CRAFTING A STRATEGIC PLAN BEFORE DISASTER STRIKES
is not easy and the families are concerned about safety. So, we want to be able to tell them that we have agreements with these other nursing facilities, that we have con- tracts with hotels. We also can give them ex- amples of things we have done in the past, and that can be very reassuring.”
3. Get front-line input For the executive director, the work of draw- ing up the emergency plan should not be a solo eff ort, but should instead draw on the insights and strengths of the entire staff . “You need to talk to the front-line team,” Bertram said. “Does this policy or this pro- cedure make sense to them? They are the ones who are actually going to be evacuat- ing the residents, so if there’s something in the policy that doesn’t work for them, you want to hear about that.” To that end, Bertram reviews the com-
pany’s emergency template annually with local leaders, and encourages them in turn to review it with their teams. “We want to be sure it is something that makes sense and isn’t burdensome,” he said.
4. Play zone defense In planning for a disaster response, it makes sense to organize front-line eff orts by zone, making individuals responsible for the ar- eas of a community that fall most directly within their authority. “If you are in the food and beverage din-
ing area and you are responsible for that part of the building, that’s what you train on,” Tagatz said. “We have color coded maps to refer to, according to each func- tional area. Everyone knows the area of the building that they work in, so that is what they are responsible for.” This is especially important when an
emergency comes on suddenly and with high urgency, such as a tornado or an active shoot- er. “There are times when you need to secure people in the nearest possible safe place,” he said. That’s when a personal working knowl- edge of one’s zone can really pay off .
5. Set a steady tone The foremost job of an executive director in times of crisis is to be the calm, still center of the storm. “People look at the executive director to
calmly lead them in the right direction,” Figueroa said. “You do that by talking about the plan frequently. You train on it
14 SENIOR LIVING EXECUTIVE JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018
and talk about it: Here are the fi rst steps we need to take in an emergency.” Frequent drilling ensures staff members know what to do in an emergency, and it also helps the executive director to feel the quiet confi - dence needed to steer the ship smoothly when storm winds blow. “You have to keep your cool,” Tagatz said.
“You are in charge and people are looking at you, so you have to be the leader that you are supposed to be. That’s true not just for the res- idents but for the staff and family members.”
6. Know your residents In an emergency, resident needs will vary widely. “You may have people who are very independent and people who are very frail and very dependent physically or cognitively or both, so you need to determine the evacu- ation capabilities for all those diff erent resi- dents,” said JoAnne Carlin, vice president of clinical risk services at Willis Towers Watson. She encourages senior living leaders to
keep a detailed tally of residents’ capabilities as part of the disaster plan: Who needs ver- bal direction? Who will have to be led from the building? It helps that many communities already keep such a roster as part of their daily care management regimen. “If those categories are already being used as part of your service plan or care plan, then you al- ready know the levels of capability that the resident population has,” she said.
7. Leverage your strengths While the bulk of an emergency plan should be tailored to a specifi c location, Atria uses its national reach to support some aspects of emergency planning, for example by managing hotel and bus contracts at the corporate level. “It’s much more effi cient to do that through our purchasing depart- ments where they are used to negotiating contracts and where they are used to deal- ing with big numbers. It’s not a cheap pro- cess when you are talking about evacuating several hundred residents, and the national people have the experience to work at that level,” Gentry said. This national-level engagement in turn
frees up regional and local leaders to focus on the immediate needs. “From the fi eld perspective, this enables us to focus on safety for residents and staff . If we don’t have to worry about calling the charter bus com- pany, we can put our attention on resident safety,” Figueroa said.
8. Stay loose While an emergency plan seeks to lay out a response for every contingency, the fact is that disasters by their very nature bring a degree of uncertainty in their wake. Re- maining fl exible is thus a key asset. “You aren’t going to cover everything,” Tagatz said. “So, you have to be willing and able to think on your feet.”
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