Media Center

By James Phelan

Planning Ahead is Key for Senior Living Facilities

The common advice many give when faced with an active shooter situation is to Run, Hide, Fight. But what if the event happens in a place where the population doesn’t have those options?

Such an incident happened recently in New London, Ohio. A 70-year-old resident of a senior living facility opened fire on staff because he was upset that his repair requests had not been fulfilled. The shooter injured two employees before fatally shooting himself.

In a senior living facility, many of the residents may not be physically able to run, hide or fight.

Though each situation is different, having good communications and response plans can help, according to The Joint Commission.

Step 1: Create a plan to keep employees and patients safe. This could include locking down the facility and assigning roles to each employee on staff at the time of such an incident. Will they need to usher patients to safety behind closed doors? Will each person be responsible for a different task or area?

Consider if business will be interrupted. How will you continue to care for residents? Will you need to evacuate?

Step 2: Train and drill your employees. Ongoing training will be needed to help them understand their role in protecting residents, reporting to and working with law enforcement, and responding to the event.

Step 3: Meet with law enforcement to involve them in your plan. Make the authorities familiar with your building.

Step 4: Develop a communications plan to alert authorities, residents, caregivers, families and any other stakeholder involved. Create a script for alerting people of such incidents.

Step 5: Address and assess the event after it’s over. Conduct briefings with stakeholders.

You may need to provide counseling to residents, staff and other stakeholders.

Active assailant events can happen anywhere, anytime and they can disrupt or even shut down your organization.

Having the proper insurance coverage could mean the difference between reopening your doors or going out of business.

Oswald can help assess your risk and needs to find the right protection plan.

For more information, visit our Health Care and Aging Services Page or contact us below: