Collaboration is Key to Regional Disaster Preparedness
By Danni Meredith
Collaboration is Key to Regional Disaster Preparedness
At our recent CEO Roundtable, Wendy Hill, Manager at Carers NSW, was joined by Senior Constable Jon Wilson and Senior Constable Vivian Pang from the North Shore Police Area Command to discuss why a collaborative approach is essential to disaster preparedness.
Wendy highlighted Standard 2.10 of the Strengthened New Aged Care Quality Standards which relates directly to this topic and the importance of including older people, their families and supporters, contractors, local council emergency response services and other local service providers in the discussion, risk assessment, planning and response phases. The standard focuses on a strengths approach and ensures the older person is placed at the centre of all decision making.
Key takeaways from the roundtable discussion include:
- Providers must understand how to manage disasters, and CHSP and Support at Home brings unique challenges, as older people and workers all live and work independently across a wide region. Care staff and care managers should feel ready to respond to a disaster scenario, and your organisation should test the effectiveness, evaluate and regularly update the plan. Additionally, service providers should consider contingency planning such as what to do if a worker is stranded with a client overnight.
- Develop a disaster management communications plan that is accessible to all.
- Ensure older people have created their personalised emergency plan with a checklist in their preferred language, and reinforce the importance of leaving early, rather than waiting for SES direction.
- Preparation to leave includes taking medications, glasses, phones, chargers, pet supplies, turning off the power and locking the residence. Clients need to understand that they cannot take everything with them.
- Confirm whether the client has a backup plan if they can no longer drive, including a family or friend’s place to evacuate, which is preferable to an emergency evacuation centre.
- Explain that services and support may be delayed during and after the event.
- Understand the older person’s experience with trauma and develop a disaster management plan accordingly. Even though this work is not specifically funded, it is an essential part of care management and ensuring continuity of care.
- In a rare case where a client refuses to leave during an emergency, providers should take a risk proportionate approach and call 000. In an emergency, police have additional powers to extract people who may be in danger.
- Police are required to respond to all “concern for welfare” calls and may enter a property if they have concerns for the older person’s safety. Your local Police Crime Prevention Officer can supply a Missing Persons Kit which is ideal if you have an older client who wanders. Older people can prefill this form with a photo along with other basic information which will help the police locate the person and reduce the overall trauma placed on the older person. Next of Kin can provide media release permission so the older persons photo can be used.
- The Next of Kin program, also available from your local NSW Police Crime Prevention Officer, allows older people to register essential information such as any medical conditions, and family and carer contact information in case of emergency.
- When sharing personal information during a disaster, providers must take a risk proportionate approach, and providers must determine what is reasonable and document decisions defensibly.
- Local Government Areas set up evacuation centres in safe spaces such as libraries, community, and church halls. Depending on the council, they may lead the disaster response or provide an emergency dashboard for information.
- The Rural Fire Service provides “a place of last resort,” which is a piece of ground considered safe for the community to access.
Considerations for Providers
Although service providers are not specifically funded for emergency or disaster management, they still have a duty of care to clients and staff. Therefore, providers need to regularly assess their organisational preparedness, emerging climate risks, infrastructure vulnerabilities and supply chain resilience in line with their disaster management plan.
From a regional perspective, service providers should connect and collaborate to develop a regional disaster management plan or establish agreement to support organisations impacted by a disaster.
Resources
- Trusted sources of information include ABC radio, Bureau of Meteorology, NSW Rural Fire Service, State Emergency Service, Hazards Near Me app, Emergency Plus app, NSW Live traffic app.
- NSW Police Crime Prevention Officers also have a Community Laison Role and can deliver a presentation on emergency services and disaster preparedness to vulnerable groups upon request. Find your local area command here https://www.police.nsw.gov.au/about_us/regions_commands_districts