GET PREPARED

GET PREPARED for an Emergency

September is National Preparedness Month.

Seriously, let's get prepared and remember, we must individually be prepared. Regardless if the emergency is a hurricane threatening your hometown tomorrow, or a noxious gas leak from a train wreck, there are several things you should do now to prepare.

Set up a telephone contact out of state and have each family member memorize that phone number and in the event the family is separated you have a central contact to get back together, and if you have small kids in school or daycare, have that out of state contact as one of the contacts on your kid's school info.

Keep a five day supply of water (you know how long it took to get help into NOLA!) and non-perishable foods for each person in your family in sealed and waterproof containers, along with a way to get into those containers (can openers, scissors, knives) and a set of utensils (again for each person in your family) to eat it (those camp mess kits are great for this, or even just keep around a sierra cup and a spoon). Make sure that you place these, and at least one canister of wet-wipes in a bag that is water tight and easy to carry with you if you need to evacuate.

Keep at least a five-day supply of medications that you need daily in an alternative location, like with the food, sealed water tight and easily toteable. Also, store a first-aid kit not only with bandages and those supplies, but with pain relievers and cold and allergy medicine.

If you have physically impaired people in your family, make sure you take the necessary steps to help them get to safety and have equipment that doesn’t need electricity to help them survive.

Are your vaccinations updated? Make sure that at least your tetanus shot has been updated in the last seven years or less.

Keep a sleeping bag, a small blanket (no pillows, they take up too much room, a small blanket can be rolled into a pillow shape, and can also be used to warm another person), one bath towel, a flashlight and battery powered radio (those that you crank are great because you don't have to worry about replacing batteries and the ones with built in flashlight are even better), a pocket knife, a face mask (in the event of a gas leak, just something to block the mouth and nose), three sets of clothes and shoes per family member with your food and meds. Maybe, make a backpack for each family member with all these necessary items (sleeping bag doesn't need to go in back pack, but should be able to carry it easily), so that it is easy for each one to grab in an emergency and if any one is separated during an emergency, they will at least have what they need to survive on their own for a while.

Place your emergency backpacks in a location that is easy to access, regardless of the emergency. Since I live in Iowa, I would likely (yup, I don't have emergency backpacks for my family done yet) put the backpacks either on the stairs to the basement or an easily accessible room next to the stairs in the basement (if in the basement I would put them on hooks/shelves that would be at least four feet high in case the basement flooded).

Check your emergency bags twice a year to rotate out the old water and food into the kitchen to use and place new water and food in its place. Replace anything that has been taken out of the backpack (like bandages that were grabbed out of the pack during that hypothetical emergency when all the neighbor kids fell off your trampoline at the same time). Replace expired and soon to expire medications. Replace batteries in the flashlight and radio, if they need batteries. Check the flashlight to make sure the light bulb still works. Also, make sure that the clothes still fit, and if not, trade them out for clothes that will fit.

If you live in a hurricane prone area, consider placing functional solid sheet shutters that are easy to close and nail to the window frames every time you have to prepare for a hurricane, so you don't have to go to the hardware store or your garage and get plywood sheets to board all your windows all the time. This saves time and hassle. They also make these exterior metal shades that automatically will roll out and close over your windows to protect them. Pretty neat stuff.

Also, keep a baseball bat around (which if you don’t know how to bash someone’s head, they could use it against you) or better yet, forget the bat and get your black belt in Tae Kwon Do, just in case you have to fend off looters and rapists. This would be something you could get your whole family to master, and might come in handy regardless of the disaster or situation.

If you live in a flood prone area (or if your basement floods a lot), invest in those space-saver bags to save your treasured belongings (especially photo albums and scout badges, etc. that are stored) from getting waterlogged. Or if you can't afford them, put them in sealable thick plastic bags, suck the air out of them and seal them tight to help keep the water out. Also, invest in sand bags or better yet, haul some dirt in and build a berm around your house higher than the worst flood that has ever happened in your area (or build a two- or three-tier berm system that would circle like a target around your home in ascending heights-from low to high towards your house but not against your house-to help minimize damage from a rush of flooding waters). Place flowers and other vegetation on the berm that would help soak up the waters when it floods, and make it look pretty when it doesn't flood.

If you live in a tornado prone area, set up a tornado shelter in your home (interior room with no windows on the lowest level of your home) with your emergency backpacks nearby. Keep in your tornado shelter an old sofa that you can flip over easily and can take the cushions off to protect you, or a sturdy table that you can get under. Do not place anything heavy on any table in that room that could topple off and injure or crush you. Keep an extra NOAA weather radio in the room, along with a sturdy metal flashlight (you might need to use it to smash your way out). If you have small treasured belongings (photo albums, jewelry, etc.) that you don't want to be destroyed, make sure they are somewhere easily accessible (but not easy to steal if someone were to break into your home, of course) and quick to grab (in a small bag or container) if you have time before the tornado hits. If you see the tornado outside your window, forget your stuff and dive for the basement.

Also, if you live in cold winter climes, create an emergency kit for your car with blankets, food, water, matches, and flashlight in case you get trapped in a snowdrift during a raging blizzard.

Also, create an emergency pack just in case the electricity goes out. Keep extra blankets, flashlights, battery-operated or crank radio, matches, and other safe items to keep warm and to warm foods in case the lights go out during a winter storm.

Get your family prepared, also, in case of a fire in your home, too. Check your fire detectors and CO detectors and replace the batteries once or twice a year. Check out and invest in dual powered (battery and electric, just in case either isn’t working) and linked fire detectors (so if there’s a fire in your basement’s furnace room, instead of just setting off the basement alarm that you can’t hear in your sleep at your second floor bedroom, the link will set off all alarms linked to the one detecting the fire and wake you up in time to get your family awake and out of the house). Go through fire safety tips and fire escape procedures with all family members at least once a year. Make sure there are fire extinguishers at least in the kitchen and near any place where there is an open flame (natural gas furnace, hot water heaters, natural gas dryers), and make sure they are full (check your local fire department to get them recharged).

I’m sure there are other emergency situations I am forgetting, but please check out these websites and get prepared.

This website will have more information to help prepare:
http://www.ready.gov/
http://www.fema.gov/areyouready/

These places sell MREs and other emergency items (I’m not saying to go buy these, but just a resource):
http://theepicenter.com/
http://beprepared.com