It's the Really Ready! Newsletter -SPRING into action!

 Welcome to the Really Ready! Newsletter 
 
  your source for disaster preparedness updates and opportunities  
 
   brought to you by the CA Association of Health Facilities' Disaster Preparedness Program (CAHF-DPP)  

Welcome to the Really Ready! Newsletter – bringing you the latest emergency management training opportunities and disaster preparedness regulatory updates, right to your inbox.

“The future belongs to those who prepare for it.” 
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Vol. One. Issue Eight.

 Upcoming Opportunities  

Los Angeles County Department of Health Services:
May 15th, 10am - 11am: "LA County DRC Updates" Webinar Series (CAHF Course)
Join us every other month to recap the current events from LA County's Disaster Resource Centers. Prepare for upcoming County exercises, and review best practices for emergency preparedness. For May 15th's presentation, we will have a guest speaker who will review business interruption insurance and other insurance questions. Register here. 
 
May 2019, multiple dates: Anticipate, Plan, and Deter: Maximizing Resilience of Healthcare Workers during Disasters - Train the Trainer Class (Non-CAHF Course)
This two hour train-the-trainer class, facilitated by LA County DHS, is intended to assist healthcare workers build and manage their own personalized coping skills to enhance personal resilience using the Anticipate, Plan, and Deter Resilience System.  This course will prepare the attendee to identify stressors among staff during an emergency event and take action to prevent serious mental or emotional trauma that is often experienced by first responders. Two hours of Continuing Education (BRN only) available for attendees. Course taught by the creator of the PsySTART system, Dr. Merrit Schreiber. 
 
May 9th: 08:30am - 10:30am @ PIH Health Hospital - Whittier (register here)
May 13: 12:00pm - 4:00pm @ Northridge Hospital (register here)
May 17: 1:00pm - 3:00pm @ St. Joseph Hospital (register here)
May 28: 1:00pm - 3:00pm @ Harbor UCLA Med Center (register here)
 
Contra Costa County Public Health Department:
April 4th, 9am - 3pm: All-Hazards Business Continuity for LTC Providers (CAHF Course)
Wildfires. Active shooters. Pandemics. These and other hazards can threaten your facility’s operations, and severely impact your residents and staff. Explore the world of emergency preparedness and discuss strategies for protecting your facility’s continuity of operations (COOP) when emergencies strike. This training will conclude with a tabletop exercise based on a relevant scenario for long term care providers. Five CE hours available. If you are a Contra Costa County LTC provider and you are interested in attending, contact the DPP Coordinator here. 
 
June 6th, 9am - 3pm: Safe Evacuation for LTC Providers (CAHF Course)
Should you stay, or should you go? The evacuation of a long term care facility requires special considerations for the fragile residents that we serve. Deepen your understanding of the effects an evacuation has on your residents, what triggers for evacuation you should watch and plan for, and how the emergency medical response agencies work during disasters. This training will conclude with a tabletop exercise based on a relevant scenario for long term care providers. Five CE hours available. If you are a Contra Costa County LTC provider and you are interested in attending, contact the DPP Coordinator here. 
 
California Department of Public Health - Emergency Preparedness Office
November 14th, 2019 Statewide Medical Health Exercise (SWMHE)
This is the annual exercise for California's healthcare providers to practice their Emergency Operations Plans (EOPs). CDPH-EPO provides the Situation Manual and other exercise materials, as well as send out e-alerts on CAHAN on the day of the exercise. The annual exercise takes place on the third Thursday of November every year - add this statewide exercise to your calendar today! 

Spring Cleaning: It's Hazard Vulnerability Assessment Season! 

If you have been working on your facility's Emergency Preparedness Program or Emergency Operations Plan for any amount of time, you may already be familiar with the Hazard Vulnerability Assessment, or HVA. If you have not heard of this fundamental tool in emergency management, the HVA is a spreadsheet that lists any and all relevant hazards. Then the user scores the probability of each event, its impact on operations or residents,, and preparedness of the facility's staff. These scores are multiplied together to rank the facility's top 3-5 hazards. The 2016 CMS Emergency Preparedness Rule calls for a two-fold hazard vulnerability assessment, based on not only the facility's hazards (elopement, IT disruption), but also the community's hazards (earthquake, train derailment). This HVA is the foundation for your Emergency Operations Plan, and most counties in California use the Kaiser model of the spreadsheet in order to more easily collate data across the board.
 
    If you aren't sure where to start to gather this information, check out Cal OES' webpage, MyHazards, and type in your facility's address to generate a map that will show some natural hazards in your area (visit MyHazards here). Print that page and include it for your records! You can also reach out to your county's Healthcare Coalition Coordinator and ask for the most recent copy of the County HVA. Finally, your HVA needs to consider the unique needs of your residents - do you have a large population of "wanderers" or other elopement risks? Diabetic or bariatric residents? Their needs will make a small business interruption, such as a temporary power outage, much more dangerous and should result in a higher score on your HVA for certain hazards. 
 
    Most counties in California revise the community HVA report in the spring, so make sure to send in your HVA to the county public health department! Participating in the county healthcare coalition in this way also helps you meet another CMS requirement under E-tag 009, "Collaboration/Planning with Local/County/State/Federal/Tribal Response Authorities." Further regulatory concerns for the HVA: "Missing Resident" must be included on the HVA for LTC facilities, as well as the new category "Emerging Infectious Diseases."  If your facility is in the utility footprint of PG&E, SDG&E, or SoCal Edison, you should add "planned power outage" to your HVA as well. If you would like to get a copy of the Kaiser HVA model, you can find it on our website here.

Preparing for Hot Weather Season: Best Practices  

With the turn of the season comes warmer temperatures, and the potential of a heat wave. Before power goes out at your building, here are some quick things to go over with your clinical and environmental staff:
 
1. If your facility's HVAC system is not on emergency power, have a plan for keeping residents cool, such as cohorting them in an area where fans and portable coolers can reach as many residents at once. Consider the airflow through the building and place fans to keep air circulating. Ice, popcicles, and paper fans are all tools to include in your staff training for such an event.
 
2. Create a schedule for "wellness checks" on residents when normal routines and operations are disrupted. Skilled nursing residents are particularly vulnerable to stress and can negatively impact their health condition. Train your CNAs to check residents' conditions at least once an hour during an emergency event or evacuation.
 
3. Alert your county's Medical Health Operational Area Coordinator (MHOAC) that you may be needing industrial sized air conditioners, or else you will be facing evacuation. The county sometimes has resources they can send to your facility to help you avoid evacuation.
Visit our "Extreme Temperatures" webpage for more resources.

This newsletter is brought to you by the California Association of Health Facilities’ Disaster Preparedness Program (CAHF-DPP), and made possible by a grant from the California Department of Public Health. Learn more at www.cahfdisasterprep.com.

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