The governor issued a state of emergency in my state due to the blizzard saying only essential personnel in healthcare should report to work. I work at a skilled nursing facilty as a nursing assistant, am I essential personnel? What about the therapists, housekeepers, administrative staff? The facility I work for does not have a clear policy as to who is "essential" in the case of a disaster. There have been several weather related disasters in the past two years (some of which had advance warning) and each time staffing has been extremely disorganized and it is quite frustrating.