For our clients and other friends affected by Hurricane Sandy, we hope this finds you and yours safe. Our thoughts and warm wishes are with the millions of people still dealing with the impact of the damage wrought by the storm.
We’re happy to report that AWARDS remained up and running throughout the hurricane without any downtime. Our data centers were unaffected, so those fortunate enough to have had the time (and power) to log into AWARDS were able to access to their databases as always. Our clients living and working in the heart of the devastation found reassurance in the fact that their client records were safe from the extensive damage to program sites and equipment. The ongoing safety of those records freed them to focus on helping their communities and clients.
We’re committed to doing everything we can to help. As you may already know, our headquarters in downtown New York experienced a power outage, and a number of our staff and regional offices sustained damages as well. Despite these challenges, our Quality Assurance team kept the Help Desk fully staffed and available to assist clients, whether they were actively engaged in recovery efforts or completely outside of Sandy’s path. Staff members donated time and resources to aid in recovery efforts, and will continue to do so.
From all of use at Foothold Technology, we wish everyone affected by Sandy a fast and safe recovery.
How One Smart Agency Weathered the Storm with AWARDS
As the Northeast recovers from the impact of Hurricane Sandy, we’ve been hearing a lot from providers in the region about how AWARDS helped to keep them up and running through the worst of it. We just received this great letter from Susan Steinhardt, the Quality Improvement Director of Options for Community Living, Inc.:
“Our programs weathered the recent hurricane successfully! Staff worked tirelessly to ensure that residents were safe and comfortable, even as many sites endured mandatory evacuation orders, and as the administrative office and many residential sites were without electrical power for days.
“Foothold was an enormous resource during the storm. Several reports were printed and distributed when the first severe weather warning was issued. This precautionary measure was taken in the event that the database would not be accessible for some time during the storm. Creating these reports during the flurry of activity that was taking place was quick and easy. Staff members appreciated having hard copy reports of important information available.
“Copies of several important documents (for example: lists of repair services and other related vendors) were scanned into [AWARDS] and stored in the agency file cabinet. These lists became an all-important source of information during the time when staff could not access their own computers and resources. Staff were able to consult these lists from their iPhones or iPads, regardless of where they were.
“Most importantly, residents’ records were available throughout the storm whether or not residents were in their home sites or had been temporarily relocated. If we had still been working with only paper records, it would have been challenging to access important information during the storm. Foothold made it possible for staff to access progress notes, provider names and information, medication lists etc. and was invaluable in allowing us to continue to provide quality care during the storm.”
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