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1-800-PREPARE.com teams with SurvivalStrap to support soldiers

At 1-800-PREPARE.com we care very much about supporting organizations and charities that respond to and help after a disaster or emergency. Another group of people near and dear to our hearts are the men and women in uniform who serve our country.

While there is no way to truly thank them all for their bravery, sacrifice and service we want to try and do our part.

We are very pleased to team up with SurvivalStrap to help support their Soldier Care Package Program by providing Survival Bracelets to our troops.

Survival Bracelets are made with up to 16′ of 550# military spec paracord. They contain approximately 1.75′ of paracord for every inch (wrist size) ordered. In an emergency situation, you can unravel the bracelet and deploy the paracord for use.

If you visit our site at 1-800-PREPARE.com and purchase a Survival Bracelet we will also send one to a soldier.

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General Preparedness Preparedness Planning

5 Tips for Talking To Your Spouse about Emergency Preparedness

It can be difficult to bring your spouse around to the idea of emergency preparedness. It’s one thing to have a great intellectual and even heart-felt discussion about tragic disasters throughout the world or nationally that leave families and children hungry and without shelter. However, to convince your spouse to put some of your paycheck toward preparing for a flood or an earthquake takes some know-how.

1. Don’t Bombard Your Spouse with Information

Bring them along slowly, one step at a time. Don’t cram several worst case scenarios into a one hour meeting. Your spouse will shut down emotionally and mentally, even if they appear attentive and interested in what you have to say. Prioritize what you want to protect yourselves against first, based on your location and what’s happening in the news. For example, if major earthquakes are devastating different countries around the world, talk about the news with your spouse first, and use one meeting to talk about earthquake preparedness. Don’t suddenly transition into talking about preparing for bio-weapons or hurricanes, which can lead to information overload. Talk about “smaller” emergencies first, such as a flat tire after dark or a power outage that lasts for more than a day.

2. Be Prepared

To be effective in a discussion with your spouse about emergency preparedness, you must be prepared. Don’t come to the meeting without many answers, or that can cause your spouse to doubt that it’s worth preparing at all, or that you know what you’re doing. Learn about emergency preparedness and draft a plan. You should value your spouse’s input and wisdom, and modify your plan as needed. However, don’t show up empty handed, or answer “I don’t know” to most of the questions they will have.

3. Do the Math

Emergency preparedness takes money, for supplies, kits and some repairs to your home or cars. When money is tight, it can be hard to persuade a spouse to use what little money you do have for food storage, water filters and other necessities. Put your spouse at ease with a budget, showing them how you can both make this work. Most likely you both will have to make sacrifices in a spending area or two, and you should be ready to make suggestions on how much to cut or completely eliminate. Couch the budget to your spouse as a draft, and encourage them to help you modify it. Make “Emergency Preparedness” one category of the budget, and use subcategories underneath, such as “Light” and “Communications”.

4. Refer to Experts

Although you may be an expert on emergency preparedness because of all the reading and research you’ve done to date, it helps to show your spouse what the experts are saying. Find sources that your spouse considers credible, and share news and information on emergency preparedness from those experts or organizations. Invite them to read an article, blog post or other book with you, and follow that up with how you can apply what you’ve learned in your home. Ask questions and elicit commentary from your spouse, to help you figure out where they stand on emergency preparedness.

5. Attend a Class Together

Many spouses will agree to attend classes that benefit the family, such as a CPR class. Take advantage of attending classes together that your spouse will find beneficial, and that also relate to emergency preparedness. It’s a way to have someone else introduce the topic for you, and teach vital skills to you and your spouse at the same time. Class attendees and the teacher might share information and personal anecdotes on emergency preparedness that will reassure your spouse that it’s normal and responsible to be prepared.

Don’t delay speaking with your spouse about emergency preparedness. Before you get started, take the time you need to strategize your best approach using these 5 tips.

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Charities/Groups we support General Preparedness Personal Stories Preparedness Planning Uncategorized

Preparedness for Pets

Sometimes being prepared is not fun.

