EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS PLANNING

LeadingAge Massachusetts has been one of the leading organizations involved in the development of a Statewide Mutual Aid Plan (MassMAP) for Evacuation and Resources / Assets. This plan, the first of its kind in the nation, establishes a course of action and an agreed commitment among participating nursing homes, assisted living residences and residential care facilities (rest homes) to assist each other as needed in the time of a disaster.

Assistance may come in the form of:

  • Providing pre-designated evacuation locations for residents during a disaster; and/or 
  • Providing or sharing supplies, equipment, transportation, staff or pharmaceuticals to a facility when a disaster overwhelms their own community or exceeds the capability of internal emergency preparedness plans.

Why should you join this initiative? 
While your facility may already be part of a community based Mutual Aid Plan or incorporated into your Company’s overall emergency and/or evacuation plan process this unique statewide plan will supplement those existing resources when the local or corporate plan is overwhelmed by a regional disaster.

Benefits to participating include:

  • Preplanned Evacuation Strategy - fast evacuation (i.e. Fire/Gas Leak) and delayed evacuation (i.e. Hurricane/Loss of Emergency Power.) 
  • Preplanned Supply, Equipment and Pharmaceutical Support when Isolated. 
  • Provide local public safety incident commanders with easy on-site access to user-friendly plans including contact information for evacuation resources and key personnel. 
  • Provide local EMS commander with resources needed to efficiently identify, transfer and track residents to pre-designated receiving sites and facilities. 
  • Development of proactive Communications for ALL parties (healthcare, emergency agencies). 
  • Plan requirements meet DPH, Elder Affairs and Joint Commission disaster drill requirements and allow for community participation in disaster preparedness. 

There is a one-time fee to join the MAP, which covers the cost of developing the plan, and then a minimal annual fee is assessed to participating facilities to cover the costs of maintaining the plan, holding meetings and running drills. For more information and to register online, go to www.massmap.org.   

MassMAP Documents

Please visit the MassMAP website for a complete and up-to-date list of all documents.  You will find these documents listed in chronological order in the left-hand column of that website.