Louisiana Home care Providers,
This morning’s USA Today story about Hurricane Emily and last week’s tropical storm off the Texas coast both remind us that the tropics are heating up. This is the time for your agency to double check emergency preparedness plans, review these initiatives with staff, and perhaps run mock drills or table top exercises. HCLA recently completed a comprehensive emergency preparedness handbook that is available to all Louisiana agencies to assist with your preparations. Hurricanes are likely to enter the Gulf of Mexico in the coming weeks or months and our vulnerable patients who need assistance may be depending on their home health provider to assure they have a plan.
You are also seeing email and perhaps getting phone calls from Suzanne Richter to assure you are reporting those patients on your census that are vulnerable and need assistance should evacuation become necessary. Please respond to Suzanne’s email and phone calls, as she is doing important work on behalf of the most fragile patients who need assistance.
Let’s all pray for a quiet hurricane season. But let’s prepare as though the Gulf will be active and as though we know we will have a storm hit Louisiana. Our patients in our coastal areas deserve our best effort.
Click here for the article on Tropical Storm Emily
Click here for HCLA’s Emergency Preparedness Handbook
Warren Hebert, RN, BSN, CAE
RWJF Executive Nurse Fellow ’06-’09
Chief Executive Officer
