Do you know…

How to include your pets in family emergency planning?

What critical supplies you will need for your pets’ safety and comfort?

How to evacuate your pets quickly and safely?

Join us for these answers and many more.

We’ll have supplies on hand for you to purchase.

Where: Leading the Way

18 Chestnut Street, Florence, MA

Time: 11:00 am – 12:30 pm

Date: Sunday, May 16, 2010

RSVP: Shannon @ 413-559-7011

We recently donated a Ready Auto Emergency Kit (Safest Size) to the International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM) Region 1 Conference as part of the Student Scholarship Raffle. This conference will be held April 23rd in Old Sturbridge Village, MA.

We are also donating a Ready Auto Emergency Kit (Safest Size) to the 18th Annual Great Northampton Chamber Auction to be held on Friday, April 30th at the Clarion Hotel & Conference Center. Coca-Cola sponsors this event and there will be over 300 items to bid on.

We’ll be in attendance at both events and hope to see you there.

I gently lectured that we all have to be more careful.

I am, as I’m sure you can imagine, the most safety conscious person in our household.  I make sure the doors and windows are locked at night.  I make sure the stove is turned off and the stove knob safety covers are in place.  I have a nose for when the oven or the iron are turned on.

No I do not have OCD, and yes I do check.

Turns out my story is timely.  March 14-20, 2010 is National Poison Prevention Week.

The Centers for Disease Control have a good poison prevention webpage.  You can find it here.

Put the poison control number, 1-800-222-1222, on or near every home telephone and save
it on your cell phone. The line is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Our Ready Home Gift Boxes include Poison Control, In Case of Emergency and 911 stickers.

Conway, AR December 29, 2000 -- Recent ice storm downed many trees and caused significant power outages. Photo by John Shea/ FEMA News Photo

Families and home owners are at risk for a long list of emergencies. These range from house fires and poisoning to power outages and flooding. Residential fires are prevalent in all communities. They increase during blackouts due to poor heating and lighting choices.

Blackouts occur nationally due to heat waves, hurricanes, floods, winter storms and terrorist activities. Living in the dark and in extreme cold or extreme heat from a power outage causes extreme stress and potential danger for a family.

To prepare and respond to power outages National Grid recommends the following four things:

1. Place working flashlights throughout the house and be sure all family members know where they are.
2. Have a battery-operated radio on hand for storm information.
3. Have extra flashlight and radio batteries ready.
4. Keep extra drinking water, a manual can opener and a supply of canned and dried foods on hand in case an outage lasts more than a few days.

The Ready Home Gift Box includes all of these items plus many more to keep a family safe and prepared for any type of disaster.

I encourage you to take a look. We’re happy to have joined and view it as a unique opportunity toward our quest to get safety supplies into the hands of as many people as possible.

You do need to prepare for disaster. But, do not try to prepare for the world to end.

The best way to accomplish preparedness is to understand your risks. Ask yourself these questions:

1. What natural hazards occur in my area? (For example, floods, earthquakes and ice storms.)

2. Who am I responsible for and what are their special needs? (For example, infants, seniors, people with disabilities.)

3. Does my lifestyle include travel to an office or school?

Use the answers to these questions to begin determining what you need toward preparing for disaster.

For instance, if you live in an area with the possibility of earthquake you should know how to shut off the gas in your home and office. You will probably need a gas shut off wrench for this. We include one in the Ready Home Gift Box.

If you are responsible for people who require medication on a regular basis then you should make sure their medications never run out. You should also document the names of their doctors and the names and doses of their medications.

If you and your family head out in different directions for work and school, you should have a plan of where to meet if you can not return home. You also should have an emergency contact person out of state who can take calls from your family during a disaster. Frequently land and cell phone lines become jammed in an area affected by a disaster, it can be impossible to make local calls.

I encourage you to be reasonable and prepare for what is likely to occur. And, I remind you to never become complacent about preparedness.

San Antonio, TX, August 29, 2008 -- Gerry Stoler, FEMA Operations liaison, talks to cab drivers who are participating in the evacuation program in Texas. FEMA is working with State, local and other Federal agencies in a joint operation in preparation for Hurricane Gustav's land fall. Photo by Patsy Lynch/FEMA

I just finished watching and listening to Craig Fugate, FEMA’s top administrator, on the Washington Post’s On Leadership section.  You can view it here.  The video clip is about five and half minutes long.  It gets good just before the four minute mark so hang in there.  If you listen closely you will hear that the federal government knows that they can not meet all of the needs of individual citizens immediately following a disaster.  Mr. Fugate gives the example of handing out food and water post disaster.  Governments don’t hand out food and water on a daily basis.  Private industry serves this role by maintaining big and small markets and working with elaborate supply chains.  At a federal level, this administration, according to this video clip, will work to assist private industry in maintaining their supplies and opening their doors following a disaster.  In the past, federal government has nearly competed with private industry and lost.  Mr. Fugate gave an example of government handing out food and water following a disaster in the parking lot of a supermarket that was already open for business because they had gotten a generator.

I listened to the video several times.  I listened with the ears of a FEMA consultant who is always curious about the direction and priorities of FEMA.  But mostly I listened as a person who is passionate about spreading the message that we have to take responsibility for ourselves and our communities.  We need to help people and businesses do what they do best, like supermarkets supplying food instead of government agencies.  And, we need to take it a step further and take responsibility for ourselves.

Who keeps your house stocked with food and water and who makes sure that everyone in your house has the medication they need?  Has this person prepared to keep the house stocked during a blackout or storm.

Is your business ready to withstand the impact of a flood, hurricane or pandemic?  Are your vendor and client files safe?  Are your employees prepared at home so they can return to work?

I could ramble on with pages of thought provoking questions.  But, the answer to them all is we need to be ready today for what may happen tomorrow.  We can’t wait.  Preparedness is absolutely the key.

Understand that you will be impacted by some form of disaster and what you do beforehand is what will determine how you survive that disaster.  Disasters come in all shapes and sizes.  The disaster may be a catastrophic earthquake or it could be a five hour traffic jam.  It doesn’t have to be the “big one” for you, your family and business to suffer catastrophic losses.

What did you do today to protect the people you love?

The above quote is from a Fox 59 report dated December 10, 2009.

Northampton resident and emergency preparedness expert Jamie Caplan has launched GivingPreparedness.com to make it easy for people to give the gift of safety.
GivingPreparedness.com is an online store of emergency preparedness gift boxes for home, car and pets. The gift boxes contain emergency essentials that people need to keep their family and pets safe for the first 72 hours of an emergency, including items such as a pouch of water, food bars, first aid kits and emergency light sticks.

The gift boxes can be ordered by individuals and in bulk by businesses. GivingPreparedness.com also features Caplan’s blog, with emergency preparedness information and an email sign-up for a free family emergency plan.

Caplan, a 20-year emergency management veteran, consutlant for the Federal Emergency Management Agency and a mom, said she created GivingPreparedness.com to make it easy for busy families to take responsibility for themselves in getting and giving essential emergency supplies. For more information, visit her Web site or call 586-0867.