Disaster Management Resources, CoP Here to Help
» The Disaster Planning and Recovery Web site provides
resources to help HIM professionals plan, prepare, and
recover.
No one wants to believe that disaster is going to happen to them,
their work site, or town. But it does and recently there have been
many recent natural disasters affecting the AHIMA membership.
AHIMA Resources Lend a Hand
AHIMA has a new Disaster Planning and Recovery Web page
with a number of resources available. This information includes
advice for not only preparing for a disaster, but providing the necessary follow up after a disaster as well. Regardless if the disaster
is manmade or created by nature, there are resources available to
help the HIM professional plan, prepare, and recover.
Additionally there is a Disaster Management Community of
Practice (CoP), dedicated to members preparing their facilities for
a disaster as well as post disaster. It was created in 2005 after hurricane Katrina hit the southeast. Franklin Kribbs first suggested the
community and has been a facilitator ever since.
Members began sharing resources to help those in need as well as
sharing tips for disaster preparedness. Members asked questions
such as “how do I dry out the records I have in a confidential manner?” Depending on the type of disaster, different issues will need
to be considered. After the tornadoes this past spring, AHIMA
staff members Julie Dooling, RHIT, and Diana Warner, MS, RHIA,
CHPS, FAHIMA, began sharing resources on the community to
help members find important resources. The CoP is a valuable
resource for our members. Sharing experiences, tips, tricks and
lessons learned whether manmade or through nature will help
others when the unexpected disaster strikes.
AHIMA Staff Responds
After a tornado destroyed a large portion of Joplin, MO, including
a direct hit to St. John’s Regional Medical Center, Dooling thought
about what she and AHIMA could do for the hospitals and her
fellow HIM professionals. Dooling has been key in contacting
the HIM professionals in Joplin in the tornado’s wake and has
gone to Joplin and nearby communities to hand deliver disaster
resources from AHIMA.
» The Disaster Management Community of Practice is dedicated
to assisting members both pre and post-disaster.
HIRO Fund
AHIMA, through the AHIMA Foundation, has established the
Health Information Relief Operation (HIRO) Fund to assist
communities of health information professionals whose personal
or professional lives have been severely disrupted by a natural or
man-made disaster. Learn more about the HIRO Fund as well as
how you can donate or request financial assistance. v
