Nursing Facility & Assisted Living Facility Disaster Planning and Response Efforts
What’s happening: VHCA-VCAL was awarded grant funds to build an emergency preparedness infrastructure to support both Virginia’s nursing facilities (NFs) and assisted living facilities (ALFs).
- VHCA-VCAL is one of nine organizations awarded part of $9.9 million in funds to assist with ongoing COVID-19 response in nursing and long term care facilities (LTCFs).
- The grants are part of the VDH Virginia Long Term Care Infrastructure Pilot Project (VLIPP) program, which is being funded by the CDC.
Virginia Long Term Care Emergency Preparedness Symposium
May 30, 2024 | 8:30 am – 3:45 pm
Hilton Richmond Hotel & Spa/Short Pump
Overview: The Virginia Long Term Care Emergency Preparedness Symposium is a free event focused specifically on planning and preparedness needs of Virginia’s nursing facilities and assisted living communities. Leading experts, state and federal authorities, and long term care experts will focus on real world examples and scenarios to ensure you can prepare and respond to a variety of situations in the most appropriate way to safeguard your residents, visitors, and staff.
Who should attend: The symposium is intended for the individual who oversees your facility’s emergency preparedness plan. The event is intended for participants from both nursing facilities and assisted living facilities in Virginia. There is no fee to register for the symposium, but space is limited to one participant per facility.
2024 Webinars & Events
Coming up: Check out the upcoming events and make plans to attend.
May 7, 2024 | Cybersecurity Risk Assessment Webinar | Join by Zoom
April 25 an3 May 1, 2024 | Emergency Preparedness: Updates and Action Items for LTC & Assisted Living Webinars and Tabletop Exercises
- Webinar Presentation
- Tabletop Exercise Presentation
- Facility Level Questions
- Facility After-Action Report/Improvement Plan
VHCA-VCAL and and Incident Management Solutions (IMS) partnered to present these webinars on functional exercises.
- January 24, 2023 | What is a Functional Exercise? | Presentation Materials | CIDER HSEEP Quick Guide
- Febuary 21, 2024 | How to Prepare Your Team for a Functional Exercise
2023 Webinars
VHCA-VCAL and Jensen Hughes partnered to present these webinars on different incident-specific event topics identified as areas of interest for both nursing facility and assisted living facility providers.
- August 16, 2023 | How to Conduct a Hazard Vulnerability Assessment
- August 30, 2023 | Extreme Weather/HVAC Failure | Presentation Materials
- September 20, 2023 | Flooding | Presentation Materials
- October 25, 2023 | Hurricane – Before, During, and After | Presentation Materials
- November 29, 2023 | Loss of Communication Systems | Presentation Materials
Sign up by March 1 to participate in the upcoming functional exercises. You will participate in your own command centers as the exercise is managed from a central simulation cell. VHCA-VCAL and Incident Management Solutions (IMS) are hosting four functional exercises for Virginia LTC facilities.
- This exercise meets the CMS Emergency Preparedness Rule as an individual facility-based exercise
Participation in your region is recommended but not required:
- Eastern Region | March 6, 2024 | 9:00 am – 12:00 pm
- Central Region | March 6, 2024 | 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm
- Northern Region | March 7, 2024 | 9:00 am – 12:00 pm
- Southwest Region | March 7, 2024 | 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Use this form to RSVP for the functional exercise in your area. Then complete this required survey to help IMS coordinate the exercises.
- If you plan to participate in one of the functional exercises, you must complete the survey by March 1.
Tips on Conducting a Hazard Vulnerability Assessment
- Hazard Vulnerability Analysis (HVA) | How to Guide (May 30, 2023)
Other Resources
- Healthcare Facilities and Power Outages | Guidance for State, Local, Tribal, Territorial, and Private Sector Partners (fema.gov, August 2019)
- Preparing for a Tornado | Create a Tornado Emergency Plan (CDC.gov)
About the grant: VHCA-VCAL is partnering with Jensen Hughes and VDH to
- build an emergency preparedness infrastructure through collaboration, education, and other support of long term care facilities with the goal of improving their overall readiness and resiliency posture;
- provide a state-level voice and represent LTC facilities before the state on emergency preparedness issues;
- be a conduit of information for LTC facilities on emergency preparedness issues across the Commonwealth;
- identify emergency preparedness risks and vulnerabilities of LTC facilities; and
- provide emergency preparedness information and resources specific to LTC facilities to aid in addressing identified and emerging challenges and vulnerabilities.
All licensed NFs and ALFs in Virginia can participate in the project.
- The project will be completed by July 31, 2024.
Read more
- VHCA-VCAL Awarded Grant to Support Emergency Preparedness Efforts in Virginia’s Nursing Facilities and Assisted Living Communities
- $290,000 grant supports emergency preparedness efforts in assisted living (mcknightsseniorliving.com, February 15, 2023)
Questions? Email Jennifer Koeniger, ALFA, the emergency preparedness project coordinator.