Emergency Preparedness

Accredited providers are required to have plans for emergencies and disasters, and the fall is a great time of year to review them in preparation for any potential winter crises.

Emergencies are generally described as events that happen suddenly during business hours, such as a fire, the loss of power or utilities for an extended period of time or a flood from a burst pipe or that type of immediate emergency. They can also include such things as a robbery during business hours.

A disaster is described as a more “regional” issue that affects an area or region, although a business could experience an isolated disaster as well. Disasters include such things as a strong tropical storm or hurricane, a blizzard or heavy snow fall, an ice storm, a tornado, a gas line explosion or a break-in with damage and loss of the ability for routine operation.

The creation of both your emergency and disaster plans involve some similar planning, but the implementation of each may vary.

In an emergency such as a fire or other reason to evacuate the physical space quickly, check your smoke detectors, and the placement, accessibility and expiration dates on fire extinguishers. Conduct fire drills and practice evacuation procedures at least annually, and identify a place where all employees should gather in the event of an evacuation to ensure that everyone has escaped safely. Accredited providers document that these drills occur and look for ways, if any, that the process could be improved.

A disaster plan is more comprehensive than an emergency plan and includes such items as:

• Identifying customers at high risk if services/products are not available

  The patients at highest risk would always include those with oxygen or infusion services. Even some patients at low risk, such as those with wound care products, may need to be contacted prior to an impending disaster to make sure they have enough supplies on hand.

• Staff contact lists with phone numbers and email addresses

  There may also be a list of essential employees who are the decision-makers and who know how to implement the disaster plan. Creating and implementing telephone trees or group email lists are effective ways to contact staff in a short amount of time.

• A standardized process to back up all electronic data with copies stored off-site

  If you've ever had your computer crash, you know the importance of having back-up data.