Marianwood leads charge in emergency preparedness

After an estimated 140 people died in nursing homes following Hurricane Katrina, nursing homes across the country realized that they needed to vamp up their emergency preparedness plans, and here in Issaquah, Providence Marianwood is leading that charge.

A little over a year ago, Marianwood’s staff members — using funds provided by a grant from the Boeing Employees Community Fund — filled a large storage trailer to capacity with supplies to help patients, staff and even their families survive a disaster.

“It used to be that you would have a three-day supply and then move to another facility,” Providence Marianwood Director Richard Shreder said.

Marianwood staff did some research and found that in an event of an emergency, they would most likely be on their own for at least three days.

“We needed to know, how do we take care of the people,” Providence Marianwood Foundation Director Steve Gallion said.

So they created a wish list, filled with items such as generators to power the entire building, tents, cots, bedding, medical supplies, tarps and military rations, better known as MREs.

Then, with list in hand, Marianwood received a $37,000 grant from the Boeing fund.

“The money came, and the shopping began,” Gallion said.

With the supplies from the trailer, the nursing home can create a whole separate facility outside of its current buildings, in case of a disaster that causes an unstable structure. The most likely scenario in Washington would be an earthquake.

The generators, which are kept in the building, are used whenever the power goes off in the building, including a case last month when the power was off for three hours.

For the most part, the trailer is now complete, and staff members are beginning the process of finalizing plans for what to do in an emergency. Some supplies in the trailer need to be replaced as time goes on, such as the MREs.

Dependent on funding, Marianwood officials are considering adding a second trailer so that their building can be used as an emergency site by neighbors in an disaster.

The city of Issaquah has two sites, including the Community Center, which can be used in case of an emergency. But anytime that an outside agency can help is great for the city, said Steve Campbell, Issaquah’s Emergency Management Coordinator.

“It’s a great asset to the community,” Campbell said. “It’s neighbors taking care of neighbors.”

Campbell toured the trailer last week to offer his expertise and make a few suggestions.

“They’ve got some great ideas,” Campbell said. “They’ve done a very good job.”

Kyra Low can be reached at klow@reporternewspapers.com or 391-0363, ext. 5052

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