Disaster Planning Software for Nursing Home Preparedness Debuts this ...

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As tornadoes roared through central Georgia earlier this year,nursing home managers were faced with some daunting challenges.Power grids were knocked out, darkness was descending, and roadswere strewn with debris causing long term care facilities toshelter-in-place.

These facilities turned to state and local agencies for support.Support agencies knew the locations of the nursing homes andassisted living facilities within their respective regions, but didnot have a clear operating picture of what they were dealing withat each facility, i.e.: number of beds, resident characteristics,food and supplies on hand, generator details and evacuation sites.

The shelter-in-place strategy proved effective and power wasrestored, but the incident was a wake-up call--one that wasanswered by the Georgia Nursing Home Preparedness Project - theresults of which will be on view this week at the Association ofState and Territorial Health Officials and National Association ofCity & County Health Officials (ASTHO-NACCHO) Joint Conferencein Sacramento, California.

This initiative brought together over 300 of the state's nursinghomes, the University of Georgia's College of Public Health, andkey agencies within the State of Georgia's Department of HumanResources to grapple with these and other issues like:

-- How can state and local agencies and long term care facilitiesimprove their information sharing to enhance resiliency duringdisruptive events?

-- What if evacuations are necessary, but transportationcontractors were overwhelmed and couldn't meet the needs?

-- How do you improve visibility of available resources needed tosupport special needs evacuees?

-- Are there ways to streamline the state's regulatory process fornursing home emergency operations planning?

The consortium developed a plan for a new system and worked withPrevistar, a leader in disaster preparedness software, to create astreamlined solution to meet their needs.

Previstar quickly provides customized solution

Using Previstar's Continual Preparedness System (CPS) as afoundation, the project team created a customized, web based,emergency preparedness and decision support system that fits theirspecific needs, specific patient care terminology, and isaccessible by authorized personnel from any location.

Currently called Previstar LTC (Long Term Care), the solutionfacilitates - among other things - data assimilation for emergencyoperations plans, transportation agreements, bed counts, andpatient acuity/mobility levels.

"Previstar makes information more accessible and decision makingmore acute by gathering everything we need from each facility intoone easy-to-search location," said Mike Roberts, Manager, Collegeof Public Health at the University of Georgia.

To gain acceptance, the system was deliberately designed by stateleaders to be simple and easy to use. In less than one week, over150 nursing homes completed the one-hour training. Additionaltraining will be provided to the remaining facilities during theongoing project phases and is also available online.

"Critical information is now in a central repository so that agencypersonnel and facility managers can make well-informed and timelydecisions prior to or during a crisis," said Jim Fetters,Previstar's President and COO. "This solution focuses resourcesprecisely where they are needed, delivering results that arenothing short of lifesaving."

Taking action before disaster strikes

"Locating information in the past has been challenging, because itwas in different media--like spreadsheets, binders, notebooks anddatabases--all located at different facilities," said ProjectSubcommittee Chair, Kim Herron, who is also Vice President ofResource Management at Ethica Health and Retirement Communities.

Previstar LTC is built on a Microsoft SQL Server database thatassimilates, organizes and presents data as usable and searchableinformation.

"(The system) allows us to be more proactive," she continued, "Now,if a power grid is out, we--as well as local and stateofficials--can easily see which nursing homes may be affected andcan identify where additional resources may be needed. We can allsee potential overlaps in committed resources, such astransportation providers and shelters."

An additional aspect of the project was improving operationalefficiencies and a more standardized approach to preparedness forboth the nursing homes and regulatory agencies. The Previstar LTCprovides a standardized, repeatable framework for the creation andsubmission of critical elements of nursing home emergencyoperations plans to the Office of Regulatory Services, the State ofGeorgia's regulatory agency that oversees long term carefacilities.

"These are all key elements of your disaster plan," said Herron."Ones that you want to identify prior to, and not during adisaster."

About Previstar

Previstar provides a suite of highly customizable software productsand services -- primarily to the emergency preparedness andresponse communities, the armed services, and homeland securityindustry--for managing the incident lifecycle, including planningfor, responding to, and recovering from all hazards incidents andevents.

Web-based and easy-to-use, these integrated capabilities enhanceunified planning, situational awareness, strategic decisionsupport, and enhanced tactical execution for users locatedhorizontally and vertically across organizational boundaries.

Previstar's suite of products originated from the Department ofEnergy's Oak Ridge National Laboratories and offers the onlysolution for equipping all organizational roles with a mix ofcustomizable tools for enhancing operational effectiveness andorganizational alignment, both day-to-day and during liveincidents.

The company is headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia and conductsresearch and development activities at its facility in Knoxville,Tennessee.

For more information, please visit our website at www.previstar.comor contact: Joe Gordon, AVP Marketing, joe.gordon@previstar.com,813-244-7774