Welcome to the NVHA / NVERS Long Term Care Mutual Aid Plan
Facility Information Website
Long Term Care Mutual Aid Plan (LTC-MAP) for Evacuation and Resource / Asset Support
This plan establishes a course of action and an agreed commitment among participating nursing homes to assist each other as needed in the time of a disaster.
Assistance may come in the form of:
- Providing pre-designated evacuation locations for patients/residents during a disaster; and/or
- Providing or sharing supplies, equipment, transportation, staff or pharmaceuticals with a facility when a disaster overwhelms their own community or exceeds the capability of internal emergency operations plans.
Why is this initiative underway?
It has been identified in local, regional and national disasters that each community must have a proactive disaster plan - all disasters start locally. To supplement the Northern Virginia Hospital Alliance (NVHA) / Northern Virginia Emergency Response System (NVERS) operations, this unique plan will work to prepare all of the healthcare facilities to stand together in a disaster with pre-event planning for resources and assets.
Benefits to the participating facilities and their local responders include:
- Pre-event Planning for Evacuation Strategy - fast evacuation (e.g., fire/gas leak) with the potential need for the use of Stop Over Points; and delayed evacuation (e.g., hurricane/loss of emergency power)
- Web-based management system and emergency reporting system for real-time updates on bed capacity, operational status and resources/assets (Virginia Healthcare Alerting & Status System - VHASS).
- Pre-event staffing, supplies, equipment and pharmaceutical support when a facility is isolated or receiving an influx of patients/residents from another evacuating healthcare facility.
- Resources for local EMS commanders to efficiently identify, transfer and track patients/residents to pre-designated receiving facilities
- Proactive communications for ALL parties to stand up as one group - core activation and stand-down algorithm for all long-term care facilities and a Regional Healthcare Coordination Center (RHCC) to support regional coordination (supported by long-term care facility responders)
- Plans meet the Virginia Department of Health and Joint Commission disaster drill/exercise requirements and allow for community participation in disaster preparedness
- Situation Reports on the LTC-MAP group to partners throughout NVHA.