Page 7 - Reedleyt Exponent 7-5-18 E-edition

One disaster after an- other has been in the news this past year. Fires, oods and raging storms, out-of- control protests, shootings, etc., has been the topic of too many news stories. Al- though the actual incident might be at a distance or the consequence of be-
ing in the wrong place at the wrong time, innocent people’s lives could easily be a ected. It has made Sierra View Homes Re- tirement Community look at di erent di cult sce- narios. What would we do if catastrophe struck here?
e Center for Medical Services (CMS) has made emergency preparation a part of our planning for the care of our residents in the nursing home. Each and every hospital and
By Ro Linscheid
the residents cool and keep equipment, reliant on elec- tricity, to continue to func- tion? e other side of this is how many more people can we accommodate if the failure came from another side of town.
Fortunately for Sierra View Homes, we have ample water stored on campus and an emergency generator that powers some air conditioners and other equipment. We have plans and protocols in place so everyone knows what their job is should an emergency like this arise. CMS wants detailed plans and contracts with vari- ous vendors so we do not run out of fuel, food and/ or other necessary sup- plies. ey want a plan on where we would go should
the need arise to evacuate. ere has to be a plan in place on how we will feed everyone without electric- ity. e plans are detailed to the point of who takes charge and assignments of various jobs.
In order to make a plan run smoothly, drills and tests have to be performed. All sta needs to be ready to jump into the disaster plan and make it work well. Our residents are counting on it. Much is done to prepare for a pos- sible emergency. Generator tests are done frequently so we are sure it will re up when the time comes. e generator, over the years, has worked beautifully
for electric poles downed and utility power failure. Disaster drills take place
The Reedley Exponent A7 Thursday, July 5, 2018
H
ealth &Fitne
ss
What If Disaster Struck
to give the sta experience so nobody panics. Ample discussion gives us all an opportunity to o er ideas as to how to protect our residents.
CMS is a national organization. ey are demanding emergency preparedness of all nursing homes across the country. As strange as the weather has been, where the wild- res broke out and any
one of a hundred di erent disasters, it is important to keep the people in our care safe and sound. We look
to the future to be ready when a disaster happens so there is no loss of life and our residents will continue to receive exceptional care no matter what happens.
nursing home must come up with the ve most pos- sible disasters that could happen in our area.
In the Central Valley we are fortunate that we do not have super storms dumping a huge amount of rain. Earthquakes are
a possibility; however we do not sit on a fault line. What about wild res? We have a lot of farmland surrounding us that the farmers keep watered. e
Now What?
Central Valley is protected by the mountains. Most wild res are started with lightning strikes. Seldom do we see lighting here on the valley oor.
Another way to look at the possible disasters is to look indoors. We could have loss of water supply or electricity. Imagine a hot 120-degree summer day and no electricity. at would be a disaster. How do we feed everyone, keep
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