Maintaining Operations in Extreme Weather
The Midwest Centers Affinity Group gathered for a call in early December 2023 to discuss the challenges of maintaining a retreat center during extreme weather events. In this conversation facilitated by Leslie Wright of Prairiewoods in Iowa, participants discussed how to care for staff, guests, and program participants and how to ensure the continuity of facility operations.
Developing a Business Continuity Plan
According to participants on the Midwest Centers’ call, their retreat centers are prepared to respond to routine weather challenges—like keeping entrances clear of ice and making sure the parking lots are plowed. In the aftermath of Covid, some centers are better-positioned to switch to online offerings if storms pose a barrier to in-person gatherings.
However, retreat centers (in all geographical regions) are facing an increasing number of severe weather events per year, and each event carries the potential for major impacts. Major weather-related disasters can include loss of power, internet and cell service, disrupting communication and limiting access to essential resources like food, water, and fuel. Disaster preparedness is one aspect of organizational resilience. To prepare for these increasing and compounded weather challenges, some centers are developing business continuity plans.
To develop a business continuity plan: assess the risks, identify the most critical activities, and create a plan—before a severe weather event happens.
Assess risks - Make time to meet with staff and develop a list of potential risks to your retreat center. You may find there’s a long list. It’s not unusual to find 40 (or more) potential risks.
Risks can include weather concerns as well as disruptions to power, utilities, and infrastructure.
Assess the probability and scope of impact for each risk. What is the real probability of these events happening?
Your center can’t prepare for everything, but you can prepare for the things most likely to happen in your area, and for the things that are likely to cause the most disruption.
Identify critical activities - Focus on developing a response to the top five risks to your center, and you should be in good shape if other events do occur.
Consider your center’s physical location, the buildings onsite, partner facilities, neighbors, and nearby towns/cities/communities.
Ask: What is our center’s individual role in extreme events, and what is our role within the larger surrounding community?
Ask: What are we able to offer in certain situations and what can’t we offer?
Create an emergency plan - You may want to use a sample emergency template as a guide to create a plan tailored to your individual retreat center.
Develop teams/roles.
Establish who pushes the “go button” to set plans into action.
Set up a communication tree.
Develop a to-do list (with a timeline for completion).
Focus on clear communication and understanding roles. When people don’t know what’s expected of them, they’ll find something to do. This is well intended, but may not serve you well in the long run.
Considerations for Your Emergency Plan
Participants on the call lifted up the following strategic considerations for centers developing an emergency plan:
Communication
Mass communication - In an urgent situation, do you have a way to communicate with everyone on the grounds in an efficient manner?
Do you know who is onsite and when they’re onsite?
Do you have a reliable intercom system, phones in rooms, or cell phone numbers (with service) for everyone onsite? How do you communicate if electronic systems are inaccessible?
Prepare Facebook posts, emails, texts, etc. ahead of time, so messages are easy to access and ready to be deployed in an emergency.
Emergency support documents - One center is planning a document to share with every staff member. The document will include the communication tree, who’s on what team, and will have maps as well as a list of utilities.
Consider making an easy-to-find, brightly-colored card with emergency info—something people can grab and go.
Nonverbal communication - One center has a dedicated safety and security team who wear custom badge colors to indicate what kind of emergency they’re responding to.
Facilities and supplies/resources
Accommodations - Do you have facilities for differently-abled people, and/or for people with cognitive or mental health concerns?
Onsite resources - Do you have resources to support staff/guests for a full 48 - 72 hours (food, clothing, supplies, generator, etc.) if people are isolated onsite?
Staffing - What if there are no staff members onsite? Will guests have access to the supplies they need? Are facilities at risk without a staff member to maintain them?
Transportation
Evacuation - If a large group came to your center via bus and was dropped off, how would your center evacuate? Who could you call to transport everyone offsite?
Volunteers
Reaching out - How will you reach out to your volunteers, and who will manage them? You may need clear rules about what volunteers can and cannot do.
Capacity - For one center, the average volunteer is eighty years old and they would not be called in to assist in an emergency.
Other considerations
Insurance - Who is covered and who is not? Do residents need their own insurance?
Information backup - Are your core documents saved to a shared Google Drive (or other cloud backup) in the event your electronics (or paper hardcopies) are damaged or destroyed?
Financial resources - What financial resources might your team need if they were dispersed?
Turnover - How will staff turnover affect your preparedness? When someone leaves, how is information or responsibility transferred (amongst the remaining team or to a new hire)?
Disaster can feel isolating. Building networks and connections allows you to know what critical resources are available when you need them.
Resources
National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster
Community Organizations Active in Disaster
United Way - Can be a resource for new volunteers
Notes and Audio
Follow the link below to access PDFs, audio, and additional meeting notes.
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