Time to Do a Disaster Review

Victoria Jarvis will never forget the day last winter when the snowfall — 30 inches in less than 24 hours — became too much even for Vermont.

It was March 7 and the marketing coordinator for Omni Medical Systems in Milton, Vt., nearly panicked when she realized she could not traverse the mounds of snow on the road leading to the company's offices. She also could not access her email, use her cell phone — no service in the area — or log onto Omni's website for instructions.

"I knew my patients would be taken care of. All of them have a backup system," says Jarvis about the clients who use the company's non-invasive incontinence product. But she was worried about her coworkers.

Omni employs fewer than 20 people and they are like family to one another. Jarvis wanted desperately to know they were all OK. "We have one death [in the state] each year as someone is trying to get to work," she says.

What to do? It came to her finally … Then it came to her … meet at the Park 'n' Ride. That was Omni's plan should there be a disaster that meant employees couldn't get to the office. As swiftly as she dared, Jarvis made her way to the lot — where everyone else was waiting for her.

"They knew exactly what to do!" Jarvis says.

That's the thing about disaster preparedness plans: You don't know how good they are until a disaster strikes. The same thing can be said about business insurance.

"It's kind of a learn-as-you-go [process]," says Wayne Knewasser, vice president of public relations and government affairs for Louisville, Ky.-based Premier Home Care. In the last three years, his company has dealt with wind and ice storms and tornadoes, he says.

"You think you've got everything worked out and then there's just one patient you can't serve as you want to and you have to look at your plan again."

So, in the wake of recent tornadoes, fires and floods, how good is your disaster plan? And how good is your insurance?

Be Prepared, and Test Your Plans

Taking stock of both disaster plans and insurance is something home medical equipment companies should be doing regularly, perhaps even more so than other small businesses, according to accreditation and insurance experts. HME providers, while they have some commonalities with other commercial businesses, have some unique needs, they say.