Should I Stay or Should I Go? Lessons Learned from One of California's Worst Wildfire Seasons
By CORTNEY KESTERSON, DPP COORDINATOR
SITUATION REPORT
Late Sunday night, on December 3rd, a brushfire ignited and quickly spread through the foothills of Kagel Canyon, threatening Los Angeles’ San Fernando Valley community. The Creek Fire, as it became known, moved quickly into populated areas and even shut down the vital 210 freeway. By Monday, several long-term care facilities found themselves well within the evacuation zone, and waited on stand-by for instructions from their local response agencies. As the situation worsened, the affected SNFs and ICFs worked closely with Los Angeles City Fire and CAL-Fire to swiftly move the most vulnerable SNF residents out of harm’s way. Simultaneously, another blaze named the Thomas Fire, raged through Ventura County, where more long-term care facilities were threatened. The Thomas Fire is, at this moment, still burning, and has become the fourth-largest wildfire in the history of California. Overall, four ICFs and four SNFs were evacuated, plus one acute psychiatric hospital which was destroyed.
SAFE EVACUATION
This wildfire season set new records in California – and underscores the need for long-term care providers to become better at quickly evacuating their residents. Much of the success during an evacuation comes from planning ahead of time and having strong communication channels with response partners.
To learn more about best practices for safe evacuation, and hear stories from LTC providers who have experienced it, join us on either May 22nd or May 24th for CAHF DPP’s one-day free training, “Safe Evacuation for Long Term Care.”
This training will offer five (5) free Continuing Education credits and free lunch. One training will take place in northern California while the second will be in southern California. Registration links will be sent out in early Spring 2018.
REPOPULATION AND DOCUMENTATION
When preparing to evacuate, many administrators may not be aware that CDPH’s Licensing and Certification and OSHPD will require a repopulation plan and inspection to make sure the SNF facility has repaired any smoke or structural damage. Make sure to identify vendors ahead of time to help you tackle any clean up. In order to restore safe care for your residents as soon as possible, ask your utility supplier and any vendors you rely on to give your facility priority consideration over other businesses, who will be competing for the same resources during and after a wildfire.
During the actual evacuation, use our NHICS Evacuation checklist to document your activities, and then use this information to complete your After Action Report once you have repopulated your building. This capturing of information is vital for improving your emergency operations in the future, and when it is time for your emergency preparedness survey, you can use the after action report for this real emergency event to satisfy one of the annual exercises CMS now requires SNF providers to complete as a regulatory requirement.
For more information on using real emergencies as a substitute for your exercise requirement, email the DPP Coordinator, Cortney Kesterson.
