Geriatric Mental Health Disaster and Emergency Preparedness

Chapter 13 The Interdisciplinary Treatment Team 259
(psychiatric and nonpsychiatric; psychosocial
health support); cognitive abilities/
defi cits; housing location/challenges
(i.e., elevator, stairs, etc.); available/reliable
caregivers (i.e., strength of support
system); coping skills of vulnerable older
person and his or her caregivers
n Identify and conduct survey of older
persons and caregivers. Questionnaire to
include older person’s name, emergency
contacts (i.e., name, relationship, alternate
contact), telephone #s for older
person and their emergency contacts,
diagnosis, current treatments. Specifi c
questions: What would you do in case of
an emergency (e.g., fi re, power failure,
blackout)?; How would you seek help?
Evacuate your residence? Get downstairs?
Get your medications in case you are
evacuated suddenly?
n Develop vulnerability risk factor checklist
with comment section. Label the fi le
(folder) with color-coded stickers based on
identifi ed risk factors.
Carry out the plan Use Miller and Toner (1991) Priority Grid to
systematically carry out plan.
Evaluate the plan
Team Maintenance
The final 5 to 10 minutes of every team meeting should be devoted to a
self-evaluation discussion focused on the effectiveness of the team meeting.
The team should ask themselves about the quality of the meeting, how
the meeting achieved its goal, how it could be improved, and what could
be done differently at the next meeting. This self-evaluation discussion
provides a process by which the team can monitor its performance in a
structured and mutually supportive setting. This process of team maintenance
can counteract the natural tendencies of team members to resist
change. According to Miller and Toner (1991, p. 215), “Resistances to
change, based on a repertoire of maladaptive defenses, are integral to malfunctioning
teams and can be mitigated or eliminated by setting aside time
for team process discussions.”