone who uses electricity to breathe, move, or communicate needs a power plan written with their clinician and the utility’s medical-baseline program if one exists where you live. Ask the power company on a normal day.
- Service animals are part of the evacuee, not luggage. Pack their food and orders.
- Write communication needs: languages, speech devices, what calms a child.
- Neighborhood check-ins matter most for people who live alone.
- Caregivers need their own go-bag. A plan that exhausts one person collapses.
How to
Ready.gov keeps separate pages for children, older adults, and people with disabilities because a generic list leaves them out. Infants need the formula you already use, bottles, diapers, wipes, rash cream, and extra clothes. Do not invent a new formula in a shortage.
Step 1. Keep the formula
Do not invent a new one
Step 2. Pack diapers
Wipes, rash cream, extra clothes
Step 3. Print the meds
Large type, plus spare glasses and batteries
Step 4. Plan cold storage
For medicines that must stay cold
Step 5. Call the utility
Powered medical devices, on a normal day
If you are pregnant or nursing, your clinician’s advice outranks this page.
Checklist
Checks stay in this browser.
Sources
Public pages this chapter leans on. They win if anything here is out of date.
- Ready.gov — Older adults
Planning with age in mind
- Ready.gov — Disability
Access and functional needs
- Ready.gov — Kids
Children’s supplies and practice
- CDC — Infant formula preparation
Safe formula handling