Emergency Preparedness

Emergency Planning Checklists for

Developed by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), these checklists are designed to help individuals or organizations be better equipped for handling emergency situations when they arise by identifying how they can prepare in advance, and also steps to take once an emergency situation occurs. The checklists should be used as part of training programs and reviewed regularly.

Resources for Ombudsmen/Advocates

Ombudsman Role in Nursing Home Closures and Natural Disasters
This Ombudsman Resource Center Document (2000) includes a tool kit for local ombudsman response and information on transfer trauma.

U.S. DHHS: "Help is on the line."
This useful tool and poster on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services website provides contact information for federal programs, including mental health services, and pull down lists with contact numbers for state administered programs TANF, Medicaid, and SCHIP. See instructions on how to customize this poster with local contact information

Ombudsman Activities

Testimony of Maria Greene, Director of the Georgia Department of Human Resources Division of Aging Services, before the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging hearing on Preparing Early, Acting Quickly: Meeting the Needs of Older Americans During a Disaster, October 5, 2005.

Georgia LTCO Activities to Assist Displaced Persons
This document briefly explains the steps that the Ombudsman Program took to assist nursing home residents displaced by Hurricanes in the Fall of 2005.

Information from Other States

Note from the Michigan State LTC Ombudsman describing how they aided Hurricane Katrina victims.

Advice from a local ombudsman in Youngstown, OH, describing how they got financial assistance to replace residents' personal effects lost or destroyed in a flood a few years ago.

The Florida Ombudsman Program created a Hurricane Assessment and Relief form that they use in hurricane relief, which they are currently sharing with Gulf States.

Return to Issues Page

The Consumer Voice

The Consumer Voice is a national organization to improve the quality of care for long-term care consumers. Visit www.theconsumervoice.org for more information.

Save the Date

Save the date for the 2010 Consumer Voice Annual Meeting & Conference, October 19-22, in Orlando, Florida. Visit www.theconsumervoice.org for more information.

2008 NORS Data

Find data and reports on long-term care ombudsman programs. All programs efforts are summarized in the National Ombudsman Reporting System (NORS); data has been collected since 1996 and gives a good picture of the extent of ombudsman activities nationally and in every state.