Glenwood, A Health and Safety Conscious Home

Emergency Planning

Glenwood is a community, and our Board regards its responsibility to our people as a highest priority, whether in home, village, volunteer or staff and family.

During the build of the extensions to the Dining Room, Glenwood Board approved a significant project to upgrade and enhance Glenwood Home's emergency readiness. Our first action was to install the wiring for a small generator, which we did during the construction phase. The generator means that in a power outage, whether of short or longer duration, Glenwood can remain operational and meet our residents' and staff needs - keeping food fresh, lights on, devices charged and creating a place for residents whether home or village to stay warm.

We also installed a new Log Burner, that has sturdy surrounds to keep our residents safe from harm. The Log Burner will warm up the main lounge and dining area in an emergency, so residents can be housed in that comfortable space and have their care needs attended to, uninterrupted.

The rather large water tank at the rear of our site will supply enough fresh water for a week to our residents, staff and volunteers who may turn up to help in an emergency. This water is continually recycled to keep it fresh.

Having an adequate food supply is also part of this plan, so we have enough if we are unable to access services for any reason. A small storage room has been earmarked to install shelving for this and then we will go shopping. We will be increasing our emergency supplies of food and consumables by about 4 times our current reserve.

Coordinated Incident Management System (CIMS)

Glenwood management and senior staff have been liaising with Barry Simpson and Liz Leer to establish a Business Continuity Plan that is realistic, following the CIMS protocols. This is the same system that is used within the District Health Boards. Although we have not quite finalised these matters we have plans in place that will help Glenwood recover as quickly as possible and keep services to our residents as our top priority. Being pro-active in keeping Glenwood as safe as possible and to have a robust response system in an emergency is our top priority.