Group Care Disaster Preparedness

Disasters can happen at any time of the year, so to adequately prepare, the group care program recommends using the residential group care preparedness toolkit.

The group care preparedness toolkit is designed as a completely customizable preparedness planning tool for any type of residential facility, but especially those serving the disabled and/or vulnerable populations. Its purpose is to assist facility owners, operators, managers and/or administrators in preparing for and responding to issues that arise as a result of a disaster or emergency. While this toolkit is designed to be as comprehensive as possible, it is not an all-inclusive toolkit, but one that can be tailored to each facility by providing a one-stop resource of emergency preparedness forms, procedures, assessments and checklists.

The assessment questionnaires were created based on identified environmental and public health issues, which were recognized by various preparedness resources nationwide, as key needs from previous disaster events. Using this tool will enable a residential facility to be better prepared and better able to respond in the case of a disaster and be prepared to keep their residents and employees protected. This toolkit is not part of any regulatory standard but is available and encouraged to be used by anyone who may benefit from it use.