The Virginia Healthcare Emergency Management Program, a partnership between the Virginia Department of Health (VDH) and the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association (VHHA), initiated a project in 2015 that was funded through the Federal Hospital Preparedness Program. This partnership engaged Russell Phillips & Associates to develop a statewide long-term care mutual aid plan (LTC-MAP), which included a site visit to each licensed nursing home in Virginia.
Russell Phillips & Associates developed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) representing a voluntary agreement among long-term care facilities to lend support to each other in a disaster. This MOU was founded on the well-established principle of mutual aid—a standard of care in most emergency response disciplines.
The MOU establishes a course of action and an agreed commitment among long-term care facilities to assist each other as needed in the time of a disaster and provides a framework for the following:
- Providing or sharing supplies, equipment, transportation, and staff with a facility when a disaster overwhelms their own community or exceeds the capability of their internal emergency operations plans
- Coordinating with local, regional, and state response agencies
- Utilizing pre-designated evacuation locations for residents during a disaster.
The VDH Offices of Licensure & Certification and Office of Emergency Preparedness, VHHA, Leading Age Virginia, and the Virginia Health Care Association support the MOU.
Long-Term Care Mutual Aid Plan MOU
We strongly encourage all eligible facilities to take advantage and become active, supportive members of this MOU; and we look forward to continued work on this initiative. For information regarding the Virginia Healthcare Emergency Management Program, Regional Healthcare Coalitions, or the LTC-MAP, please feel free to reach out to any of the contacts below:
| Region | Coalition Name | Regional Healthcare Coordinator |
| Central | Central Virginia Healthcare Coalition | Steve Parrott steve.parrott@central-region.org |
| Eastern | Eastern Virginia Healthcare Coalition | Amy Green agreen@vaems.org |
| Southwest | Southwest Virginia Healthcare Coalition | Robert Hawkins rhawkins@vaems.org |
| Northern | Northern Virginia Emergency Response System (NVERS) | Kristin Nickerson kristin.nickerson@nvers.org |
| Statewide | Virginia Department of Health | James Moss james.moss@vdh.virginia.gov |
| Statewide | Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association | Matthew Allen mallen@vhha.comTrey Brooke tbrooke@vhha.com |