On this page, you will find the information you
need about healthcare facility disaster plan
reviews, along with other pertinent information
on disaster response.
Disaster Plan Reviews
Pinellas County Emergency Management reviews all healthcare facility plans on an annual basis as required by state statute. Assisted Living Facilities may receive a letter indicating that they only need to fill out the letter, attach their evacuation agreement, and return it to Emergency Management. All other facilities are required to send in their plans annually. The approval certificate you received last year shows the next review date. Plans are only accepted 60 days in advance of the review date on your previous approval certificate. You may mail your plan in on a flash drive only or send by email to emahc@pinellascounty.org. We will provide you with a response stating we are in receipt of your plan.
We have 60 days to review your plan and get it back to you. You will either get a letter stating your plan has been approved and the cost for the review (you must pay by cashier’s check or money order) or you will get your plan back with a letter indicating the areas that are not in compliance. Certificates of approval will be mailed once payment has been received.
What
We Review
We use the state statute, AHCA outline for your particular healthcare facility, and the Pinellas County Healthcare Criteria 
to review your plan. (Statutes with outlines are posted at the top of this page.) These are the minimum requirements needed to approve your plan. Please
download the outline
link above for your type of facility, fill in the page
numbers indicating where the information can
be found and insert the outline at the front
of your plan. This will ensure that you have
included all required information and allow
us to quickly review your plan.
Some common errors we see in
reviewing plans are:
- Emergency Status System. Insert registration page in your plan!
- Missing
Fire Plan Approval. Approval
must be obtained from your local fire marshal
prior to sending the plan to us. It is not
the same as your fire inspection.
- Coordination
between Plan and Agreements. If your plan says you are evacuating to XYZ
Facility, your agreement needs to be with
XYZ Facility.
- Evacuation
Agreements. If you are in
an evacuation zone, you must have an agreement
with a facility in a non-evacuation zone for
evacuation. If you are in a non-evacuation
zone, you can have an agreement with anyone. Note: Pinellas County Emergency Management will not accept plans that list public shelters such as, but not limited to, special needs shelters, as appropriate means for facilities to evacuate their residents to. Emergency Management is the final administrative authority for emergency plans per Florida Administrative Code and Florida State Statute.
- Water. You must have three gallons of water available
per person per day for seven days; one of
those gallons must be potable (drinkable)
water. This water must be on hand, not to
be delivered. You may use collapsible containers
that you fill at the onset of a storm. You
may also count the water in hot water heaters
as long as you isolate the heaters prior to
losing water pressure. For the Non-potable
water (for washing) you may use sinks, tubs
or plastic tubs with plastic liners.
- Transportation. You must address how you are going to get
your residents to the shelter.
- Assistance. If you state in your plan that someone is
going to help you, for example with evacuation
location or transportation, then you must
include a current signed agreement with them.
- Agreements. The statue defines the agreements
as, current signed agreement. Even if your
agreement is for five years, you should have
the agreement reviewed (dated and initialed)
annually.
- Shelter
in Place. Your plan should
include the actions you will take to shelter
in place as well as your evacuation plan.
In most cases you will not evacuate unless
there is a severe storm. We have only evacuated
at level C once in Pinellas County.
- Extra information in your Plan. If your information contains outdated information (over 1 year old), please remove it and use a history folder at your facility. The plan you turn into Emergency Management should contain the most current and up to date information you have on file. If this information is over one year old, it needs to be updated.
If you need assistance with
your plan, please call us; we can help you.
We cannot find an evacuation location for you,
but we can make some suggestions and provide
you with a list of non-evacuation facilities.
Evacuation
Level
Some evacuation levels have
changed in the county due to better elevation
information. If you are a hospital or nursing
home, the evacuation level that shows up on
the general evacuation-level maps or website's
may not be your precise evacuation level. We
check your location specifically to determine
your evacuation level when we review your plan.
If you are concerned that you may not know your
correct evacuation level, please provide us
with the finished floor elevation of your facility
and we will check it for you. If you are interested
in a variance or vertical evacuation, please
call us.
Disaster
Notification
There are several ways we can
notify you of impending evacuations or emergency
situations other than the television or radio.
If you provide us with your e-mail address or
fax number, we can put you on the list to receive
our situation reports (sitreps). These reports
are sent out when there is an active weather
system that may threaten us and as a once-a-month
test. If you would like to be added to our sitrep
list, please e-mail us at ema@pinellascounty.org or fax us at (727) 464-4024.
Receive alerts about emergencies and other important community news by signing up for Alert Pinellas, an emergency notification service for Pinellas County, Local Municipalities, and the Sheriff’s Office. This service is FREE to our residents. It allows you to sign up to receive urgent messages on a variety of situations, such as severe weather, boil water notices, missing persons, or evacuations.
Signing up is quick and you can opt-out easily at any time. Subscribing to this service will allow Pinellas County to let you know when you have to evacuate due to a hurricane and when it’s safe to go home. You will also be notified about other local emergencies.
Disaster Plan Guidance Tool for Assisted Living Facilities & Skilled Nursing Facilities
There are multiple tools available for developing disaster plans for emergencies, such as hurricanes and other disasters. These tools include software packages, classes offered at St. Pete College, conferences, and workshops offered throughout the year by multiple vendors. These tools can provide healthcare administrators, corporate representatives, owners, and key emergency management staff with powerful information for developing all-hazards emergency plans.
Recovery
Please tell us when you have
evacuated and to what location. Also, if you
have problems after the storm with damage, loss
of utilities, etc., please contact us by calling
the Citizens Information Center at (727) 464-4333
and telling the operator that you want to speak
to someone in EOC Healthcare. We will need to
know what your situation is and what type of
help you need. You may also use the emergency
EOC number you were provided.
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