Last updated on June 15th, 2023
September is National Preparedness Month, which means it’s a great time to make a community plan for any type of emergency that could happen in the future. A few months ago, we explored how to create an emergency plan for a pandemic like COVID-19. But, a pandemic isn’t the only crisis that can affect your community. Hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, wildfires, snowstorms, and other disasters can happen and will change how your dining program operates.
The 2020 National Preparedness Month theme is “Disasters Don’t Wait. Make Your Plan Today.” By starting now and following ready.gov’s four steps, you can ensure that your food service team is prepared for anything.
1. Make a Plan.
Your food service team should be aware of your community’s overall emergency plan and have a plan of their own for how to handle food preparation. Create a short-term and long-term plan for each type of disaster that could affect your community. For example, if your community is in Florida, you definitely want to have a hurricane plan, but a specific plan for snowstorms may not be necessary.
As part of this step, you’ll also need to create a communication plan. Ask your team questions like:
- How will we communicate with each other if the phone and internet service is down?
- How will we contact residents’ loved ones?
- Will we have a central meeting place?
- Where can we serve food if there is damage to dining facilities?
- What will happen if it isn’t safe for our regular food service team to get to work?
- If we contract with outside companies, will these services be stopped and how will that affect residents?
Once you have a plan in place, run drills to make sure it works. Make sure your team can make breakfast without power, lunch without water, and even prepare meals outside. If you find any issues during the drills, update your plan accordingly. Make sure you run drills at least once a year to keep your team knowledgeable and your plan as up to date as possible.
2. Build a Kit.
Now that you have a plan in place, determine what supplies you’ll need for that plan to run as smoothly as possible. This list from ready.gov details the basic supplies anyone may need in an emergency kit, but your food service team will need to plan emergency food and water for all residents and potentially staff for a few days. Work with your team to determine how you will provide all residents with three meals a day. Stock one week’s worth of non-perishable food supplies and emergency supplies (like lanterns and water for cleaning). Go through this stockpile regularly to ensure expired items are disposed of and replaced.
Also, talk with your food vendors now to set up an order of predetermined foods that you can call for if a disaster hits. The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics has a great 7-day disaster menu here that your team can use as a template. They recommend using up all perishable items first if food supply chains or delivery is disrupted. Don’t forget to make special plans for residents with certain dietary needs (like allergies or textured-modified foods).
Depending on the disaster, you may experience power, gas, and/or water shortages. That’s why you should always have an emergency stockpile of bottled water at your community to ensure you can still hydrate your residents in an emergency.
3. Prepare for Disasters.
For this step, ready.gov recommends understanding the risk of disasters in your area and checking your insurance coverage. Your team should also know how to get emergency alerts from authorities during different types of disasters.
Because you’ve already created an emergency plan, make sure it’s also written down somewhere (or in multiple places) so it’s easy for staff to access and understand. Once your plan is written out, send it to emergency/disaster agencies in your area, and ask them for feedback.
Train new staff on this plan as part of your onboarding process. You should also include a copy of this emergency plan in resident admission packets so everyone at your community is well-versed in what to do if disaster strikes.
4. Teach about Preparedness.
Talk with your residents as a whole about your emergency preparedness plan. Make sure they know how they will be fed and hydrated during emergencies and patiently answer any questions they may have.
Make personal plans for residents who need special diets, medications, equipment, or other support services. Go over the personal plans with each resident one on one to help them feel safe and like their needs will still be met if an emergency were to happen. We also recommend reviewing these plans with your residents’ families and/or caretakers. This will make them feel confident that their loved one is in good hands at your community.
Are You Prepared?
The FEMA website is a great resource for more specifics about how your community can create an emergency preparedness plan. We also recommend talking with other communities nearby and sharing disaster plans with each other. This way, you may be able to see where yours is lacking or help other communities with steps they may have missed.
The team at Culinary Services Group can also help your food service team plan for emergencies. Our staff is well-trained in emergency protocol, and we have experience working with vendors to set up emergency supply orders so communities have everything they need in case of a natural disaster.
If you’d like to learn more about how we can help your community prepare for emergencies, contact us here.
