Emergency Management | Plans & Templates

CHC Emergency Program
The CHC Emergency Management Program (EMP) is an ongoing process to preventing, preparing for, managing and recovering from disasters and other emergency incidents that occur internally or externally that impact CHC operations. The EMP should include a Comprehensive Emergency Management (CEM) approach to planning, including "all hazards" planning and recognition of the four phases of disaster and emergencies. CEM addresses disasters in a cycle of four phases: mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery. Each phase includes definitive actions. This table lists the four phases and examples of activities. Click here for CEM Phases table

Developing Your CHC Emergency Management Plan
To be successful, the EMP should be deliberate and follow an organized process. The CHC Executive Director (ED) should establish his/her direction for the CHC's EMP and provide oversight for the program development. The ED, however, does not realistically become involved in every detail of the program. Instead, the ED should assign trusted staff members to organize the program and provide oversight for its development. This diagram cites the nine steps essential in developing an EMP.
Click here for Nine Phases diagram

Hazard Vulnerability Analysis and Templates
A significant component of the EMP is the Emergency Operations Plan (EOP). The initial phase of developing the EMP and EOP involves conducting a hazard vulnerability analysis (HVA) of the CHC. The analysis allows the CHC to assess the specific hazards and threats unique to the CHC, its community and geographical area. When conducting the analysis, it is important to call upon the local or county Emergency Management Agency (EMA) and the Local Health Department (LHD). In addition, the CHC will have unique internal hazards that need to be addressed. Hazards are divided into three categories:
1. Naturally Occurring Events; 2. Human Related Events; 3. Hazardous Materials Events. The linked file includes HVA Instructions and three Templates for the four categories of hazards.
Click here for the HVA Instructions file and click here for the template

Conducting a HVA for Your Health Center
Below please find a link for the presentation and recording of a recent WebEx session on Conducting a Hazard Vulnerability Assessment for Your Health Center.  Please feel free to share this link with any interested folks in your state.

• To access the HVA presentation, please click here

• To access the HVA recording, copy and paste this link into your internet browser: https://nachc.webex.com/nachc/lsr.php?AT=pb&SP=TC&rID=20943202&act=pb&rKey=BBA740604F23E470  (If the link doesn’t work for you, try cutting and pasting it into your internet browser).  You will need to install a player to listen to it – just follow the prompts to do this and then the recording will automatically begin.

Standard Operating Procedures and Templates
Once the initial HVAs are completed by the individual CHC, Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) will need to be developed for each hazard that scores a 2 or higher. SOPs on all significant hazards will become part of the EOP and should be reviewed by all CHC staff at least annually. More SOPs may be developed as additional hazards emerge or are identified. Please contact Jenifer Nelson at jnelson@indianapca.org to request a CD with the various CHC SOP templates.

Decontamination Templates
The standard operating procedure for Radiation Exposure addresses decontamination issues. For additional templates or information please review these resources. This template can be found here, available through the Department of Veterans Affairs and provides elements that would be useful.

Further information regarding decontamination in health care facilities is available through the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) at the following link.

A template for use in labs is available here.

Evacuation Plan
An information guide for evacuation plans for CHCs has been developed.  This guide is intended to provide CHCs with a template to enhance their ability to respond to an emergency that requires evacuation of their premises.  Please click here for the  Evacuation Plan Guide.

For more information about this program, please contact:
 
Jenifer Nelson
Emergency Management Program Director
Indiana Primary Health Care Association
Phone: (317) 630-0845
Fax:     (317) 630-0849
jnelson@indianapca.org