Prime example is getting a phone call at 7am from a friend who NEVER calls me at that time of day.  We also happen to be on the search team together so I thought he was calling me for a deployment but it turns out, he needed the after hours contact for our vet, he also has dogs.  This was not a usual question for him and on the way to my fridge (yes the fridge)  I asked him what had happened.    Turns out his retired search dog had fallen and hurt herself.

I keep two (yes two) magnets with the office and after hours office numbers for my vet on my fridge.  They have been in the same location for the past 5 years.  I don’t move them, not even when I clean.  You see, in a panic, people don’t think, they just do.  I’m sure my friend could have easily looked up our vets number in the phone book, or maybe he had magnets on the fridge and was sitting with his dog and didn’t want to leave.  For him in that moment, it was his first thought to call someone who could find the number for him.  I was that person.

I’ve had to use those magnets myself when one of my search dogs went down with a seizure 4 months after moving into the house.  The magnet was in that same spot then as it is now.  Every person who I might have watch my pets knows where those magnets are, I show them in person when they come in to pet sit.

Those magnets or contact numbers are as important to your pet as the poison control hot line is to your small child.  Make sure the family knows where the numbers are and that they don’t move.  I also have my vet’s information programed into my ‘in case of emergency’ function on my phone.    Under “other” it lists:  In case of a car accident please look for my search dogs.  The number of their vet is…..

Many of us view our pets as a part of the family, make sure you treat preparing for an emergency your pet  might have the same way. You also should have a pet preparedness kit that you can use to treat minor injuries.

Unfortunately, the injury that my friends’ dog sustained would not allow her to make a full recovery.  That day he had to make the decision to end her pain.  My thoughts are with him and his family.

Robin and K9 Dunder
Paws of Life Foundation

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Tornado Preparedness: The Six Keys to Safety

Spring is right around the corner, and one of the things that means is “tornado season!”

We’re going to cover the six main areas of tornado preparedness that will help you before, during, and after a tornado or heavy storm strikes.  Appropriately, we’ll use the acronym S.T.O.R.M.S.:

Shelter – Strengthen your home and know where to find expedient shelter.

Time – Increase your chances of getting the early warning.

Others – Safety and protection involves the whole family and communicating with others.

Resources – You’ll need everything from immediate supply to good insurance.

Medical – Help yourself now to save the injured later.

Sweeping Up – Tips and tricks for dealing with the aftermath.

Shelter

Severe storms with driving rain, possible hail, and projectiles hurled by strong winds offer extreme dangers from which we need to protect ourselves.  The best protection would be a steel-reinforced concrete safe room located in your basement.  Lacking that, let’s look at a few options:

  1. Reinforce your house.  Ask your local home-supply store about angle brackets, strapping, and techniques to install them to make your roof, walls, doors, and connection to the foundation stronger.  Do an internet search for “hurricane retrofit” (including quotes) to find additional instruction.  One such source is http://www.ibhs.org/publications/downloads/128.pdf.
  2. Create a safe room or area within your home.  The general rule is to pick an area near the center of your house and below ground if possible.  Consider these points:
  • Turn your walk-in closet into a safe area.  Remove the sheetrock from walls and ceiling, add extra wall studs held in place with screws, strapping, and angle brackets, and then replace the sheetrock with one or two layers of ¾” marine plywood held in place with structural adhesive and screws.
  • For some online sources of “safe-room construction” do an internet search or see:
  • If you live in a mobile home, your best bet for safety would be a storm cellar.  One simple and relatively inexpensive source is to have a septic tank company install a clean new unit in your yard.
  1. Learn the “safe points.”  When a tornado strikes you might be at home, but it’s more likely you’ll be at work, out running errands, or on a trip.  Learn to recognize the locations that will provide protection.    Does the building have a basement?  Are you on the road?  How far are you from a known safe building, or from a deep ditch?

Time

In emergencies, our most important asset is time.  The two best ways to gain extra time in weather emergencies are to prepare now, and to get as early a warning as possible that severe weather is heading your way.

  1. Buy an NOAA Weather Alert Radio.
  2. Sign up for an alternate alert service such as the Weather Channel’s at www.weather.com/notify, or the Emergency Email & Wireless Network at http://www.emergencye.com.
  3. Network with others and make a “phone tree.”  Sometimes friends and coworkers are our best early warning system.

