Evacuation Procedures for Skilled Nursing Facilities

Skilled nursing facilities are home to many individuals, most of whom have disabilities or handicaps. Emergency planning is important especially when dealing with skilled nursing facilities. When emergencies, such as fires, hurricanes, tornadoes, etc., occur it is important for skilled nursing facilities to have a plan of action. Evacuation plans should be in place in every skilled nursing facility. Every employees should be aware of where to find the plan and how to execute it.

Utilizes Community Resources

• Evacuating patients from a skilled nursing facility takes many people and departments working together in a timely manner to assure that all patients and staff have been removed from the facility. Know what resources are available in the community. Patients will need to be transported by various methods including buses and vans (for ambulatory patients), wheelchair accessible vans or ambulettes, and ambulances. Contact local resources in the community, including ambulance companies, schools, and transport companies, to find out how many people will be available and how long it will take the help to get to the facility. During community wide emergencies resources may be limited with priorities being assigned to hospitals and residents of the community, so it is important to have an evacuation plan which includes how to contact and receive help from other resources should the local resources become busy.

Set Up a Chain of Communication

• Set up a chain of communication including numbers where contacts from each agency can be reached 24/7. Also include in the chain of communication alternate contacts in case the primary contacts are unavailable during the emergency. Make sure to include contact information for the neighboring resources on the chain of communication with information on how each resource can be reached 24/7 should an emergency occur. It may take multiple neighboring resources to evacuate the facility when disasters strike a community. Assure that employees are aware of where to locate the plan, what duties should be assigned to whom (including preassigned duties), how to follow the chain of communication, and how to execute the plan.

Finding Alternate Facilities

• An evacuation plan must include a destination for the patients once they are evacuated from the facility. Local hospitals and other nursing facilities may be able to accommodate patients after they are evacuated from the nursing facility. During emergencies that affect the entire local community, such as a tornado or hurricane, patients may not be able to go to a local hospital so arrangements with neighboring facilities should be made for these situations. Contact the facilities and determine how many patients can go to each alternate facility, the types of patients each facility can care for, and how to contact the alternate facilities when evacuation is needed.

Evacuating Patients

• Help from facility staff, fire departments, ambulance companies, and police may be needed to quickly and safely evacuate a skilled nursing facility. Each facility should include in their plan a list of employees with preassigned duties. Designate one or more people to follow the chain of communication that will notify the appropriate facilities and departments (such as ambulance, fire, police) that an evacuation is needed and that the evacuation plan is in effect. Designate one or more employees to triage patients. Patients will need triaged to determine who are the easiest and fastest to evacuate, what method of transportation each patient requires, and what medical equipment (oxygen tanks, ventilators, medications) is needed for each patient during transport. Make sure to designate employees and pre-assign duties for every shift to assure that there are employees at each facility 24/7 who are aware of the evacuation plan and how to properly execute the details of the plan.

Receiving Help During County Wide Emergencies

• During county wide emergencies help from local resources may not be available. In these situations it is important to have a back up plan. Contact resources from neighboring communities to see what help can be made available when local resources are tied up. Ambulance companies, transport companies, and fire departments from neighboring areas may be needed during an evacuation if local resources become busy during the emergency. It may take a great amount of help to evacuate a facility when disasters strike a community. Do not limit help by only counting on local resources but instead reach out to as many neighboring communities as it takes to assure help can be available when needed.