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Home Care Lessons from Hurricane Ike

Be Prepared for Natural Disasters

September 17, 2008

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In this issue...

-- Hurricane Ike Hit Our House on Sunday Afternoon

-- Is Your Disaster Plan Up To Date?

-- Selection is the Key to Having Great People

-- About the Author

-- Permission to Reproduce

Welcome,

. . . to Stephen Tweed's Leading Home Care Report, the premier online newsletter for CEOs and executives of America's leading home health care agencies. (For strategies and insights on how to grow your Private Duty non-medical home care business, we invite you to subscribe to Private Duty Today, our newsletter for non-medical home care.)

Hurricane Ike Hit Our House on Sunday Afternoon

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It's not really that big a deal. A few shingles blew off the roof, and a huge section of our Aristocrat Pear tree in the front yard came down. And, we don't have any electricity.

It happened about 2:00 p.m. on Sunday afternoon. I was in my office catching up on preparations for our Certified Home Care Sales Professional workshop this week in San Antonio. (I'm writing to you from the Westin Hotel Riverwalk in this wonderful town.) Suddenly a huge gust of wind hit the large windows around my corner office and I heard a loud crack. I thought the windows were coming in. The howling wind went on for several hours and it became a little nerve racking.

Then Elizabeth called and said the power was out and the tree was down, I had better come home.

Since then we've been camping in our house with no power. It's been a minor inconvenience, but it reminded us of three things:

1. We are blessed to be far away from the effects of the storm that ravaged Galveston and Houston.

2. It's amazing how you can get along without the modern conveniences of our normal lifestyle. Many people around the world live like that all the time.

3. It's good to be prepared for disasters.

We live in Louisville, Kentucky. Who would have thought that Hurricane Ike would make a turn through the Midwest and blow down the trees, take out the power lines, and put 301,000 homes in darkness. It may be two weeks before we get our electricity back.

Fortunately, our office does have electricity. So I was able to get the needed workdone to prepare for this trip and Elizabeth was able to come over and use the outlet in the ladies room to dry her hair before an important meeting on Monday. What would we have done if there was no power anywhere in our town?

As I stumbled around in the dark with my small hand-crank battery operated LED flashlight packing my suitcase for this trip, I decided to get in a few more items for our disaster preparedness kit. A little forward planning would have made our time in darkness a bit easier.

It also reminded me that home care companies need to have a clearly defined emergency preparedness plan for when disaster strikes. Today, I was talking with a client in McKinney, Texas that has offices in Houston. The office staff and executive team were packing coolers of food, ice, and other supplies to take to their employees in the stricken area.

It also reminded me of the action taken by many home care companies after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Here are some thoughts for you to consider as a leader of your home health agency in preparing your disaster plan.

Is Your Disaster Plan Up To Date?

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Natural disasters, such as hurricane Ike's assault on Texas, make all of us acutely aware of our vulnerabilities to disaster. Fortunately, catastrophes of this magnitude are rare, but disaster can strike in many ways.

It is unfortunate that home care agency staffs often learn about the advantages of emergency preparedness through difficult experiences, but an emergency does not have to become a full-fledged disaster. In fact, hazards can often be mitigated or avoided altogether by a comprehensive, systematic, emergency-preparedness program. Such programs provide a means for recognizing and preventing risks, and for responding effectively to emergencies.

IDENTIFYING RISKS

A prudent first step is to list geographic and climatic hazards and other risks that could jeopardize the agency, their employees, and their patients. These might include the institution's susceptibility to hurricanes, tornadoes, flash flooding, earthquakes, or forest fires, and even the possibility of unusual hazards such as volcanic eruptions. Consider man-made disasters such as power outages, sprinkler discharges, fuel or water supply failures, chemical spills, arson, bomb threats, or other such problems. We also have to consider the possibility of a terrorist attack.

Take note of the environmental risks that surround your agency and your service area. Chemical industries, shipping routes for hazardous materials, and adjacent construction projects all expose your patients, your employees, and your agency to damage. While all institutions are not vulnerable to all disasters, any event that is a real possibility should be covered under your emergency plan.

DECREASING RISKS

Once your agency's hazards are specified, the disaster planner should devise a program with concrete goals, identifiable resources, and a schedule of activities for eliminating as many risks as possible. Geography and climate cannot be changed, but other vulnerabilities can be reduced. If building and collection conditions are regularly monitored, repaired and improved, many emergency situations will be eliminated.

A regular program of building inspection and maintenance should be a very high priority if one is not already in place. It can prevent or reduce common emergencies resulting from burst pipes, defective climate control equipment, worn electrical wiring, clogged drains, or other problems. If all improvements cannot be undertaken at once, make a schedule and follow it. If some items on your schedule prove impossible or are delayed, move on to the next goal and return to the earlier problem when it becomes more practical.