Others

“Others” is a reminder to communicate.  Talk to your family now and be ready to talk to emergency responders after an incident.  Consider:

  1. Tornado drills.  Emergency reactions are worth practicing.  Have your family practice getting into the safe room and into a safe position (“duck and cover”) within 30 seconds or less.
  2. Protect your pets.  On warning of severe weather, round up your pets, put them on leads or in carriers, and take them to your safe area.
  3. Communication may be vitally important if your home is damaged or someone sustains injury during a tornado.  For example, though everyone might be uninjured, you may be trapped in your damaged home and need someone to dig you out.  In addition to your house phone and cell phone, have backup options like a hand-held two-way radio, and something that can make a loud noise such as an air-horn or whistle.

Resources

In a disaster, you’ll need goods, gear, or services to help you deal with the event and then recover afterward.  Make sure you have adequately covered each of the following areas:

  1. Make sure your insurance policy covers all types of natural disaster including water damage from rain or flood since many policies have strict exclusions.  Also, make sure your policy will provide for the costs of temporary lodging and the full replacement value for your property and possessions.
  2. Document all your possessions by taking photos and videos, list everything you own, and keep important receipts in your safe deposit box.
  3. Make a list of services you might need after a tornado, such as cleanup and repair services or temporary lodging.  Keep their contact info in your emergency kit.

Medical

Hopefully the advice above has kept you safe in the event of a tornado.  Cover the following, just in case:

  1. First aid training is important for every family regardless of the threat, so learn the basics of general first aid and CPR.
  2. First aid kits are a must and families should have several and not just one.  The main kit should be kept in the home, but smaller kits should be kept in each automobile and at your workplace.
  3. Copies of medical information should be kept at home.  Keep a list of ailments, conditions, special medical needs, and current medications of each family member (including pets).

Sweeping Up

All destructive events have at least one thing in common; they’re going to create quite a mess.  Here are a few tips:

  1. Though you think the power is completely out, stay away from downed power lines.
  2. Stay alert to the hissing sound of a broken gas line or the smell of gas.
  3. Dress for the weather, but still dress to protect.  Wear sturdy shoes or boots, a hat and sunscreen, insect repellant, and heavy work gloves.
  4. Physical labor after a stressful event can be quite taxing.  Drink plenty of fluids, eat regularly, and take periodic breaks.
  5. Here is where you’d need your list of professional cleanup services.  Call as soon as possible.
  6. It’s possible your possessions might be strewn about the neighborhood.  It’ll be easier to have things returned if your name is written or engraved on them.  Hint:  Never use your Social Security Number or other sensitive info.

**************

About the author:  Paul Purcell is a security analyst and preparedness consultant with over 20 years risk management experience.  He is also the author of “Disaster Prep 101,” and a partner / adviser to 1-800-Prepare.

(Copyright 2010, Paul Purcell.  Permission granted to share this article provided all portions remain intact.)

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Charities/Groups we support Emergency Responders General Preparedness Humor Personal Stories Uncategorized

First Responders Also Need to be Prepared

For the last two years as Dunder, my search dog, and I have been going through training, most of the time has been spent on him and getting him up and going as a certified search dog. We accomplished that task this last January in California which was a huge relief to me (I still get testing anxiety). But recently it sort of hit home as to how prepared the ‘people’ portion of the team, meaning me, also needs to be prepared.   I was talking with a friend of mine about how long it takes me to ‘get out the door’ after being deployed.

My answer, about 45 minutes.  (but that includes driving home from my work).

You might think that’s not a very long time but I have a 10 minute commute home (that’s if I hit all the red lights). I have to change my clothes, grab my two ‘go bags’ and get out of the house.  I also check to make sure I have fresh water and food for the dogs in the truck.    Doesn’t seem like it should take that long but it does (I also usually have a hard time finding the right socks for some reason, which is odd since I own 5 pair of the ‘right socks’).

