Literature Review

Beyond the sandbags: Operational hurricane planning for in-home care HomeCare; by Matthew P. Chaloux; 7/9/25 When hurricanes approach, in-home care organizations face challenges that are vastly different from those of facility-based providers. In addition to safeguarding infrastructure, we must ensure the safety of mobile care teams, maintain critical supply routes and coordinate services for patients whose needs don’t pause for the weather. At Empath Health, we care for more than 75,000 patients annually across 20 Florida counties through hospice, home health, palliative and supportive care programs. Our teams aren’t centralized—they’re on the road, in homes and dispersed across regions that may be affected in very different ways by the same storm. Over the years, we’ve learned that effective hurricane response in home-based care depends on three things: preparation, coordination and flexibility. ...

Texas floods: "Ways you can help" and "Community Crisis and Grief Resources for Hospices"Composing Life Out of Loss; by Joy Berger; resources updated 7/8/25 

Children, grief and flood disaster news about campsCompilation by Hospice & Palliative Care Today; by Joy Berger; 7/6/25Summer can be both a healing and vulnerable time for grieving children, especially those attending bereavement camps. The devastating flooding in Texas, resulting in the deaths of children at summer camps, has undoubtedly shaken many communities, particularly families and professionals involved in grief care. This type of tragedy can retraumatize children already processing loss and create new layers of anxiety and sorrow for parents and counselors. Here’s how families and grief care professionals might be coping, along with some practical and emotional support strategies:

What to do if a loved one is evacuated from a nursing home or assisted living AARP; by Emily Paulin; 1/10/25, updated 1/23/25 Running from a wildfire is a terrifying ordeal for anyone. But there’s added fear for those who have limited mobility, rely on medical equipment or suffer from dementia and struggle to comprehend what is happening. ... Evacuating these vulnerable, high-needs residents is a complex and precarious operation. Family members may be unsure of how to find their loved one or what to do to support them in a disaster situation. We’ve gathered advice from disaster response and long-term care experts on five topics to help family caregivers navigate these situations.

Health care system adaptation and resilience during the wildfire crisisJAMA Network; by Attila J. Hertelendy, PhD, Jeremy Maggin, MD, MS, and Gregory Ciottone, MD; 3/19/25 ... Within a span of hours, the Palisades and Eaton fires, propelled by record-breaking Santa Ana winds reaching 150 miles per hour, consumed more than 37,000 acres, destroyed more than 16,000 structures, and claimed 29 lives. All told, greater than 186,000 residents were placed under evacuation orders. ... The experience in Los Angeles County demonstrates the value of maintaining dual-purpose resources: facilities and personnel who can transition between routine operations and emergency response functions. This approach is exemplified by Kaiser Permanente’s successful deployment of mobile health vehicles and the use of clinically trained administrative leaders in direct patient care roles during crisis events. Key elements of successful resource mobilization include:

East End Hospice building Saved in LI fires: 'Angels watching over us' Patch, Westhampton-Hampton Bays, NY; by Lisa Finn; 3/10/25 From the ashes of the raging brush fires in the Westhampton area this weekend, a miracle emerged: Despite just being located feet from the spot where charred trees bear testament to the blaze, a structure still stands — the East End Hospice building survived the fire. "Here is our headquarters," East End Hospice President and CEO Mary Crosby wrote on social media. "... inside this building we coordinate the care of hundreds of patients each day. We answer more than 1,000 phone calls a week from families, hospitals, physicians and field staff. Without the dedicated people who work here, there would be no East End Hospice." On Sunday [3/9], she wrote: "Just 24 hours ago, flames roared around this building, damaging our storage structure and spilling into the parking lot. People have said it’s a miracle the building didn’t burn. We know the truth. It was the dedication and skill of our local fire departments that kept our headquarters standing. In the early hours of the fire. We received very little information until a text came through from a firefighter on the ground: 'We saved Hospice.'"

Los Angeles wildfires leave older patients vulnerable Direct Relief - California Wildfires; by Talya Meyers; 1/22/25 The radio announcer said nursing home residents were being evacuated to the Pasadena Convention Center, so Dr. Laura Mosqueda headed over. Older adults were arriving at the evacuation shelter with hair and hospital gowns covered in ash. People urgently needed to be on oxygen — in a large convention hall with few electrical outlets — or their catheters were getting full but responders didn’t have gloves. ... Some patients were in hospice and end-of-life care, and getting them placed more comfortably was an urgent priority. ... The wildfires that ripped across Southern California communities this month will hurt the health of millions — causing everything from short-term respiratory symptoms to long-term adverse outcomes from chronic disease — but older adults will likely be among the most vulnerable. ... [And with that,] Dr. Mosqueda cautioned that while older adults may be more likely to be medically fragile, many aren’t. Many have perspectives that help them navigate frightening, uncertain situations like the wildfires. “Older adults…were among the most calm and circumspect people I spoke with,” she recalled. “They just had a lot of wisdom and life experience, and they weren’t getting freaked out. They had so many internal resources.”

Which health facilities have been impacted by L.A.-area fires? AI may paint a clearer picture DirectRelief; by Andrew Schroeder; 1/14/25 Geospatial AI and remote sensing advance health system impact analysis shows where facilities have been damaged or destroyed -- and where medical needs may be greatest. One of the most important factors for humanitarian responders in these types of large-scale disaster situations is to understand the effects on the formal health system, upon which most people — and vulnerable communities in particular — rely upon in their neighborhoods. Evaluation of the impact of disasters ... is traditionally a relatively slow and manually arduous process, involving extensive ground truth visitation by teams of assessment professionals. Speeding up this process without losing accuracy, while potentially improving the safety and efficiency of assessment teams, is among the more important analytical efforts Direct Relief can undertake for response and recovery efforts.

An Eaton Fire First Responder recalls patients fleeing the fast-growing blaze Direct Relief; by Talya Meyers; 1/15/25 Eaton Fire evacuees, fleeing their homes for the safety of the Pasadena Convention Center, were arriving in numbers. For Fernando Fierro, vice president of nursing services at the community health center AltaMed, and the first of his response team to arrive, it was “chaotic.” “There wasn’t any infrastructure in place,” he recalled. More than 550 people sheltering at the convention center, in five event halls converted to dormitories, needed medical assessments. People had fled too urgently to bring their medications, or they needed canes and walkers, or they needed more intensive care than AltaMed’s response team could provide in a shelter setting. Complicating the situation were the close quarters and the presence of animals: People had brought their dogs, cats, and birds. Fierro, a U.S. Army combat veteran with extensive disaster response experience, knew the crowded shelter and animals would increase the likelihood of infectious diseases like norovirus and avian flu.

How to help people impacted by the California firesNBC News - Today Show; by Becca Wood; 1/8/24, updated 1/12/24

Meals on Wheels volunteers deliver extra food ahead of winter storm Fox 4 KDFW, Dallas, TX; by Alex Boyer; 1/8/25 Volunteers are doing their best to help some of North Texas’ most vulnerable people prepare for the winter storm. ... Meals on Wheels in Dallas County is a service provided by the Visiting Nurses Association. Currently, the organization serves about 5,200 homebound seniors and disabled adults throughout the county each weekday. That’s in addition to those in hospice care.

Thinking of our members, colleagues, patients, loved ones, and first responders affected by the SoCal firesCoalition for Compassionate Care of California, Sacramento, CA; by Jennifer Moore Ballentine; 1/8/25, 6:23 pm ET The staff of CCCC are watching as the Palisades, Eaton, Hurst, and other fires ravage Southern California. Our hearts and thoughts are with all affected. Here are a few tangible ways you can help, even at this early stage.Donate to: