Emergency Preparedness

Emergency Preparedness

Our hearts are with the residents and their families who suffer difficulties because of natural disasters.  Below are some resources for victims, their families and providers that may be useful in preparing for or in the aftermath of an emergency event. 

We will update this page as information becomes available on specific disasters. Click on the topic below to find resources or scroll through the page to see all available information.

 

Emergency Relief Information	Resources for Families and Residents	Mental Health Resources
Resources for Ombudsmen and Citizen Advocates	Resources for Providers	news stories

 

Emergency relief information

CMS
In September 2007, CMS released a set of 4 recommended checklists entitled "Emergency Preparedness for Every Emergency".  See links to the 4 specific focal points below.  These checklists are designed to help each individual or organization 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.  These checklists should be used as part of training programs and reviewed regularly.

Long-Term Care Facility Residents, Their Family Members, Friends, Personal Caregivers, Guardians and Long-Term Care Ombudsmen

Health Care Facilities

State Agencies 

Persons Living in the Community

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services information and links to important phone numbers, questions & answers, and additional recovery information.

HHS
New AHRQ Resources Can Help States and Local Communities with Disaster Planning and Response Involving Nursing Homes

HHS' Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality has just released Emergency Preparedness Atlas: U.S. Nursing Home and Hospital Facilities, which is intended to help local communities identify the health care facilities (hospitals and nursing homes) that could be available and prepared to provide assistance under emergency conditions in their communities. The Emergency Preparedness Atlas includes six case studies in North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, southern California, Washington, and Utah that each include a series of maps depicting the locations and capacity of nursing homes and hospitals as well as their geographic relationship to a variety of emergency management and bioterrorism preparedness regions, such as HAZMAT response regions, emergency management regions, and Red Cross chapters. The Atlas includes maps for all 50 states with the location of hospitals and nursing homes in each state, and it displays the locations relative to the distribution of the elderly population in the case study states. Also see: Nursing Homes in Public Health Emergencies, Focus Group Discussions of Disaster Planning at Nursing Homes.  Both can be found online at http://www.ahrq.gov/prep/nursinghomes/atlas.htm and http://www.ahrq.gov/prep/nursinghomes/report.htm [posted on Kansas Rural Health Information Service]

HIPAA
HIPAA Compliance Guidance Issued. Addresses privacy, disclosures and enforcement in emergency situations.

 

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Resources for families and residents

NCCNHR Consumer Fact Sheet - Questions to ask facilities about emergency preparedness.

Consumer Guide to Choosing a Nursing Home - This guide can be used by family members who are searching for a facility and are concerned about emergency preparedness.

Geriatric Nursing
Here is a mnemonic to help people know about basic care for older adults provided by Eileen M. Sullivan-Marx, PhD, CRNP, FAAN; associate Professor, Associate Dean for Practice & Community Affairs; University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing  "ELDER CARE"
       

        Elders should:

Eat small meals often– they will provide regular calories for energy and healing.
Laugh with you – if elders do not laugh easily, consider grief or depression
Drink often – water, juice or any liquid
Exercise all muscles and joints several times a day
Rest enough

        Caregivers should:

Consider confusion a sign of disease or infection – seek treatment.
Ask about the elder’s life stories, you will learn and the elder will be uplifted.
Reposition frequently to prevent pressure sores
Ease the elder’s pain

 

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Resources for Providers - Katrina/Rita

to Link with Other Providers:

OBRA Guidelines for disaster and emergency preparedness can be found in Title 42 Part 483.75 (m) on page 23 at: http://www.ltcombudsman.org//uploads/ObraFederalRegs.pdf. 

Surveyor Guidelines located in the State Operations Manual - Appendix PP give requirements for disaster and emergency preparedness in nursing homes. You can link to this document on the CMS website at: http://cms.hhs.gov/manuals/Downloads/som107ap_pp_guidelines_ltcf.pdf.  The relevant section 483.75(m) is on p. 385 - p.386. (This is a large document and will take a moment to download.)

The CMS Region VI Office in Dallas had established a clearinghouse to track LTC facility residents evacuated from Katrina-affected areas and facilities which received them or have offered to receive them. The CMS contact then was Lorenzo McKinney: 214-767-4447, Lorenzo.mckinney@cms.hhs.gov . Mr. McKinney had a growing list of facilities offering to receive residents.

 

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Resources for Ombudsmen/Advocates

Guidance:

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. http://www.ltcombudsman.org//uploads/OmbinNHclosures.pdf.

AOA Letter Regarding Hurricane Rita  - Sue Wheaton, Ombudsman Program Specialist at AOA, sent this letter to State LTC Ombudsmen with directions on receiving and tracking Texas LTC residents displaced by Hurricane Rita.

US DHHS
"Help is on the line" This useful tool and poster on the US 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.

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