Survey gauges Ohio nursing-home emergency prep

Associated Press

CINCINNATI

A survey of Ohio nursing homes has found they have plans for coping with natural disasters and other emergencies, yet many haven’t coordinated with key local agencies and facilities.

Researchers at Miami University’s Scripps Gerontology Center added questions about emergency preparedness to their latest biennial survey for state authorities. Some nursing home residents in other states have been harshly affected by disasters such as Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy.

Matt Nelson of the Scripps center in southwest Ohio said all 890 administrators responding reported having plans for emergencies such as natural disasters, mandatory evacuations and equipment failures. But nearly half acknowledged not working with outside authorities such as emergency responders, hospitals, or health officials in developing their plans.

Ohio has nearly 80,000 people in some 960 nursing homes.

“I would say the fact that they are planning for emergencies is a very significant point, but there really could be more work linking up with local agencies,” Nelson said. He said lack of prior coordination could make a difference in delivery of services in a disaster.

The survey found that many facilities set up their plans without that coordination. Another finding was that hundreds of the homes could face food, water or medicine shortages if forced to “shelter in place” by disasters lasting longer than a week. The Scripps center recommends more discussion of what supply stockpiles are adequate.

“On one hand, you can’t have a warehouse full of food, but on the other hand, you don’t want to have too little when there are those situations,” Nelson said.