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Special Needs and Pets

Special Needs Shelters

Palm Beach County has established a Special Needs Program to provide for citizens with certain medical problems during a major emergency. The Special Needs Shelter is a facility with physicians and nurses on staff. It has auxiliary electrical power, is wind resistant, and not flood-prone. The shelter is not a medical facility and provides limited services. The shelter does not provide medication, dialysis, oxygen or oxygen concentrators.

Emergency Management is responsible for maintaining the client rosters, operational logistics, and coordination of the Special Needs Shelters. Space at these shelters is limited. Prioritization is based on need. You can find information and the online application here.

Learn more about Special Needs Shelters.

Pets and Hurricanes

Every good hurricane plan should take family pets into account.

Make sure you have enough pet food on hand to cover the storm itself and potentially a few weeks after the storm passes.
If you plan to evacuate, make sure appropriate pet carriers are clean and ready for use. Have travel bags of needed supplies ready.
If plans involve a local shelter, you must contact a pet-friendly shelter and pre-register your pet.

Pets are not allowed in most shelters and owners cannot stay with their pets. Palm Beach County has only one pet-friendly shelter at this time. The shelter is located in Lake Worth at the West Boynton Recreation Center gymnasium, 6000 Northtree Boulevard, Lake Worth, 33463, and is only available to Palm Beach County residents who reside in a mandatory evacuation zone, in a mobile home, or in sub-standard housing. Proof of residency will be required.

After checking the pet(s) in, owners and family members may proceed to Park Vista High School, which is adjacent to the Pet Friendly Shelter, for human sheltering. Be sure to include 3-to-5 days of food, a collar for a dog, carrier for cats, water and food bowls, bedding, chew toys and each pet must have current vaccination records.

Pet friendly shelter details are here. The shelter requires pre-registration and here is a location map for the pet-friendly shelter.(PDF, 90KB) Pet owners must also sign a pet waiver form(PDF, 34KB) to use the pet-friendly shelter; aggressive dogs may be refused. Also, equines, livestock, small barnyard animals, exotic pets and reptiles are not accepted the the pet-friendly shelter.

Pets are members of your family and will no doubt sense that things are different as a storm approaches. Take a moment to interact as normal with them, pet them or play with them. A few moments of activity will help them cope and give you a needed break.