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jeshyrDisaster preparedness is something I've been thinking about lately.
My level of health is such that I have a few spare bits of energy to notice what's going on in the world now and one thing I've noticed is that a lot of people seem to have to leave their homes for a while when there's a disaster - or a possible disaster. People get evacuated.
I'm a lot healthier than I was a few years back but a lot of what keeps me healthier is established routine - being surrounded by people and equipment and medications which have been organised to support me. I can cope for a day or two without my helpers but I fall in a heap very quickly. Without my assistive equipment I rely much much more on my helpers to keep me going. Without my medications I would very quickly get severely ill and need helpers and equipment much more. Even if I have all three of these things, having my routine is still necessary - I need several hours sleep every afternoon to stay this well, I need regular food and lots and lots of water and so forth.
In other words my situation is fragile. I rely on a lot of supports to sustain my situation and if even one of these supports is disturbed a little bit - say, if a helper is suddenly ill and can't come - then my whole day is profoundly messed up and I need to rely on all the other supports to cope. If there was an evacuation, no matter how planned or supportive, it would be guaranteed to mess up my health significantly. This worried me so I have tried to make some minor preparations that could help me in the event of a disaster.
Some good resources I found along the way include:
So I've made an "in case of evacuation" kit, and I've thought about what would happen if the area here does need evacuation. In my evacuation kit I have lots of stuff specific to me, such as the printed "crib sheet" of my medical history/details and backup versions of all my scripts and over-the-counter meds I need, plus some non-perishable food that I know is good for me. I have printed contact details for all my helpers in there, a solar "emergency charger" for my phone/iPad, and a wind-up torch and radio, amongst other things. I also made an "inventory list" and attached it to the bag in the most visible way possible - the list includes instructions to grab certain thinks and toss them into the bag on my way out, for example my current week's medications, my wallet, etc.
For anybody who's interested, here's the actual inventory list:
Standard Contents
Torch (this is a shake-to-charge LED torch)
Radio (multiple inputs including wind-up as well as batteries or external power source)
Solar charger (suitable for charging iPad, mobile phone, etc.)
Spare AA batteries (somebody will need them!)
Pocket knife
Space blanket
Ziploc bags (various sizes)
Garbage bags
Whistle
Disposable lighter
Condoms (lube-free. many uses!)
Gaffa tape
$100 in ten-dollar bills
$20 in gold coins
Prescription meds
Non-prescription meds
Scripts for medications
Spare glasses
Change/s of clothing
Extra underwear, socks
Toiletries: Toothbrush, paste, comb, deodorant
Appropriate outerwear - raincoat, gloves, etc.
Snacks - muesli/nut bars & hard lollies?
Bottles of water x 2
Reading material, deck of cards, or other entertainment
Melways maps (these are local maps of the area)
Birth certificate
Copies of medicare/pension/keycard/etc.
Important numbers document (bank accounts, etc.)
Medical information document
Lists of phone numbers (basically a print-out of my address book)
Pencil
Notepad
Inventory list
Add Before Leaving
Backup hard drive (I have an external hard drive I keep daily backups on)
Wallet, money
iPad
Mobile phone
Medications
Water/food
Wheelchair charger
Obviously everybody's list is different depending on abilities and needs and how much time you want to spend doing this. I wasn't going to actually include mine but lots of you asked :)
I've done a few other things - discussed with some local friends what I'm doing and why, and thought about things.
Most important to me right now is that having this stuff done makes me feel safer. The stuff on the list is in a gym bag in the bottom of my wardrobe and if I ever have to evacuate I'll grab it and take it with me, but even if I never have to evacuate from here it makes me feel safer just to have it. That's good too.
r
My level of health is such that I have a few spare bits of energy to notice what's going on in the world now and one thing I've noticed is that a lot of people seem to have to leave their homes for a while when there's a disaster - or a possible disaster. People get evacuated.
I'm a lot healthier than I was a few years back but a lot of what keeps me healthier is established routine - being surrounded by people and equipment and medications which have been organised to support me. I can cope for a day or two without my helpers but I fall in a heap very quickly. Without my assistive equipment I rely much much more on my helpers to keep me going. Without my medications I would very quickly get severely ill and need helpers and equipment much more. Even if I have all three of these things, having my routine is still necessary - I need several hours sleep every afternoon to stay this well, I need regular food and lots and lots of water and so forth.
In other words my situation is fragile. I rely on a lot of supports to sustain my situation and if even one of these supports is disturbed a little bit - say, if a helper is suddenly ill and can't come - then my whole day is profoundly messed up and I need to rely on all the other supports to cope. If there was an evacuation, no matter how planned or supportive, it would be guaranteed to mess up my health significantly. This worried me so I have tried to make some minor preparations that could help me in the event of a disaster.
Some good resources I found along the way include:
- Emergency Kits, by Jim Macdonald - Aimed at healthy people with some first-responder training but I found the list, plus the associated discussions and comments on the Making Light forums, helpful for creating my own emergency kit
- CDHP Evacuation Preparedness Guide - quite complete guide aimed at people with disabilities/impairments
- Individual Emergency Preparedness for People with Disabilities, Their Families and Support Networks, by June Isaacson Kailes - mostly links to other sites, well categorised
So I've made an "in case of evacuation" kit, and I've thought about what would happen if the area here does need evacuation. In my evacuation kit I have lots of stuff specific to me, such as the printed "crib sheet" of my medical history/details and backup versions of all my scripts and over-the-counter meds I need, plus some non-perishable food that I know is good for me. I have printed contact details for all my helpers in there, a solar "emergency charger" for my phone/iPad, and a wind-up torch and radio, amongst other things. I also made an "inventory list" and attached it to the bag in the most visible way possible - the list includes instructions to grab certain thinks and toss them into the bag on my way out, for example my current week's medications, my wallet, etc.
