Nutrition & Foodservice Edge Magazine - Jan/Feb 2021 - 31

with when disaster strikes is incomplete
supplies for the emergency meal plan.
Such a situation can be stress-inducing at
best, and an additional disaster at worst.
A well-managed inventory will save staff
time and money. If foodservice employees
'borrow' from their facility's emergency
food supply, it is often not noticed or
replaced until completing a periodic
inventory. Even worse, the shortage
may not be revealed until an emergency
or disaster is in progress or a survey is
underway.
Facilities must support a wide range of
elders, residents, and patients with a
myriad of health conditions, medical
diets, and texture modification needs.
A facility's plan must include meals that
can be easily prepared for everyone, are
consistent with diets, and will provide the
proper nutrition they need and deserve
in a disaster. Peanut butter and jelly
sandwiches, or sandwiches in general,
will not fit all the potential medical and
texture-modified diet needs and are
very labor intensive to make. Does the
emergency meal plan have diet extensions
or spreadsheets and a nutritional analysis
to ensure needs are being met?
No matter what the most common
disasters are in your geographic area,
there is at least one universal truth:
everyone needs an emergency evacuation
plan. The plan can include any number
of steps, depending on the facility layout
and local evacuation routes. It is crucial
to be prepared for a number of disaster
scenarios, and while there are plenty
of things to worry about during an
evacuation, having access to nutritious
food and water shouldn't be one of
them. Are you prepared to quickly move
emergency food and water supplies?
Can your emergency menu be prepared
without utilities?

Don't forget about water in the emergency
plan. The industry standard for water is
one gallon of water per person per day
with half used for cooking and half for
drinking. While water doesn't expire, the
packing material may leach into the water
and result in the need to replace it at
regular intervals. Note the manufacturer's
expiration date. Consider how easy the
emergency water supply is to dispense if
you shelter in place or need to evacuate.
Educate
As the old adage says, practice makes
perfect. Conducting comprehensive
training at least annually will identify
gaps in your plan and confirm the
capabilities and capacities of your current
system. Determine whether the facility
requires a full-scale disaster drill or a
tabletop exercise. Train all new and
existing staff and be sure that food and
nutrition services employees are included
in facility drills.
Components of a comprehensive training
program should include:
* An individualized facility hazard
vulnerability assessment
* Unique policies and procedures based
on the most-likely hazards
* An internal communication plan
* An annual review and update of the
emergency plan
* Training for all new and existing staff,
highlighting individual roles

* A plan for training annually
* A plan to document training
Emergency plans are needed, but how
good is the food and nutrition plan for
your facility? Does your facility have the
following?
* Written emergency plans
* Trained staff
* Tests of the emergency plan with drills
* Disaster menus that can be used if the
kitchen is destroyed or the facility is
evacuated
* Disaster menus with nutritional
analysis suitable for therapeutic
medical, religious, texture-modified,
and vegetarian diets, and for clients
with food allergies
* Food and water supply in-house for
at least three days, or up to 10 days
depending on the All-Hazards Approach
analysis, in case the memorandum of
understanding (MOU) with vendors
cannot be fulfilled
SUMMING IT UP
Consistent and comprehensive emergency
preparedness will enhance the resiliency
of facilities and prevent loss of life while
reducing disaster recovery costs. Now is
the time for action. Bolster your facility's
in-house emergency supplies for food and
water. Don't let your lack of emergency
preparedness be your next disaster. E

REFERENCES
1. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) U.S. Billion-Dollar Weather
and Climate Disasters (2020). https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/billions/, DOI: 10.25921/stkw7w73
2. Emergency Preparedness Acronym & Glossary List; Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief
and Emergency Assistance Act, as amended by Public Law 106-390, October 30, 2000,
Sec. 102. https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Provider-Enrollment-and-Certification/
SurveyCertEmergPrep/Downloads/CMS_EP_Acronym-Glossary_final.pdf Revised 9/2008

N U TR I TI O N & FO O DS E RV I C E EDGE | January-February 2021

https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/billions/ https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Provider-Enrollment-and-Certification/ https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Provider-Enrollment-and-Certification/

Nutrition & Foodservice Edge Magazine - Jan/Feb 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Nutrition & Foodservice Edge Magazine - Jan/Feb 2021