{"id":5414,"date":"2021-02-02T21:34:00","date_gmt":"2021-02-03T03:34:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/live-gordon-food-service.pantheonsite.io\/your-healthcare-community-ready-emergency\/"},"modified":"2023-02-01T14:15:49","modified_gmt":"2023-02-01T20:15:49","slug":"your-healthcare-community-ready-emergency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gfs.com\/es-us\/ideas\/your-healthcare-community-ready-emergency\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Your Healthcare Community Ready for an Emergency?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hurricanes, wildfires, tornadoes, floods, earthquakes. There\u2019s no stopping disasters. Even so, you can reduce their impact on your healthcare community with emergency planning and preparedness.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want your lack of disaster planning to be your next disaster,\u201d says Linda Eck Mills, MBA, RDN, LDN, FADA, a Midwest Regional Sales Executive of Meals For All<\/a>, a provider of emergency food and water resources and information.<\/p>\n

With 22 billion-dollar weather and climate disasters in the United States 2020, emergency preparedness is a must\u2014even if you\u2019re not at risk of a major natural calamity. Things as common as power outages, water main breaks or civil unrest can trigger an emergency situation.<\/p>\n

CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services)<\/a> works to ensure adequate planning for natural and man-made disasters. Using federal guidelines, agencies in each state, county or municipality set specific requirements. Mandates in your area may vary, but could include requiring enough emergency food (such as a three- to seven-day supply) and water (such as 1- to 1\u00bd-gallons per person per day) to address likely emergencies.<\/p>\n

Those are rules. Before you get to the rule book, Eck Mills says there are five steps to making sure you\u2019re able to manage safety and nutrition during an emergency. <\/p>\n

Emergency readiness starts early<\/h3>\n

1. Plan for your <\/em>emergency<\/strong>
Identify at least the top five disasters or emergencies that could happen in your geographic area, and have policies and procedures for each. \u201cKeep in mind that there could be multiple disasters going on at the same time,\u201d she says. \u201cIn 2020, we had COVID-19 in addition to natural disasters.\u201d<\/p>\n

2. Keep food on site<\/strong>
How many days of supplies do you have in house? Relying on a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for restocking is risky\u2014only as good as the supply chain, which can be disrupted during emergencies. There is considerable peace of mind and value with a pre-planned, shelf-stable meal program.<\/p>\n

3. Meet everyone\u2019s diet needs<\/strong>
It\u2019s essential to adequately meet the needs of both the medical\/therapeutic diets and the texture modified diets with familiar comfort foods, including nutritional analysis. Consider your number of licensed beds, not your census. In an emergency, you may need to feed residents or patients from another location.<\/p>\n

4. Manage water properly<\/strong>
Big drums of water are wonderful if you have someone to move them around. Consider the size of the containers and how easy they are to distribute. Again, beware of MOUs and have water on site. \u201cIf the whole county needs water at the same time, that dairy down the road isn\u2019t going to have enough tanks to go around.\u201d<\/p>\n

5. Have resources ready<\/strong>
This starts with staff education and training about emergency preparedness. Print out policies, procedures and plans. \u201cYou cannot rely on electronics because you may not have electricity to retrieve information.\u201d Gordon Food Service recommends having a printed copy of your menu and tray cards\/tickets for a three-day period, in addition to an updated printout of diet order lists.<\/p>\n

Know how food will be used<\/h3>\n

In an emergency, healthcare locations should first use food that\u2019s on hand in this order:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • Perishable items<\/li>\n
  • Frozen foods (unless compromised by temperature changes)<\/li>\n
  • Non-perishable items and emergency supplies<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    The risk of counting on daily food inventory, Eck Mills says, is uncertainty. <\/p>\n

    \u201cI talk to foodservice directors all the time and they say, \u2018Oh, I\u2019m going to use the food in my refrigerator and freezer, and it won\u2019t be a problem because we have a generator.\u2019 Then they find out the foodservice area isn\u2019t on the generator.\u201d<\/p>\n

    That\u2019s why planning matters, she says. Power to the fridge doesn\u2019t mean power to the oven. And what if residents must be evacuated? If the emergency strikes during third shift, it\u2019s unlikely the foodservice team will be there, leaving the nursing team to handle meals.<\/p>\n

    Guard their safety, your reputation<\/h3>\n

    Eck Mills touts Meals For All\u2019s complete emergency supply of food for most therapeutic diets and modified textures. With a 10-year shelf life for foods and a water supply that lasts 50 years, the company also updates disaster preparedness policies and procedures manuals to address emergency foodservice.<\/p>\n

    Being prepared for emergencies and stocking food and water is more than just a requirement. Eck Mills points out that it protects the safety of patients\/residents, and it instills confidence in your business. <\/p>\n

    \u201cIf you\u2019re not adequately looking after the health and wellbeing of those in your care, you will have people leaving after a disaster when loved ones see that the care of their mother was not what was expected.\u201d<\/p>\n

    Contact your Gordon Food Service Sales Representative to learn more about sample menus and shelf-stable products, including the partnership with Meals For All emergency preparedness.<\/p>\n

    \"A<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Planning is the first step to keeping people safe, adequately fed and hydrated during a disaster.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":15526,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5414","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-running-your-business"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nIs Your Healthcare Community Ready for an Emergency?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/gfs.com\/es-us\/ideas\/your-healthcare-community-ready-emergency\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"es_ES\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Is Your Healthcare Community Ready for an Emergency?\" 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