For anybody who's interested, here's the actual inventory list:
Standard Contents
Torch (this is a shake-to-charge LED torch)
Radio (multiple inputs including wind-up as well as batteries or external power source)
Solar charger (suitable for charging iPad, mobile phone, etc.)
Spare AA batteries (somebody will need them!)
Pocket knife
Space blanket
Ziploc bags (various sizes)
Garbage bags
Whistle
Disposable lighter
Condoms (lube-free. many uses!)
Gaffa tape
$100 in ten-dollar bills
$20 in gold coins
Prescription meds
Non-prescription meds
Scripts for medications
Spare glasses
Change/s of clothing
Extra underwear, socks
Toiletries: Toothbrush, paste, comb, deodorant
Appropriate outerwear - raincoat, gloves, etc.
Snacks - muesli/nut bars & hard lollies?
Bottles of water x 2
Reading material, deck of cards, or other entertainment
Melways maps (these are local maps of the area)
Birth certificate
Copies of medicare/pension/keycard/etc.
Important numbers document (bank accounts, etc.)
Medical information document
Lists of phone numbers (basically a print-out of my address book)
Pencil
Notepad
Inventory list
Add Before Leaving
Backup hard drive (I have an external hard drive I keep daily backups on)
Wallet, money
iPad
Mobile phone
Medications
Water/food
Wheelchair charger
Obviously everybody's list is different depending on abilities and needs and how much time you want to spend doing this. I wasn't going to actually include mine but lots of you asked :)
I've done a few other things - discussed with some local friends what I'm doing and why, and thought about things.
Most important to me right now is that having this stuff done makes me feel safer. The stuff on the list is in a gym bag in the bottom of my wardrobe and if I ever have to evacuate I'll grab it and take it with me, but even if I never have to evacuate from here it makes me feel safer just to have it. That's good too.
r
no subject
Date: 2011-09-18 01:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-18 01:20 pm (UTC)Actually it's a copy of a document I generally carry around in whatever bag I take with me. It has my current medical state (diagnoses, etc), current medications and doses, allergies and intolerances, list of current doctors, and pretty much the all stuff that need to tell them right away if I go to hospital.
Cathy in NZ
Date: 2011-09-18 08:07 pm (UTC)one thing you might like to do if you haven't is get the "crib sheets" laminated so that if they got wet they didn't tear...
I possibly need to upgrade my "Kit" which I made last year..nowhere as good as yours but enough if need be
Thanks for the reminder :-) Luv Cathy in NZ - getting capped tomorrow and the Metservice weather guru has a bright yellow globe on it for Tuesday!!
no subject
Date: 2011-09-19 12:58 am (UTC)as you probably know, i had to evacuate when Hurricane Irene hit the northeastern US. i originally only packed two days' worth of necessities. but the electricity stayed off for almost a week - i came home just long enough to get more clothes and stuff, and stayed at my son's house until the power came back on.
some people refer to an emergency preparedness bag as a "jump bag" or "bounce bag" - if you have to "jump" or "bounce" somewhere in a hurry, you just grab the already-packed bag you keep in the hall closet, and go. the main reason i don't have one is that i don't want to keep several sets of clothing out of circulation. but it doesn't usually take me very long to pack. and i do have all the "necessities" always ready to go... most of them are in my purse.
p.s. - the new theme is easier for me to read :-)
Re: Cathy in NZ
Date: 2011-09-19 02:41 am (UTC)I thought of getting the crib sheets laminated but I'm still editing them pretty frequently so I haven't bothered for now.
Good luck with your capping :)
no subject
Date: 2011-09-19 02:48 am (UTC)The clothes I have in there at the moment are the ones that are perfectly wearable but old/shabby enough that they would have otherwise gone in the recycling/op-shop basket, so they're not things I miss being able to use generally. Also in my condition last-minute packing might not be possible so I thought it was better to have something prepared - if I have enough time and energy I will be able to switch them out for newer clothes but if I don't have time or don't have the energy then I won't have to panic.
I think having something ready, even if it's significantly less good that what you'd prefer, is a good idea. The stories on the Making Light forums (linked from my post) were interesting - e.g. one woman who was evacuated for a large gas leak and they were told to literally drop everything and run, not even allowed to stop to collect pets! She wasn't able to go back home for over a week so having something ready to literally grab and go made a huge difference... actually I think it was the same woman's story where she said they had to spend a long time in the evacuation shelters and the biggest problem was boredom - hence the addition of a book and a pack of cards to my pack! Reading so many real life stories of things that happened really helped me think about what mattered and what didn't.
no subject
Date: 2011-09-19 07:45 am (UTC)i don't have any clothes that are wearable but worn; i wear my clothes until they're not wearable any more. many years ago, i was getting ready to paint my bathroom a new color, and i went looking for clothes that i wouldn't mind getting paint on and ruining. i didn't have any - all my clothes were things i needed to keep, just as they are now. i wound up painting in the nude, which actually works fairly well, because it's very easy to remove even dried latex paint from skin ;-)
i had a paperback in my purse ;-) when we were first evacuated, we went to a motel in an area we thought wasn't going to be affected by the storm, but it was. however, the power didn't go out, and i watched The Weather Channel on the motel's cable tv. when i stayed at my son's house, i watched his cable tv - he has just about every channel there is except the ones in Hindi and Korean. alas, almost all of it is crap; i wound up watching The Weather Channel some more, and some science programs and cooking programs, and half of one really bad movie.