New Year’s Resolution: Prepare Your Family
Jim Chandler, Executive Director, Tidewater EMS Council, Inc.
Emergency responders, by definition, prepare for all sorts of emergencies. But while you’re away, is your family prepared to help themselves? If you are held over on shift because of disaster—maybe a hurricane—will your family know what to do? Where to go? Make it your New Year’s resolution to think about family preparedness. Give yourself peace of mind that should you be unable to assist your own family, they will be able to do it alone.
Plenty of resources are available to assist you with family preparedness. The key? Do it now. Do it before the disaster. Once disaster is inevitable--while others are scrambling—you might be obligated in your public safety role and then it’s too late to prepare. When weather watches are issued, you should treat it like a warning so you’re one step ahead. When or before the warning is issued…you might be called to work and your family might be on their own.
The U. S. Department of Homeland Security www.ready.gov and the American Red Cross www.redcross.org offer great advice on preparation and ready kits of food, water and other supplies to have on hand in case of emergency. These kits should be set up now with stocks rotated as appropriate.
You should have emergency supplies prepacked in watertight containers. Several smaller containers, easily carried by family members, are probably better than one large one. If you find yourself in a shelter, where space is minimal, several smaller containers might fit your space better.
Homeland Security recommends a basic list of portable kit supplies, which should be tailored to your family’s needs.
That list does not include blankets or other sleeping gear, medical devices and medicines, clothing and important papers like insurance records, deeds, passports, birth and marriage certificates and the like which might be added as well.
If evacuation is necessary, has your family decided on a predetermined destination? In the event of a hurricane evacuation, if you plan to evacuate to a hotel, make reservations early…before a warning…to help ensure availability. Also, in the event of local evacuation or fire, have you identified a family meeting place?
Does your family know what to do in a flood, in a hurricane, in a tornado, in case of fire, in case of medical emergency? Emergency responders think about these things all the time…but if you’re not there, does your family know what to do? Make it a New Year’s resolution: prepare your family now.