Category: Ready

National Preparedness Month: Get Your Kit

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National Preparedness Month is a national campaign encouraging individuals, families and communities to prepare for natural and national disasters.  Established in 2003, National Preparedness Month grew out of our shared national experiences with the tragedy of 9/11/2001 and other large-scale natural disasters. 

     I am especially appreciative of the NPM campaign because it gives me language to use with my kids, so we can speak about preparedness without instilling fear or dread.  My older sons were very young when the tragedy of 9/11 occurred, the youngest not yet born.   They talked about 9/11 in school this year, but it is difficult to strike the right tone of respect, justice, forgiveness, strength, caution and courage.

     Using the steps suggested at Ready.gov, Our family is able to get and stay prepared for what life may throw our way, be calm and confident in that, and move on.  The three parts of the National Preparedness Month Kit are Get a Kit, Make A Plan, and Be Prepared.   Here we will talk about your Kit:

Create or purchase a Preparedness Kit, including a First Aid Kit (see below):

  1. Click here for Standard contents: (and keep the list hand for inventorying and re-stocking items).
  2. We purchased our Preparedness Kit from Costco a couple of years ago, so this month I just need to check and see that all the contents are stocked, and that the expiration dates are still a year away. 
  3. If you want to purchase a Kit, or just want more ideas or visuals on what to put in yours, Google search “Emergency Kit”.  I got a bunch of hits, including the one I bought from Costco.
  4. Make it your own:  Include items specific to your family, like pet foods or formula and baby supplies.
  5. Instead of packing all the camping stuff they recommend on the Ready.gov website, we store our Emergency Kit with our camping supplies in a convenient basement closet. 

My kids (actually my cub scouts next week) and I are putting together  A First Aid Kit.

  1. Click here for a list of Standard Contents (and keep the list hand for inventorying and re-stocking items).
  2. Make it your own:  use a standard list of contents, but also include items specific to your family, like infant or children’s strength pain relievers, inhalers, safety pins (we use a lot of safety pins), extra band-aids (we go through a lot of band aids), or diabetic supplies.
  3. For my Cub Scouts, we will put together a simple first aid kit they can take hiking or traveling.  We will brainstorm the contents and they can add stuff when they get home, but at our meeting I will supply individually packaged antibacterial wipes, tissues, band-aids, dental picks (my youngest always seems to need those), gauze and tape, q-tips, tweezers, ointment, checklists and clear, waterproof baggies (zip lock), and whatever else I dream up.  Perhaps a deck of cards, or a list of family phone numbers.
  4. We have first aid kits in multiple places: in the house, in my van, with our hiking / camping supplies, and a small one in my purse.  If you have kits already, too, use National Preparedness Month as your yearly reminder to check the level of your supplies, and the expiration dates on your perishable items like pain relievers and ointments. 

    For more information:

 Take some time this month to prepare yourself and your family for what life may throw your way.  Then be calm and competent and move on!

Quick – Where are your Keys? Your Cell Phone?

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I attended a National Preparedness Month tele-seminar a few weeks ago.  We talked about big, life-changing events like 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina, and insurance, preparation and recovery.  The class reminded me that even little events have the capacity for rocking our world if we are unprepared.

     We need to be prepared for big events and big-to-us events. 

     I remember late night ER visits for croup with my babies.  Not big events for other people, but big and critical and terrifying to us at 2 am.  The same strategies work for all emergencies, big or small. 

     Let’s bring National Preparedness month down to a convenient pocket size.  Know, at all times, where a few vital items are.  They may be:

  1. Cell Phone (with contacts and calendar up to date);
  2. Car and house keys (clipped to my purse at the door at all times);
  3. Wallet and Insurance card (we each carry one in our wallets);
  4. Emergency medications (Diabetics can carry insulin and a snack, asthmatics carry inhalers, people with allergies carry epi-pens);
  5. Bag or purse:  When my boys were babies, we re-stocked the diaper bag the moment we got home.  You never know when you have to run out the door, for your own emergency or someone else’s.  And
  6. Family members and pets?  This sounds odd, but you need to know where all of your family members are sleeping each night.  We insist the kids sleep in their own beds every night for lots of reasons, but also because we need to be able to find them in the dark if there was a fire or an emergency.

     So, What are your vital items?  

     Make it a point to choose a home for these items and commit to putting them in their home every day, and know that you are ready to conquer your own emergencies.