A dear friend announced today that he is going to have to put his wife into a long-term care facility.
If you were that man, do you know what questions you’d want to be asking as regards emergency safety and security in that facility?
I’m working on a more complete Advisory on this topic. (Actually, I’m working on a whole book on the topic of preparedness for seniors.) In the meanwhile, though, here’s a short list of questions on preparedness to help you assess potential health care providers.
The original list came from one of my Emergency Plan Guide subscribers, Nicholas Thorpe. He works with facilities to help them comply with the new emergency preparedness rules that were developed by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid after Katrina. I’ve shortened his list to meet our needs today.
Nine questions to ask a health care facility about their preparations for disaster:
- Do you comply with current preparedness rules?
- When was your facility last surveyed?
- Following a disaster, how will you contact me about my loved one?
- How can I contact you?
- What arrangements do you have if an evacuation is called for?
- What sort of back-up power do you have in case of an outage?
- How many extra days of food and water do you store on site?
- Have staff members been trained in first aid and CPR? What about in dealing with an active shooter?
- How often do you practice for emergencies?
Obviously, these questions on preparedness aren’t all you’d want to consider in deciding on a facility for your loved one. But given some of the stories we’ve heard – following hurricanes, fires, and floods – you would certainly want to pose questions like these as part of your evaluation process.
Virginia
Your Emergency Plan Guide team
P.S. Can you add any questions based on your own experience?
P.P.S. If you would like to be on the list to hear when my book comes out, please let me know. It’s tentatively entitled: Emergency Preparedness for Senior Citizens and will be number 6 in our Neighborhood Disaster Survival Series.
Day 20 of Summer Vacation: A time for some shorter and lighter Advisories as a welcome change-of-pace! (Only 11 more days to go!)
Don't miss a single Advisory.
Thank you for subscribing.
Something went wrong.
Very nice set of questions. On point and clear.
Your blog content is organized.
Thanks for the comment, Bing. It didn’t start out that way, but I’ve been at it for over 5 years, now. And a lot of people have contributed to my knowledge!
What a great topic! A few years back we were in this same spot with my 100 year old mother in law. Excellent list of questions. One other question I would ask, can family visit unannounced. One facility we looked into had to make appointments even for family.
Dear Martha,
Exactly the kind of question you wouldn’t think about if you hadn’t been in that situation! Thanks so much for letting people know! Virginia