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

 Upcoming Opportunities  

California Department of Public Health - Statewide Events:

November 21st, All-Day: Statewide Medical Health Exercise (CDPH event)

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! Sign up for CAHAN here.

Late February 2020 - Dates TBD: CAHF-DPP's Statewide Emergency Preparedness Trainings Return!

Save the last week of February on your calendar, because CAHF's Disaster Preparedness Program is hitting the road to host two trainings for our CDPH grant! Locations and final dates still being worked out, but we will be hosting one training in SoCal and one in NorCal. Don't miss out on this opportunity to enhance your Emergency Preparedness Program and participate in a tabletop exercise based on a scenario relevant for the LTC provider! Participants will earn five (5) free Continuing Education credits (BRN, NHAP) and lunch will be served for attendees. Multiple staff from your faciltiy can attend, and work on the tabletop exercise together as a team. Registration will open in December 2019. Bookmark our website's Events page to check back for updates. 

Los Angeles County Events:

July 24th, 10am - 11am: "LA County DRC Coalition Updates" Webinar Series (CAHF event)

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 July 24th's presentation, we will be reviewing how to utilize ReddiNet at your facility and activate your emergency communications plan with LA County. Register here. 

September 24th, 8am - 3pm: LA County Exercise Participant Seminar (County event)

This LA County-facilitated event will bring together providers to review the 2019 Countywide Medical-Health Exercise (LACOMHE), and how your facility and your residents fit in the bigger picture. This event is a great place to meet the Disaster Resource Center coordinators and increase understanding of the LA County emergency response structure. This event is specifically to prepare for the exercise taking place on November 21. See the flyer for location and other details here. 

October 24th, 9am - 3:30pm: LA County Nursing Home Incident Command System (NHICS) Training & Tabletop Exercise (CAHF event)

Join the CAHF Disaster Preparedness team to learn about the Nursing Home Incident Command System (NHICS), with learning activities and a tabletop exercise! Build your team's confidence in responding to disasters by training them on the same system that all emergency management and response agencies use - the Incident Command System. This approach to response helps your staff respond more effectively, in order to limit the stress an emergency will have on both staff and residents alike. Give your staff the training and tools such as NHICS to be more resilient when faced with a disaster!  Location TBD, in LA County. Registration opening soon, check our LA County page for updates.

Is Active Shooter on Your HVA? 

In 2016, the CMS Emergency Preparedness Rule required each skilled nursing facility to complete an annual Hazard Vulnerabilities Assessment (HVA). Hopefully, now that a few years have passed, everyone is familiar with their facility's top hazards and risks.

It seems like every week on the news, there is another reason for "Active Shooter/Armed Intruder" to be added to providers' HVAs. Since a facility's policies and procedures need to match the identified risks, the next question is how to develop an active shooter/armed intruder policy? How do we protect those that cannot protect themselves? How do we keep our staff safe? How do we protect our business and our reputation? All of these things need to be considered in the development of an active shooter/armed intruder policy. Fortunately, there are many free resources out there to help you get started, including on the CAHF Disaster Preparedness Program (CAHF-DPP) website.

Over the past several years, CAHF-DPP has worked with a number of providers and consultants about how to best prepare you and your staff for these types of events. Not surprisingly, training came up as a the most common response - but where can providers find relevant training? Many are familiar with the successful campaign for "Run, Hide, Fight" for schools and work settings. However, finding training that deals with the non-ambulatory residents in our buildings is virtually impossible. Luckily, there are some free resources that have been developed to align with the “Run, Hide, Fight” model developed by the Houston Police Department. The “Four Outs” developed by Wilder and Associates in Illinois is a fantastic program that integrates the mobility issues of the residents in our buildings. It is easy to teach your staff. A free video and toolkit are available here - we highly recommend watching it!

If you are interested in a more in-depth look, join us at the CAHF Summer Conference in San Diego where we will cover the “Four Outs." Contact Jason Belden, the CAHF Disaster Preparedness Program Manager, if you have questions about the "Four Outs" program, the CAHF Summer Conference, or any other disaster preparedness topics. 

