With the arrival of Spring and warm weather, comes the blossoming of flowers, leaves growing on the trees, and the potential for severe storms.
During the Spring, we can see a variety of weather hazards including:
- Heavy Rains
- Floods
- Heat
- High Winds
- Lightning
- Rip Currents/Beach Hazards
- Tornadoes
- and more!
It’s important that we understand what to do when severe weather we see during the warmer months of the year happens. Below is a list of a few proper safety protocols to prepare for severe weather.
- Have a written plan for what you will do in an emergency. Don’t forget to include your pets in your emergency planning!
- Share your plan with family, friends, care providers and other in your personal support network.
- If you have an emergency (fire, medical emergency, down electrical wires, hazardous material spill, gas leak etc.) CALL 911
- Severe Weather Warning means severe weather is imminent, occurring, or likely in your area and is a threat to life and property. Everyone in the warning area needs to take immediate action.
- Shelter in place- Have a designated safe area in the home that offers the most protection from high winds, falling objects, and away from glass windows.
- Evacuation- There may be conditions in which you will decide to evacuate or are ordered to leave; in this case, you need to choose several designated shelters located in different directions from your home that you can go to when these conditions arise.
- Keep a list of family members and emergency contacts along with their contact information; i.e. phone number, text, email address.
- Prepare basic survival kits, one for if you stay where you are and a second kit for if you have to leave. What should you include in your survival kit?
- Water
- Food
- Battery powered radio
- Flashlight
- First aid kit
- Whistle
- Dust mask
- Moist towelettes
- Garbage bags
- Local maps
- Pet food
- Medications
- Cash
- Monitor radio and TV stations located in your immediate area for any updates in weather conditions.
- What are the safety precautions for down electrical wires? STAY AWAY AND DO NOT TOUCH.
- If there is a gas leak in your community, stay indoors (if possible) and block air flow from entering around windows and doors. If you have to evacuate, go upwind from source.
- For flooding conditions stay on high ground, avoid the current, and wait for emergency personnel and equipment to assist moving you.
Department of Homeland Security. (2014). Basic Disaster Supplies Kit. Retrieved March 15, 2016.
Weather-Ready Nation. (n.d.). Spring Has Sprung! Get Ready for Some of America’s Wildest Weather! #SpringSafety. Retrieved March 15, 2016.
According to the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention,
“…more than 60,000 young children end up in emergency rooms every year because they get into medicines when their parent or caregiver isn’t looking…” (CDC, 2011).
This statistics resonates with us because our some of our caregivers take care of clients who have children in their homes. With medication assistance part of our Person Care Services, we felt it was important to share medication safety precautions during National Patient Safety Awareness Week. Please read through the safety guidelines from Safe Kids World Wide to help increase the safe use of medications around children.
CDC. (2011). Put Your Medicines Up and Away and Out of Sight. Retrieved March 14, 2016.
Safe Kids Worldwide, & Tylenol. (n.d.). Keeping Kids Safe Around Medicine. Retrieved March 14, 2016.
Our home healthcare caregivers work directly with individuals within the comfort of our client’s own home. Because of this, Dobson Healthcare and our caregivers have little control over the work environment, which may contain a number of safety and health hazards. In their overview of home healthcare hazards, OSHA states “…these hazards [could] include bloodborne pathogens and biological hazards, latex sensitivity, ergonomic hazards from patient lifting, violence, hostile animals and unhygienic and dangerous conditions…” (United States Department of Labor).
Safety is a top priority for our caregivers and our clients. We want to ensure we are sending our caregivers into a home that will not pose a threat that person’s health. We must also ensure our client’s safety by taking actions such as simply changing the batteries in a smoke detector or reporting dangerous conditions to the proper authorities. Dobson Healthcare and the National Patient Safety Foundation recognizes the week of March 13-19, 2016 and National Patient Safety Awareness Week. To begin our week, we wanted to share some Basic Safety Rules to help increase awareness about patient safety.
Community Health Network. (n.d.). Home safety tips. Retrieved March 11, 2016.
United States Department of Labor. (n.d.). Home Healthcare. Retrieved March 11, 2016.