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Size and Scale of Brookdale Senior Living's Hurricane Preparations
from ENGAGE Fall 2023
by ENGAGE_FSLA
SIZE AND SCALE OF BROOKDALE SENIOR LIVING HURRICANE PREPARATIONS
Hurricane researchers at Colorado State University have predicted the 2023 hurricane season will be above-average in activity, with 18 named storms, nine hurricanes and four major hurricanes of Category 3 to 5. Naturally, this kind of forecast makes senior living operators throughout the state of Florida more than a little nervous.
At Brookdale Senior Living, the comfort and safety of our residents is our top priority, especially during a natural disaster. With such a large geographic footprint across the country, we have experience with a wide variety of natural disasters. Hurricanes, wildfires, floods and winter storms can happen quickly and sometimes without much warning. That’s why our communities do important work ahead of time before disaster strikes. This preparation is part of a comprehensive approach at Brookdale to plan for prompt action and effectiveness. We are determined to stay ready to help our residents and associates should a natural disaster strike.
As the largest senior living provider in the country, our size and scale provide great benefits to our residents and families. Our community associates and leaders are supported by a collectivelyseasoned management team at many levels of the organization, all the way up to our corporate leadership.
Communities are equipped with emergency plans and checklists to help prepare in advance. These plans include having supplies such as extra food, water, and batteries in the event they are needed. We also have emergency agreements in place with local pharmacies to provide medications during the storm. To help maintain the well-being of our residents, our emergency plan includes a course of action for staffing to provide for appropriate coverage 24 hours a day.
If we determine evacuation is the appropriate course of action, we have evacuation locations and plans already in place. In the unlikely event of an evacuation, we are often able to temporarily
relocate residents to another Brookdale community or work with hotels to secure rooms for our residents and supporting staff.
Brookdale’s scale also helps us maintain close relationships with vendors all over the country. These vendors help our communities acquire necessary equipment and supplies in a time of emergency. For example, contracts with bus vendors help Brookdale gain access to large commercial buses for evacuations, and our relationships with pharmacy vendors help establish action plans to provide medications as needed. Our relationships with our restoration vendors help damage recovery occur promptly so community life resumes as quickly as possible. Those same relationships help facilitate access to food and supply deliveries just before and promptly after an emergency.
When Hurricane Ian struck Florida’s west coast last year, Brookdale jumped into action and immediately activated our established emergency plans.
Eight of our communities were greatly affected by the storm, but all of our residents were successfully evacuated. We were able to temporarily host most of them at other Brookdale communities and leverage our relationships with national hotel chains to accommodate the rest of our residents.
Throughout every disaster, work hard to maintain the highest level of normalcy possible for our residents’ everyday lives. We believe
communication with our residents and their families is of the utmost importance and take great care to provide frequent status updates during an emergency affecting the community.
Brookdale is a mission-driven organization dedicated to providing our residents with quality care even under the most challenging circumstances. We believe that a well-coordinated natural disaster response clearly conveys our
commitment to help keep our residents safe. In the event of hurricanes or severe weather, we want residents and their families to experience genuine peace of mind.
So, while we never want to come face to face with a natural disaster… our team does prepare for the worst –in order to deliver the best.
