CDC Hurricane resources

http://www.emergency.cdc.gov/disasters/hurricanes/

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) offer a useful tool to help citizens and responders prepare and respond to, and recover from hurricanes and tropical storms. There are podcasts, videos, sign language videos, and more to help you and your family prepare for hurricanes.

Tropical Storm Fay is currently impacting Florida. Residents should stay tuned to local media for their weather reports. Florida Dialysis providers should notify Network 7 of any issues or facility closures due to the storm. Dialysis providers needing technical assistance should call 813-383-1530. There is also a patient hotline, 800-826-3773.

CMS Draft Interpretive Guidelines Published

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has posted the “draft” interpretive guidance that will guide the survey process for the new ESRD Conditions for Coverage.

The document includes the regulatory language that was published as a final rule for the ESRD program in the Federal Register on April 15, 2008, as well as regulatory text that was incorporated by reference in that final rule.

Comments and rationale pertaining to the “draft” Interpretive Guidelines can be submitted to the CMS mailbox at ESRDSurvey@cms.hhs.gov no later than 5:00 p.m. Eastern time on August 18, 2008. A template to submit comments and rationale is included in the guideline document.

You can locate the “draft” Interpretive Guideline document on the FMQAI website at http://www.fmqai.com/ESRD/.

Disaster Training & Education

The Kidney Community Emergency Response (KCER) Coalition developed a new webpage to assist the kidney community in locating low/no cost training and education options. www.kcercoalition.com/education.htm provides a brief list of free online courses on emergency planning, disaster basics, healthcare focused planning, and more. If you know of a low/no cost program, please let us know!

All Hazards I: Identifying and Preparing for Potential Emergencies and Disasters.
This free online continuing education course will provide 1.0 continuing education contact hour for Florida nurses, social workers, and dietitians. This is an exciting opportunity for dialysis providers to fulfill the CMS Conditions for Coverage which outline staff training on disasters. For more information on the course, visit http://edu.flqio.org/ and click on "ESRD Courses."

FEMA Independent Study Courses at the Emergency Management Institute (EMI) http://www.training.fema.gov/is

The Emergency Management Institute (EMI) offers online, self-paced courses designed for people who have emergency management responsibilities and the general public. Courses are free-of-charge to those who qualify for enrollment. These courses can provide education on disaster planning, mock disaster exercise planning, and more. Some courses are healthcare-specific, including:

• IS-100.HC: Introduction to the Incident Command System for Healthcare/Hospitals
• IS-197.SP Special Needs Planning Considerations for Service and Support Providers
• IS-200.HC Applying ICS to Healthcare Organizations
• IS-808 Emergency Support Function (ESF) #8 – Public Health and Medical Services
  

CDC Public Health Training Network
http://www2.cdc.gov/PHTN/alpha.asp

South Central Center for Public Health Preparedness
http://www.soph.uab.edu/scphp/

The Johns Hopkins Center for Public Health Preparedness
http://www.jhsph.edu/preparedness/training/online/index.html


If you would like to add a course or website to this list, please email sburris@nw7.esrd.net.

2008 KCER Exercise

The Kidney Community Emergency Response (KCER) Coalition hosted an annual mock disaster drill on July 17, 2008. This activity provided training and practice to KCER Coalition members. It also demonstrated that the KCER Coalition can support CMS, the ESRD Networks, members of the kidney community, and individuals with kidney disease during an actual emergency. The 2008 KCER Exercise aimed to validate the capability to initiate each Response Team’s activation plan and coordinate comprehensive response activities.


Design

KCER Coalition members are dispersed throughout the country. Communication between team members is limited to telephone, email, and fax transmissions. Due to these geographic constraints, the 2008 KCER Exercise combined principles from orientation seminars and tabletop exercises. The KCER Response Teams utilized their charters and activation plans to familiarize other KCER Coalition members with their roles and responsibilities.


The Exercise

More than 50 people registered for the KCER Exercise. Representatives from all the ESRD Networks and each of the eight Response Teams actively participated in the exercise. The 2008 KCER Exercise was set in “Metropolis.” This fictional city was the setting for extended severe weather, rainfall, and a landslide event impacting municipal power and water supplies, and thus, dialysis operations.

An orientation provided an overview for participants regarding roles, plans, procedures, and equipment. KCER staff then simulated an emergency situation using a facilitated discussion-based exercise. Coalition members participated in three distinct modules:

· Module 1: Incident Notification
· Module 2: Initial Response
· Module 3: Ongoing Operations and Recovery

Each module began with an update via conference call to summarize the key events occurring within that time period. Participants read through the scenarios and developed response actions to each module, engaging in functional group discussions related to response issues via direct telephone calls, conference calls, and emails. Each Response Team documented its actions and identified potential problems for all three modules.

Following completion of the last module, all exercise participants were asked to submit feedback and evaluation forms. The feedback form was a tool to allow each participant to voice their experiences during the exercise, while the evaluation tool assessed the usefulness and effectiveness of the activity.

Follow-Up

All participants were asked to join the debriefing conference call on Friday, July 19th to discuss any issues and lessons learned. Several questions and best practices were discussed, which will ultimately lead to a more efficient response in the future. Two examples were:

• Recommendation for an online training course that outlines the purpose of disaster exercises and how these activities apply to the Coalition.
• Need for a new member packet to ensure that new Coalition members understand the Coalition’s mission, activities, Response Teams, and their own roles and responsibilities as a Coalition member.
  

Participants on the debrief conference call expressed that the exercise structure and length were appropriate for the activity. It was recommended that the structure and length remain the same for next year’s exercise.

FMQAI is currently summarizing all feedback and evaluation forms, which will be documented in the 2008 KCER Exercise Final Report, to include concerns, as well as ideas for solutions. This Report will be a useful tool for future KCER activities, and will assist in continuously improving the renal community’s ability to provide uninterrupted quality care to our ESRD patients during emergencies.

Community Partners

The Kidney Community Emergency Response (KCER) Coalition would like to reach out to emergency management agencies across the U.S. to provide education on the unique requirements of individuals living with end stage renal disease (ESRD).

KCER mailed out 450 Community Partner Packets to state and federal emergency management, public health preparedness centers, and legislators on homeland security and emergency management committees. Thank you to all the KCER Coalition members who made this packet such a success!

For more information, or to download your own packet, visit http://www.kcercoalition.com/CPP.htm