Adding Emergency Readiness Resources to Your Website

By Dennis Kenny, Caresource

Hurricane Katrina was a “wake-up call” of such huge proportions that it’s almost become a cliché. For Caresource’s web clients, however, two realities stand out.

First, Area Agencies on Aging, senior living providers, and state and local officials charged with community emergency readiness are all taking a much closer look at their outreach and education efforts for older adults and caregivers. And they’re asking, “How can our website help build public awareness on this issue?”

Second, long-term care and assisted living providers and their associations are evaluating their own readiness and ways to share resources among peer organizations.

Here are two examples of the role your website can play in both being ready and then taking appropriate, timely steps if a catastrophic situation hits.

Louisiana Nursing Home Association’s Katrina Evacuation Directory

When destruction covered many areas of the Gulf Coast, Caresource client LNHA perceived an immediate need for a statewide database that family members could use to learn their loved ones’ evacuation status and whereabouts. State officials were contacted, and they quickly provided a limited waiver of patient confidentiality. Next, Caresource worked with association staff to design and test the new database and search functions. Literally within hours, the directory was operational, with current real-time uploading and frequent updates.

Since Katrina, the directory at www.lnha.org/katrina/default.asp has been visited more than 50,000 times. “It proved to be an indispensable tool. Frankly, I don’t know what we would have done to fill the information void during that time if we hadn’t created the directory,” said Julie Brady, LNHA’s Executive Secretary and Website Coordinator. “Although it is no longer in active use, we have it ready to place back in service again, if it’s ever needed.”

In 2006, LNHA’s Katrina Evacuation Directory was profiled by the Department of Homeland Security in its Lessons Learned Information Sharing program as an example of how organizations can and should be able to fill extraordinary, unforeseen needs in an emergency like Katrina.

Emergency Preparedness in New Jersey

Supporting public and provider awareness and emergency readiness has also become a major priority for the Health Care Association of New Jersey. With grant funding from New Jersey’s Department of Health and Senior Services, HCANJ has taken steps to address emergency readiness needs through its website and web communications program

Under the direction of Gary Schnerr, HCANJ’s Director of Bio-terrorism Preparedness, for example, HCANJ and Caresource worked together to design and implement a statewide database of facility emergency contacts. The goal has been to pull emergency contact information together in one place and make sure it is always up to date and always accessible.

In addition, HCANJ now has built up a significant emergency preparedness and emergency management resource center as part of its website, www.hcanj.org/emergencymgmt.htm. This serves New Jersey’s long-term care and residential care providers, as well as the general public. It offers tools for community outreach, staff training, and contingency planning. HCANJ’s online consumer resources include a factsheet, checklists, and video explaining the “why” and “how” of personal emergency readiness for older adults and their families.