Disaster Preparedness Guide

The new Disaster Preparedness Guide for Assisted Living Facilities is now ready, just in time for the height of the hurricane season. This guide, prepared by the Florida Center for Assisted Living and the Florida Health Care Association, will help facilities prepare for one of the most difficult decisions: evacuate safely, with a timeline for necessary actions, or shelter in place with safeguards for residents and staff. The guide also provides guidelines for dealing with other types of potential disasters: fires, tornadoes, extreme temperatures, floods, geologic hazards (sink holes and wild fires), bomb scares, and pandemics. As with the earlier Disaster Planning Guide, the main text is suitable for any part of the country. Some of the 20 appendices, however, are specific to Florida—they are included simply as examples of the types of information you need to gather in your own state. As with the earlier version of the book, this guide is meant to be a helpful tool to help you create your own individualized disaster plan.