The Hurricane Plan outlines the procedures and responsibilities for making decisions on sheltering and/or evacuating. The Plan identifies the location of medication and the contact information for the person(s) to be notified in case of an emergency. The Plan outlines what actions will be taken if the caregiver is unable to reach the client.
The goal of the Hurricane Plan is to document procedures and responsibilities in case of an emergency. Typically, these decisions are made during the plan of action for normal day-to-day care.
What is Important to Include in the Hurricane Plan?
There are several things that may be important to include in a plan that may assist another person without having to locate the information themselves.
The following may be important to include:
- A list of the client’s medications
- The name of the prescriber and the pharmacy
- Persons to contact in an emergency
- Family members
- Decisions makers (if applicable)
- Instructions for use of special equipment
- Instructions for everyday activities that may require the assistance of multiple caregivers
The Plan should be as concise as possible and contain only the information that is absolutely necessary to be understood by caregivers. Every effort should be made to keep the plan current. The plan should be reviewed regularly and revised when the client’s condition changes, or information becomes outdated.
Medication lists require special consideration. They must be regularly updated as the current list from only a few months prior is likely to have changed. The family should be provided the opportunity to review the older adult’s medications and help document any other relevant health information.
Instruction must be provided about the old person’s normal activities, and how disruption of services, power outages or other emergencies may impact the older adult. Families should consider and plan for various disruption scenarios.
Our caregivers help older adults with many routine activities through home care services. Preparing for a hurricane means the older adult and family must plan for the activities of daily living that the caregivers usually assist with.
How are shelter or evacuation decisions made?
Older adults should participate in decisions to the extent that they are able. The older adult’s family should not assume that the Care Pro is making decisions for the older adult.
I would like the older adult’s family to consider the following:
- Who is responsible to tune in to emergency communications?
- Which family member will listen to and explain emergency information to the older adult?
- Which family member is responsible to help the older adult leave the house and/or shelter?
- Who will drive the older adult?
It is important for the family to communicate and coordinate these responsibilities to avoid confusion and uncertainty about who will be performing which duties.
The contingency plan that is developed must accurately reflect the needs of the older adult.
Older adults may require various levels of support when evacuating. Some may require assistance transporting their belongings to the location of the evacuation, while others may require assistance with clinical or technical support to transport them to the location of the evacuation.
Plan: Responsibilities for the support of the older adult must be assigned to family members, home care workers, transport personnel, emergency management personnel, and emergency service personnel.
Clinical, mobility and technical support must be pre-planned and provided by the caregivers assigned the responsibility of providing it.
Because of the impact of hurricanes on routine activities, assumptions may remain undocumented until support is needed.
What is the Household Plan If the Care Pro Cannot Provide Transport?
The Care Pro should not provide any level of support that is the responsibility of the family.
You should contact the office that employs the Care Pro to determine who will make the decision to change the Care Pro’s schedule and the reason for the schedule change.
Inform the family of the expected support that will not be available.
If a Care Pro is not available to support the family, other members of the family may be required to provide support to the older adult as specified in the Care Plan.
Because of the expected disruption of normal services, the Care Plan should provide support for the needs of the older adult. The plan should identify those activities that may require the support of another family member. The family may need to provide some of the support that is usually provided by the Care Pro.
The household should identify alternative resources that will meet essential needs of the older adult in the household. For example, if the older adult requires support at a particular time to perform a task, who would be that support if the regular home care support is not available?
That isn’t to say that person can’t be replaced. The goal is to prevent reliance on a Care Pro to perform vital tasks of family members in the household.
Early-planning allows the elderly person to identify whom they are comfortable allowing to help them if their daily schedule changes.
How do you distinguish between the two?
Home care and emergency management.
Both can be combined in the same discussion, but they must be kept separately.
A Care Pro can help a person perform various tasks including getting around and performing activities of daily living (ADLs).
It can also be helpful for a home care agency to know how a family is going to respond to changing conditions.
Home care should not be responsible for transporting a member of the household to a safer location.
A family should not count on a care worker to determine if a member of the household needs to be evacuated, or provide transport, or decide on a course of action if the member is in an emergency situation and requires an evacuation or transport to a safe location.
A family should not assume a care worker is going to become a member of the household’s emergency response team.
I think it’s better to talk about hurricanes before they become a part of the news cycle that directly impacts your area. With a Care Plan in front of you, it’s relatively easy to differentiate between routine home care and emergency home care.
Ask away!
The Home Instead office in Baton Rouge, LA has the ability to answer many questions the care plan may have, as well as help families create a practical hurricane plan, based on the expectations of non-medical home care.
Hurricane Season and Home Care: Frequently Asked Questions
Will the care Pro decide if my parent Evacuates?
According to AARP, “ Evacuation or shelter-in-place decisions should be made in consultation with the older adult and/or according to the older adult’s household emergency plan. Other people may need to assist the older adult if he or she is unable to make these decisions.”
If the care Pro is not a doctor or nurse, who can I talk to about the medicine?
It’s the family’s responsibility to make decisions regarding the medicine, the care Pro is not permitted to make medical decisions.
What if our Care Pro can not get to us?
The family needs to have plans in place regarding what to do if care can not be provided at the scheduled time. The home care company the family uses, should have procedures in place regarding care provided during weather related emergencies.
Can Home Instead employees evacuate my elderly relative during a hurricane?
Home Instead employees are not permitted to evacuate your relative as part of their home care services. Home Instead care employees are not permitted to provide transportation services during an evacuation. You should make other transportation arrangements.
Does Home Instead care provide transportation and care services during a storm?
No. Home Instead care employees are not permitted to provide medical and/or emergency care services. If an elderly relative has medical issues that could require emergency care services during a storm, these issues should be discussed with the relative’s medical care service providers.
Should we arrange for a caregiver to take the place of Home Instead care services if we have scheduled Home Instead care services?
It is important to identify an essential support person to assist with routine activities. Generally, this person is a family member or other support person designated by the older adult and their family.
When should we review the hurricane plan?
The plan should be reviewed any time a decision needs to be made based upon the arrival of a storm. The plan should also be reviewed whenever a change occurs in the medications, contact information, household member’s mobility or routines, the care plan or the persons making the decisions about the care of the older adult.
A hurricane plan is effective when all household members know their limits. If you or the older adult living in Baton Rouge has a plan, review it to integrate your limits and responsibilities. If you or the older adult does not have any plan, consider contacting the Home Instead office in Baton Rouge. They can help you by integrating additional support and/or outlining the limits of the plan for the care of the older adult.
About the Author
Matt Cohn has spent more than 25 years helping older adults and their families understand their options for support at home. He owns Home Instead locations serving Baton Rouge and Hammond in Louisiana, along with locations in Georgia.
