California Fires Trigger Steps To Safeguard More Than 20,000 Homecare Patients

Main Category: Caregivers / Homecare
Also Included In: Aid / Disasters
Article Date: 26 Oct 2007 - 3:00 PDT

email to a friend   printer friendly   opinions  

Homecare providers throughout Southern California have been scrambling to respond to the unprecedented fires sweeping through the region. About 20,000 patients served by Apria Healthcare alone have been displaced or face extreme smoke conditions, triggering implementation of their emergency response plans.

"The entire team in Southern California is working on our emergency response in some capacity, either by staffing the disaster shelters, conducting patient inquiry calls, or delivering oxygen and medical equipment directly to homes," said Steve Foreman, Apria's regional VP of operations for Southern California.

The company first contacted critical care patients in the region - for example those on ventilators or pediatric patients who require oxygen. "We reviewed the evacuation shelter list and equipment needs with them, such as assessing the status of their back-up batteries and portable suction units. Then we contacted or attempted to reach all respiratory patients to make sure that they had adequate supplies until we could get to them," said Foreman.

Apria says a number of shelters, the Red Cross, and other providers have contacted them for help. A nursing home in Orange County contacted their Tustin branch to see whether it could assist with evacuation and transfer of 45 people from a San Diego nursing home. Apria delivered 45 beds to the long-term care facility in Tustin so patients from San Diego could be evacuated without having to be hospitalized or sent to an emergency room.

San Diego-based SeQual Technologies reports that it provided emergency responders with 40 portable oxygen systems for distribution at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, where thousands of area residents have sought refuge in recent days.

Calendar

November is National Homecare Month

November 14 is World COPD Day
For details, see Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease: http://www.goldcopd.org.

American Association for Homecare Washington Legislative Conference, March 4-6, 2008
http://www.aahomecare.org

• Additional
• References
• Citations