Disaster Plan from the University of Tennessee/Memphis

Tom Singarella, Director of the University of Tennessee/Memphis Health Sciences Library and Biocommunications Center, sent his library’s Emergency and Disaster Recovery Plan, which can be used as a sample plan, especially for resource libraries. It’s a great plan, and thanks, Tom, for sending it, also many thanks to Richard Nollan, chair of their emergency preparedness committee.

University of Tennessee/Memphis Emergency and Disaster Recovery Plan

SWVaHILI Meeting

The Southwest Virginia Health Information Librarians met at the University of Virginia’s Health Sciences Library on Friday, March 7, 2008.  The focus of the meeting was the introduction of NN/LM’s National Emergency Preparedness and Response plan.  Participants had received the following questions in preparation for the meeting:

• list any emergency situations that have or could disrupt patient care at your hospital
• prioritize a list of three services that you feel are most important to your patrons
• prioritize a list of five online resources that you feel are most important to your patrons
• prioritize a list of five print resources that you feel are most important to your patrons
• list any unique resources at your library that would be at risk if your building suffered a disaster
• what information sources that you provide access to would likely be needed by patient care personnel in the event of a disaster?  What services?

The answers to the questionnaire created a lively discussion about the topic, and generated some helpful feedback.   

Heritage Preservation says “Do one thing…”

Heritage Preservation is encouraging cultural institutions to observe May Day this year by reviewing our preparedness situations, starting with “Do one thing for emergency preparedness.” There are some good suggestions for all of us with regard to our disaster plans and preparedness activities, plus some information about classes and other resources available for use in planning. Check it out here: http://www.heritagepreservation.org/PROGRAMS/TFlessons/MayDayInfo.html

HealthVault: Secure, Online Storage for Health Info

Microsoft has released a new software and services platform, HealthVault, to help people store and manage their health information online, as well as search for health information.  This looks like an excellent resource for use by people in disaster-prone areas, such as hurricane and tornado alleys.  Keeping health-related records “off-site” through a service such as HealthVault would enable people who are suddenly displaced to retrieve information about prescriptions, medical records, etc. from anywhere.  We know, from the lessons learned courtesy of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, that many people who were forced to evacuate were not able to remember the names of their medications in many cases, recalling only the color and the number of pills they usually took.

Could promoting this be a role for librarians, especially in hospital settings?

Seasonal Update Time

For those of us who update our emergency preparedness plans with the change in seasons, we need to be thinking about the end-of-year/winter update. Probably the most significant event to consider is severe winter storms.  As well as updating our work-related information, such as phone numbers and service continuity procedures in case staff don’t make it into work, we should all take a look at our own personal preparedness at home, so we don’t become casualties ourselves!

A Simplified Approach to Disaster Planning Presentation

Click on the file below to view our PowerPoint presentation on A Simplified Approach to Disaster Planning.

simplified.ppt

THeSLA Report

An outcome of the THeSLA meeting in Nashville (see earlier post) is that the report of the meeting provides an excellent example of how a group can collaborate about emergency preparedness, identify goals and establish a timeline for accomplishing them. The THeSLA meeting and results as shown in the report (click on the link below) provide a very reasonable model for other states or consortia who are interested in initiating an organized emergency response plan. If you are interested in planning such a meeting or have any questions, please feel free to contact us.

THeSLA Meeting Report

MAC Meeting Features Emergency Response Topics

The Mid-Atlantic Chapter (MAC) of MLA met last week in Baltimore, MD for their annual meeting.  The program featured several emergency response planning topics:

• keynote address:  Georges Benjamin, MD, FACP, FACEP(E), American Public Health Association, Washington, DC.  Dr. Benjamin spoke on “Building Community Resilience:  Ensuring Emergency Preparedness”
• poster presentation featuring this site (Disaster Planning for Health Sciences Libraries) as an example of how a blog can function as an information resource
• NN/LM update:  Janice Kelly gave an overview of NN/LM activities including the creation of the National Emergency Preparedness Plan task force.  Janice was introducing Dan Wilson, who would be speaking about the plans being developed, when the hotel’s alarm began to sound and everyone had to evacuate the building!  Fortunately, we were allowed back inside within about 15 minutes, and Dan was able to quickly go through his presentation, which included an overview of the plan in process, the outcomes of the THeSLA meeting, and the basics of the response procedure at this time.

Successful Strategies for Emergency Planning…

Here’s an outline of what we talked about at the THeSLA meeting with regard to creating disaster plans for our organizations. Rather than focus on creating a comprehensive plan, which is the result of following the “Susan’s suggestions” thread here in the blog, I thought it might be more helpful to become aware of some alternatives that are already available to us and will not require the time commitment involved in creating a plan “from scratch.” So the “20 Tips” topic evolved into “Successful Strategies for Emergency Response Planning.”

1. Consider the scope of planning you will need for collections, your facility, people in your building, and for continuing your services.

2. Assess risks that exist in your area (natural, environmental, human-caused, facility).

3. Prioritize your collection for salvage: determine what is irreplaceable or core to your collection, and what is essential to your patrons. Order supplies for dealing with a “water incident,” particularly (see salvage companies/vendors links here on the blog). See the NEDCC’s Preservation Leaflets for instructions!

4. Identify your essential services and make plans to continue them during an emergency, both on-site and from a remote location. Develop partnerships with other libraries and remember the RML’s emergency number: 1-800-DEV-ROKS!

5. Some templates and/or guides to creating your plan:

• dPlan: maintained by NEDCC, provides templates for creating your plan, walks you through step-by-step, offers links to more information about risk factors, saves your input so you can work in small increments of time, creates a nice PDF document for you when you’re done.
• PReP: COSA’s Pocket Response Plan can be easily customized for libraries. It is available as a Word document or in PDF format at their site.
• SOLINET’s disaster planning guide: offers a template, lists of resources for salvage companies and supplies, etc.
• in planning for safety of people, consult existing sources for appropriate procedures…your institution’s critical incident management site (the one for UVa), a university’s emergency response information, FEMA, Homeland Security, your state’s Emergency Management web site.

6. Plan to update your plan regularly, at least once a year. Re-assess your risk situation and make sure all contact information is up to date.

7. Stay in touch! Check the blog (this one!) frequently for updates, be aware of local circumstances that may have an effect on your planning. Bookmark the NN/LM RML’s Emergency Preparedness web site and keep up with their planning. If you have questions, or would like to make suggestions, please send me an email: ssy2n@virginia.edu. Good luck!

Dan’s presentation: http://www.slideshare.net/dtw2t/t-he-sla-presentation1107

New Post for Dan

Our blog creator/editor, Dan Wilson, has been named Coordinator of NN/LM’s National Emergency Preparedness Plan. He will be working with leaders from all eight RMLs to put together the national plan through coordinating the regions’ activities in emergency preparedness. The target date for announcing the national plan is the first week in January, 2008. Congratulations, Dan!