Senior Residential and Assisted Care Living

Is senior residential living or assisted living in your future?  Please put Emergency Planning on your list of features you expect from such a facility. They are required by state law to have a Plan and practice it annually. You can ask a facility’s marketing manager “Does this facility have an Emergency Plan?  May I see it?”  Better yet, ask for a copy you can take home and read leisurely.  Let the marketing manager know that the emergency preparedness of their facility is every bit as important to you as apartment lay-out, meal quality and activities.  

Or perhaps you have loved ones in care facilities.  Please go to the general manager and ask to see their Emergency Plan.  Ask when it was last practiced.  This is a cordial, not a confrontational conversation.  You are advocating for the safety and well-being of your loved one, and, for that matter, all others in that facility – residents and staff.

If appropriate to the health and awareness level of your loved one, go over the Plan with them so they understand it.  Prepare a basic emergency kit for them in a “Stair Climber” or similar light weight wheelie they can keep in their closet.  

Make sure the kit includes toileting and/or incontinent supplies, water, favorite snacks, a hygiene kit and a money belt they could wear next to their body, under clothing (or keep in the kit),  It should include keys, special photos, emergency whistle on a lanyard (to wear), list of primary contacts.  

Some facilities are owned by corporations headquartered outside of Utah. That does not relieve them of their responsibility to have an effective and practiced Emergency Plan.