Hurricane Chester Exercise Instructions
Leadership Project:
Emergency Preparedness and Response Planning Exercise Superstorm Scenario: Adult Residential Care Facility, Queens, NY
Introduction and Background:
You are the executive in charge of an adult care residential facility that serves persons who suffer from a range of mental illnesses and physical disabilities but are functional and independent. The facility is located at Rockaway Beach which borders the Atlantic Ocean and is a barrier island in the Borough of Queens, in New York City, New York. The area is suburban and primarily residential. Weather reports have been predicting a superstorm. (http://www.promenadenh.com//) and MapQuest at 140 Beach 114th St, Rockaway Park, NY 11694.
The facility normally houses 200 – 240 residents. The building is seven stories high, and residents primarily have private units with private baths. Services include a dining room serving three meals a day. Meals are served in rooms for residents unable to go to the dining room. The facility includes common areas, activities and recreation, physical and occupational therapy room, a pharmacy, laundry, transportation, 24–hour security located at the entrance of the chapel, and a beauty/barber shop. A nurse is available 56 hours a week in the facility, and there is a 24×7. on–call nursing service In all, there are about 430 employees, full–time and part–time, to support the residents’ needs and maintain the facility.
Deliverables: The assignment includes:
1. Step 3: Exercise Report/Template
2. Step 4: An After–Action Report/Template
STEP 1: Learning Demonstration
Before writing your scenario deliverable, there are some tasks to accomplish that will assist you:
1. Locate the Facility via Google Earth and MapQuest.
a. Identify the major terrain features, e.g., flood plains, waterways, lakes, etc.?
b. Locate the major transportation networks, roadways, railways? (http://www.mapquest.com)
c. What other health care assets, such as hospitals, nursing homes, pharmacies, etc., available on the island that assist during a hurricane?
d. What might be the health care assets might be available in the New York City metropolitan area?
2. Become familiar with the resources of this facility. (http://www.promenadenh.com/services)
3. Local hospital resources.
a. Review the local options for emergency medical care in the Borough of Queens, New York, using a major search engine. Be especially attentive to the reviews of emergency room services by patients.
4. Review the information available from New York City Emergency Management Services (https://www1.nyc.gov/site/em/index.page).
a. Locate the Facility on the Hurricane Evacuation Zone Finder Mapping Tool under “Find Your Zone” (www.nyc.gov/knowyourzone).
b. Locate the coastal storm preparedness materials for the Borough of Queens under “Know the Hazards” (www.nyc.gov/knowyourzone).
c. Given the extensive number of adult care facilities in Queens, what advantages/disadvantages do county emergency shelters have over the extant facilities sheltering their populations ‘in place’ during a major storm?
d. Does the facility have Memorandums of Understanding (MOU’s) or Mutual Aid Agreements (MAA’s) with either county agencies or other adult care facilities in the event of one or more such facilities experience a catastrophic failure?
a. Lee, L.G. (2013). A twenty–year recollection of the superstorm of March 1993 in the Western Carolinas and Extreme Northeast Georgia. NWS.
(https://www.weather.gov/media/gsp/localdat/cases/2013/Review_March1993 _Superstorm.pdf)
b. Review the general history of major winter storms throughout the region, especially the Blizzard of 1978, January Snowstorm of 1983, as well as other storms available at this resource. National Weather Service. (2014). “Major winter storms.” (http://www.weather.gov/aly/MajorWinterStorms).
c. Review the impact of Superstorm Sandy in October 2012, especially the lasting impact of the storm as well as other pertinent information such as the wind and gust speeds on Long Island even though little rain fell on the Island itself.
1) New York Times. Nursing Home Is Faulted Over Care After Storm (2012, November 9)
https://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/10/nyregion/queens–nursing–homeis–faulted–over–care–after–storm.html
2) British Broadcasting Company. Sandy – Anatomy of a Superstorm 2012 (https://youtu.be/y_JkKSmn1JM)
3) Kusisto, L. and Dawsey, J. (2014, June 17). Many displaced by superstorm sandy still wait for housing help. Wall Street Journal. (http://www.wsj.com/articles/many–displaced–by–superstorm–
sandy–still– wait–for–housing–help–1403060886).
4) Philadelphia/Mount Holly (2012). Storm summary for superstorm sandy. (http://www.erh.noaa.gov/phi/storms/10292012.html).
5) Daily News (2013). Hurricane Sandy, one year later: Long Island. (http://www.nydailynews.com/new–york/hurricane–sandy/hurricane–sandy– year–long–island–
struggles–article–1.1495359).
6) CoreLogic (2014). Superstorm sandy slams the north east with winds, storm surge, and flooding. (http://www.eqecat.com/catwatch/super–storm– sandy–slams–north–east–winds–storm–surge–flooding–2012–10–30/).
7) Additional information about Superstorm ‘Sandy.’ Satellite images and wind speed reports. (http://www.erh.noaa.gov/phi/reports/Sandy_for_Web.pdf).
8) Ecker, E. (2018, May 5). Brookdale, Sunrise share best practices for emergency evacuations in senior living. https://seniorhousingnews.com/2018/05/30/brookdale– sunrise–sharebest–practices–emergency–evacuations–senior–living/
