LTC Safety

California Laws and Regulations

The need for formal emergency preparedness in Residential Care Facilities for the Elderly (RCFEs) was addressed by AB 749, which was signed into law in 2008 and added section 1569.695 to the California Health and Safety Code. This section specifies that RCFEs must have an emergency plan that includes the following:

 

       SNF Disaster Preparedness Plan Tool

       RCFE Self-Assessment Guide Emergency &        

       Disaster Preparedness

• Evacuation procedures

• Plans for the community to be self-reliant for a minimum of 72 hours following any emergency disaster, including, but not limited to, a long-term power failure

• Transportation needs and evacuation procedures that ensure the facility can communicate with emergency response personnel

• The facility has the ability to access the information regarding which emergency routes are to be used in the event of an evacuation/relocation, due to a disaster

• Procedures that address, but are not limited to, all of the following:

  • Provision of emergency power such as identification of suppliers of backup generators

  • Responding to individual residents’ needs in the event emergency call buttons are inoperable

  • Process for communicating with residents, families, hospice providers, and others, as appropriate, by communicating through landline telephones, cellular telephones, or walk-talkies

  • Administration and assistance with medication

  • Storage and preservation of medications

  • The operation of electric powered assistive medical devices, such as oxygen equipment and wheelchairs

  • A process for identifying residents with special needs.