The Australian Institute of Disaster Resilience (AIDR) Planning for Animals Handbook

Author: Erica Honey
MBAMHRM MEmergMgt BSc (Hons) GradCertPDev RVN

This article contains information about emergencies and disasters. If you need support please contact the AVA or Lifeline 13 11 14

Bushfires are increasing in severity and frequency in urban and rural areas, impacting people, animals and the environment. Veterinary practices are essential during these crises, caring for their teams, treating animals, and assisting clients and the wider community. Created by animal and emergency stakeholders, the newly released AIDR Planning for Animals Handbook offers invaluable guidance for animal and emergency stakeholders. This article introduces the handbook’s key themes with additional veterinary planning tips that veterinary professionals will find helpful in developing their practice’s emergency plan, alongside key stakeholders such as other veterinary practices, local government, emergency services, and their clients, including vulnerable communities.

In veterinary emergency planning, a One-Health-One-Welfare approach is taken, it demonstrates that the health and welfare of one impacts the other. They’re inextricably linked. Although the welfare of animals in emergencies is the ultimate responsibility of the guardian or owner, veterinary professionals do have a duty of care and ethical responsibility for patients as essential service providers before, during and after emergencies. Community resilience is a shared responsibility between all stakeholders that starts with preparation.

To Prepare the Veterinary Practice: Develop a comprehensive emergency plan that includes:

1. An all-hazards approach: including tornado, cyclone, storm, storm surge, earthquake, emergency animal disease or hostile attack, with a focus on bushfires and floods as the key risks.
2. Sections of the plan include:

Background – What is the purpose, how is this important to the practice, and what does it mean to its people and the community?

Scope – What the practice will and won’t do, including contingencies for all e.g. if the practice does not perform Large Animal Emergency Rescue, where can people needing help be referred to?

Roles and Responsibilities – What are the role titles and responsibilities for the team if the plan is activated? Take care not to use the term ‘Officer’ as this is used in the Australasian Inter-service Incident Management System (AIIMS).  Here are some suggestions:

• Veterinary Emergency Coordinator, consider that this role may be performed by a non-veterinary professional, as veterinary professionals are needed for their qualifications, knowledge, skills and abilities. This also assists with veterinary shortages.
• Triage Veterinary Nurses and Technologists 1 and 2
• Treatment Veterinarians, Veterinary Nurses and Technologists 1 and 2
• Veterinary planner, to ensure the planning meets the business’s strategic objectives and fulfils what is agreed upon during the emergency.
• Veterinary Social Worker once the role is more established in Australia.

Note that Australian Emergency Management (AEM) nomenclature is an area still being established.

The four stages of comprehensive emergency management:

Prevention: Include veterinary facility and property preparedness; e.g. clear away fire fuel such as leaves. Taking a systemic view, climate change and disasters are strongly linked. Focus on sustainability using environmental social governance so that the practice isn’t contributing to the disasters they and the community are trying to mitigate. See Vets for Climate Action for more information.

Preparedness: Steps the practice takes to be ready, including:

• Preparing and revising the plan at least once a year
  • Updating the contact and equipment lists
• Print the plan and the Emergency Animal Disease (EAD) Field guide for Australian Veterinarians. Place these next to each phone and the printed policies. The senior managers should keep a copy of the management version at home. This includes confidential information such as account login details e.g. insurance.
• Upload the plan online in a secure cloud location for the managers to access at any time.
• Templates for phone messages, social media, talking points for veterinary receptionists.
• The incident command system and what team role titles will be used.
• Teach new team members as they begin a comprehensive induction and remind the team about the plan and kits before each emergency season.
• Practice emergency skills via drills or desk-top exercises. There are skills the team can practice during ‘peacetime’ that are vital in disasters and also help with team resilience and sustainability every day, such as debriefing.
• Meeting annually with Hazard Management Agencies (HMAs), Animal Welfare in Emergencies Support Agencies, Local government, surrounding veterinary practices and other key stakeholders to discuss each other's needs and ensure all stakeholders have the correct assumptions. The working relationships established in peace-time assist greatly in response and recovery.

Response: Includes the contingencies for what the practice will and won't do. It is recommended this section of the plan contains clear and succinct contingencies that can be read easily under pressure. Include extra information in the appendix of the plan.

Areas the practice should consider include:

• Shelter-in-place contingencies
• Evacuation procedures including the triggers to evacuate.
• Where evacuation kits, crates, identification, leads, floats and vehicles (in good repair) are located.

The treatment of patients impacted by the disaster – if not in an active zone, or likely to be, away from the disaster:

• The incident command system, include a flow diagram
• Stages of activation: alert, standby, triggers to activate, activate, triggers to stand down and stand down
• Triage
• Decontamination
• Quarantine
• Treatment using contextualised care.
  • Consider the regular caseload versus disaster caseload
  • Types of cases the practice will and won't see
  • When to refer
• Euthanasia and mortality management. Talk with the local government and the Animal Welfare Emergency Support Agency about contingencies for large numbers
• Contingencies for what the practice will and won’t do
• The daily schedule during emergencies includes briefing and debriefing. Note that briefing is different to ‘rounds’.
• Only deploy with the permission of the Hazard Management Agency
• Legalities, medical supplies and critical records
• Care for the team members such as counselling
• How to manage spontaneous volunteers, ideally use Vets Beyond Borders AVERT members as they are trained

Recovery: Recovery begins from the moment response starts. Essentially it is the cessation of everything that began in response, including ongoing patient care. Support for the team before, during and after the bushfire e.g. counselling and veterinary social workers, a developing allied and one-health profession in Australia. Plus the inclusion of triggers to deactivate the response.

The AIDR Planning for Animals Handbook also focuses on the following areas:

Educate and Engage Team Members and Clients: Actively encourage the veterinary team and clients to incorporate their animals into their household bushfire preparedness plans and kits. Offer resources and guidance on where to find alerts and warnings, essential supplies, transportation, and temporary housing options for animals during evacuations. Resources can be sought from emergency services or the relevant State Animal Welfare support agency e.g.

Department of Primary Industries NSW, Agriculture Victoria, Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development WA or the RSPCA.

Bushfire-Specific First Aid and Treatment Plans: Ensure the practice has the necessary resources and training to handle bushfire-related animal injuries, such as burns, smoke inhalation, and heat stress. Maintain a well-stocked burns treatment kit and establish a clear triage system to prioritise critical cases. Consider what the triggers are to refer cases to a pre-arranged veterinary practice.

Community Collaboration: Foster strong relationships with local emergency management agencies, animal welfare organisations, and neighbouring veterinary practices to facilitate coordinated efforts before, during and after a bushfire. Participate in community preparedness events and exercises. Practising the plan is key to the team's response and recovery. Identify the ‘lessons learned’ and include this. Get in touch with your local emergency services to facilitate this.

Mental Health Awareness: Acknowledge the mental health impacts of bushfires on veterinary professionals and personnel, animals and their owners. Offer guidance and avenues for support to personnel and clients coping with animal loss, trauma, or anxiety.

Recovery and Rehabilitation: Prepare for the post-bushfire recovery phase, including managing displaced animals, providing continued care for injured animals, and addressing potential long-term health concerns.

By taking these proactive steps and utilising available resources, veterinary practices and their professionals can be resilient and sustainable, playing a vital role in protecting animal welfare and supporting their community through bushfire season.

Preparedness is key and can make all the difference during a bushfire emergency. State specific resources will be shared via division newsletters in the first week of December, 2024.