Safety First! Make a Family Emergency Plan Today!

Does Your Family Have a Family Emergency Plan Yet?

An emergency is just that; ‘an unexpected and usually dangerous situation that calls for immediate action.’

Planning for emergencies is not an easy thing to do, since, well… they happen when you least expect it! However, having a PLAN does help you ‘take control’ of the unexpected, as far as that’s possible.

Plan for an Emergency by Doing Drills!

With kids going back to school this month, we thought it would be a good idea to review some family emergency plans. Just like your kids will be exposed to fire drills, earthquake drills, tornado drills, bomb drills or, at least here in South Carolina we do them; hurricane drills, at their schools. You should be planning for a home emergency as well by doing these types of drills with a written out plan, at  your home!

On the website ‘disastercenter.com’ we learn that

• Disaster can strike quickly and without warning. It can force you to evacuate your neighborhood or confine you to your home. What would you do if basic services, such as water, gas, electricity, or telephones were cut off? Local officials and relief workers will be on the scene after a disaster, but they cannot reach everyone right away.
• Families can and do cope with disaster by preparing in advance and working together as a team. Knowing what to do is your best protection and your responsibility. Learn more about Family Disaster Plans by contacting your local emergency management office or your local American Red Cross chapter.

We then went to the Red Cross site and according to the Red Cross, creating a family emergency plan is “important to make sure that the entire family is prepared and informed in the event of a disaster or emergency. You may not always be together when these events take place and should have plans for making sure you are able to contact and find one another.”

The American Red Cross suggests some basic steps to make sure you remain safe:

• Meet with your family or household members.
• Discuss how to prepare and respond to emergencies that are most likely to happen where you live, learn, work and play.
• Identify responsibilities for each member of your household and plan to work together as a team.
• If a family member is in the military, plan how you would respond if they were deployed.

To read the full Red Cross article, click here.

FEMA also has some valuable information. They have created two downloadable family communication plans as PDFs, one for parents and one for kids.
Family Communication Plan for Kids
Family Communication Plan for Parents

These would be a great starting point for any family who doesn’t have a family emergency plan yet!

Do These Four Things To Keep Your Family Save in Time of Disaster and Emergency

To round out this article, here are four things to keep in mind and take care of today!

1. Find out what can happen to you and your family.
2. Create a family disaster plan.
3. Complete your checklists.
4. Practice and maintain your plan.

If you do all of these, you can rest just a bit easier when disaster strikes!

EDIT: March 2017

We received a beautiful email from a Girl Scout Troop. The girls in the troop are currently working on their first aid badges and we they have been talking about emergency preparedness.  Our article provided a ton of info for the girls. In their research, they found another helpful resource. Today, we are happy to share it with you, too.

Check out this article by BePrepared.com

CREATE AN EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS PLAN FOR YOUR FAMILY

Get ready! You can never be too prepared!