IDENTIFYING RESOURCES

Some important steps should be taken before you write your plan. First, identify sources of assistance in a disaster. Determine the supplies you'll need for disaster response to your patients and salvage efforts for your offices. Basic supplies should be purchased and kept on hand. They should be kept in a clearly marked location, inventoried periodically, and, if necessary, replaced. Keep a list of additional supplies that might be needed. This list should include suppliers' names, addresses, and phone numbers, and should provide backup sources for supplies. Arrangements should also be made for emergency cash or credit, because it is sometimes difficult to get money quickly in a disaster situation.

SETTING PRIORITIES

The first priority in any disaster is human safety. Once safety concerns are met, the next consideration will be records and equipment crucial to the operation of the institution, such as registrar's records, inventories, and administrative files. In a major event, the fire department, civil defense authorities, or other professionals may restrict access to the building until it can be fully evaluated.

WRITING THE PLAN

Once the necessary preliminary steps have been taken, writing the plan should be relatively straightforward. Although each plan will be different, a sample outline is given below:

1. Introduction--stating the lines of authority and the possible events covered by the plan.

2. Actions to be taken if advance warning is available.

3. First response procedures, including who should be contacted first in each type of emergency, what immediate steps should be taken, and how staff or teams will be notified.

4. Emergency procedures with sections devoted to each emergency event covered by the plan. This will include what is to be done during the event, and the appropriate salvage procedures to be followed once the first excitement is over. Include floor plans.

5. Rehabilitation plans for getting the agency back to normal.

6. Appendices, which may include evacuation/floor plans; listing of emergency services; listing of emergency response team members and responsibilities; telephone tree; location of keys; fire/intrusion alarm procedures; listing of collection priorities; arrangements for relocation of the collections; listing of in-house supplies; listing of outside suppliers and services; insurance information; listing of volunteers; prevention checklist; record-keeping forms for objects moved in salvage efforts; detailed salvage procedures.

MAINTAINING THE PLAN

No matter how much effort you have put into creating the perfect disaster plan, it will be largely ineffective if your staff is not aware of it, if it is outdated, or if you cannot find it during a disaster. A concentrated effort must be made to educate and train staff in emergency procedures. Each staff member should be made aware of his or her responsibilities, and regular drills should be conducted if possible. Keep several copies of the plan in various locations, including off-site (ideally in waterproof containers). Each copy of the plan should indicate where other copies may be found.

Most important, the disaster plan must be updated periodically. Names, addresses, phone numbers, and personnel change constantly. New collections are acquired, building changes are made, and new equipment is installed. If a plan is not kept completely up to date, it may not be able to assist you effectively in dealing with disasters.

Selection is the Key to Having Great People

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As you get ready for the future of home care, one critical skill to develop is the ability to select the right people. After 26 years in home care, I'm convinced that selecting the right people is becoming more important than ever before.

To help you do that, we are constantly working to identify tools and techniques to make interviewing and selection easier and more effective. Whether you are hiring nurses, therapists, home care aides, supervisors, or sales representatives, selecting the right people is the most critical part of the process.

One area we've been working on is selecting sales people. There is a real shortage of experienced, effective sales people in home care. Picking the wrong person can cost you tens of thousands of dollars and who knows how many lost referrals. Picking the right person can be the catalyst to grow your business quickly.

The Leading Home Care Sales Assessment

A tool that we now offer to help you select the best sales people is our Leading Home Care Sales Assessment. This is an online tool that measures selling style and workplace motivators. We have found that within 15 seconds of looking at the assessment reports, we can tell you whether or not someone is likely to be successful in a home care sales role.

The Sales Assessment Report will also give you great clues about the right questions to ask to make sure the candidate is a good fit for the sales job, and for your agency.

Take a look at the information on our web site. Then call Diane West at 866-209-5101 to learn more about how this sales assessment tool can help you pick the right person for your home care sales position.

Visit our Web Site for More Information on the Leading Home Care Sales Assessment

About the Author

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Stephen Tweed, CSP, is Chairman and CEO of Leading Home Care ... a Tweed Jeffries company. For over 25 years he has been a recognized leader in strategy and leadership development for home care companies and associations. He is the author or co-author of five books, four of which were written specifically for the home care industry. He has served on the boards of directors of three not-for-profit home care agencies, and has served as interim President & CEO of a $25 million homecare company.

Stephen is a past-President of the National Speakers Association, a 3500 member international society of experts who speak professionally. He is also the father of a 38 year-old son who is physically disabled and uses the services of home care on a daily basis.

Meet the entire Leading Home Care Team

Permission to Reproduce

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Permission is granted to healthcare publications, associations and companies to reproduce this article in your publication, or to distribute copies to your leaders, on the condition that you reproduce the credits and contact information as follows: "Reprinted with permission from Stephen Tweed's Leading Home Care Report. Copyright 2008 Stephen C. Tweed. To receive a FREE subscription to this newsletter, log on to www.leadinghomecare.com."

Contact Leading Home Care

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email: stephen@leadinghomecare.com

phone: 1-866-209-5101

web: http://www.leadinghomecare.com

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