Stan Szpytek: Grassroots Initiative Helps Promote Compliance

MCKNIGHT'S  -  Some of the more challenging elements of the Emergency Preparedness Requirements for Medicare and Medicaid Participating Providers and Suppliers pertain to the development of a process for “Cooperation and Collaboration” as defined in E-0009. It is a specific requirement to participate in a full-scale, community-based drill on an annual basis (E-0039). 

A Long Term Care Emergency Preparedness Checklist has been developed so providers and suppliers can review and implement these comprehensive requirements. Logistical matters including timing, geographic locations and accessibility to groups or organizations like health care coalitions often make it difficult for some providers to meet these requirements.

One group of skilled nursing facilities in the Chicago-area decided to take matters into their own hands. They joined together to develop a program to help meet select CMS requirements as well as satisfy some of the Emergency Management Standards of The Joint Commission (TJC).

Holy Family Villa is a 129-bed, CMS-certified and TJC accredited skilled nursing and rehabilitation facility in Palos Park, Illinois (southwest suburban Chicago) operated by The Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago.

HFV’s longtime administrator, Roberta “Bobbi” Magurany has placed considerable focus on emergency preparedness for many decades as her facility survived two tornadoes in the immediate area and other minor incidents through the years. Long before CMS mandates and TJC requirements, Magurany’s personal and organizational mission has always been to provide a safe and prepared environment of care for the residents that her team humbly serves. To help demonstrate this commitment, Magurany hired Jack Nagle, a well-qualified, retired fire chief from the Chicago area in 2014 to lead her facility’s Emergency Preparedness Program.

Read the full story of how Holy Family Villa planned their facility-based exercise and engaged their surrounding community partners to test their emergency operations.

Training Recap: Safe Evacuation for LTC Providers

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA  -  The CAHF Disaster Preparedness Program recently wrapped up three all-day trainings and tabletops in the Bay Area, for Contra Costa County and Santa Clara County. The main focus was safe evacuation for the long-term care provider, with case studies from the recent Camp Fire in Paradise, CA, and other recent events which showed us that the work is never truly done. As we approach wildfire season for many parts of California, we wanted to share some takeaways from the "Safe Evacuation" course we recently facilitated.

1. Test your communication plan with staff. How will your staff know when the Emergency Operations Plan (EOP) has been activated, for both staff on-site and at home? How will you recall staff for emergencies? Do you have policies in place for overtime, staying overnight, or bringing family members to the facility to shelter as well?

2. Test communications with your County response partners. In your County, to whom do you report when you have activated your Emergency Operations Plan (EOP)? What method(s) of communication do you use? Do you know how and WHEN to request additional resources from the County Public Health or EMS agencies? 

3. Know your evacuation routes. Encourage your staffmembers to think of alternate ways they could reach the facility, and consider reaching out to your local law enforcement (or following them on Twitter) to plan ahead regarding road closures in case an evacuation order is issued. While events such as a wildfire can quickly change plans, many police departments have a general idea of which roads will be closed during an evacuation.

4. Find alternate care sites ahead of time. It is imperative to know where your residents could possibly go if an evacuation is ordered for your area. Don't forget that when your residents are en route to their location, traffic conditions will cause a short drive to take many hours. One of the most common things heard after an evacuation from direct-care staff is that they did not have enough food, water, or medical supplies onboard during the journey to the receiving "like" facility. 

5. Train your staff to act in your absence. Disasters never seem to strike at a convenient time - valuable hours are lost when staff are waiting to hear from the administrator or other leadership about whether to evacuate. Make sure someone on each shift is trained and EMPOWERED in writing to activate the Emergency Operations Plan (EOP) and calling the appropriate transportation for evacuation. 

Safe evacuation of a long-term care facility is a stressful and daunting task, even for those who have undergone it before. Consider attending our emergency preparedness trainings taking place in SoCal and NorCal next February 2020 to learn about the Nursing Home Incident Command System, and how it can benefit not only your Emergency Preparedness Program, but the lives and safety of your residents when they need you most. 

February 21, 2019 - Nursing Home Incident Command System tabletop exercise.

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.