After doing search and rescue work for about 10 years, I have this all down to somewhat of an art but it’s taken me about 8 of those years to NOT forget anything.  I also have to go through every spring and fall and rotate out what exactly is in my go bag for clothes.  I live in a climate that in the winter we need something to keep you warm in -10 degree weather and in the summer you need to have extra socks/pants/shirts  because the ones you are wearing are sweaty and wet.  In essence, you have to be prepared for anything when you walk out of the house.

However, I found myself on the phone today talking with my mom to find out when I had my polio shot.  Turns out the FEMA level task force I am hoping to be a member of requires my “shot record’ along with my dog’s.    This is part of me being prepared for deployment.  I also found it humorous to be wracking my brain to try and remember what year I had the chicken pox.

However, the one good thing I did find out, I’m probably do for a tetanus booster.  I would encourage everyone to check the status of your ‘shot record’ with your doctor….it’s part of being prepared.

Wags,

Robin Habeger and K9 Dunder

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Flood Preparedness Preparedness Planning

Flood Preparedness

We wish we had a crystal ball and could have posted this article weeks ago before the rains came.  But, if we knew when emergencies were to hit, they’d be called “annoyances” because we’d be ready.

Though we can’t predict every subtle nuance of every disaster, we do know 2 absolute facts:  One, if you were in a flooded area, you’ll want to be ready in case there’s a repeat.  Two, you’ll be telling friends in other areas how important it is to be prepared, and you’ll want some suggestions to pass along.

Let’s look at 4 areas:

Situational Awareness

  1. You need to know if you’re in a flood zone.  You can get flood maps now from http://www.floodsmart.gov.
  2. Get an NOAA approved Weather Alert Radio.  Not only can they keep you up to speed on the weather, the Emergency Alert System uses weather alert radios to broadcast other emergency info.
  3. Though you might not live in a flood plain or near a waterway, individual neighborhoods can flood when storm drains are blocked.
  4. Get a “basement flood monitor.”  They’re little gizmos that sit on the floor and alarm when water is present on the floor.  You can get them at most any hardware store.  This will tell you if water is creeping into the house, or if your water heater has ruptured, etc.

Know What to Protect

  1. People and pets come before property, but as a flood develops, you’ll want to protect certain possessions, assuming you have time (time is the number one asset in any emergency).  So, look around now and determine what’s worth protecting.  Next, figure out how you might accomplish the task.  Do you load things in your evacuation vehicle?  Do you move things upstairs?  One suggestion is to put expensive furniture on top of the cheap stuff.  Put your ingenuity to work here.
  2. Inventory your property.  Take photos of everything you own and save receipts.  Regardless of what kind of insurance you have, you’ll need to prove loss.
  3. Vehicles are important, and today, most families have more than one.  You can save time if you park one vehicle on higher ground when flooding is predicted.  People in regular flood areas call this “docking.”

Prepare to Evacuate

  1. We’re assuming that if you’ve already made the decision to stay, it’s because you, your neighbors, and local emergency management have already taken steps to start sandbagging certain areas and have already started protective procedures.
  2. Just because water might be only a trickle now, don’t assume a flood will develop with uniform slowness.  The term “flash flood” was coined for a reason.  Make sure you have a way to get out of your home and out of the area.
  3. In a flood you’d naturally head for higher ground, which could be just a few houses away.  One of the things you could do in advance (if flooding is predicted) is to tie a rope “railing” from your exit door to a neighbor’s tree so you can have something to hang on to if water levels rise faster than you thought.   As a helpful hint, knots are useful in any number of scenarios.  Go to www.youtube.com and learn how to tie the following knots:  bowline, taught line hitch, and Siberian hitch.
  4. When leaving your house, turn off the power at your breaker box, but ONLY if you’re standing on a dry floor to do it.  You want the power off so rising water will not short out your wiring and burn your house down.
  5. If water is already over the roadway, don’t drive.  Find a high and dry spot where you are and try to stay put.  Six inches or rushing water can push a car off the roadway.

Financial Protection

  1. It’s good to have flood insurance if you live in an area with even a slight potential for flooding.  However, do 2 things.  One, have an inspector verify your property now to make sure the policy is valid even if you’ve been making steady payments.  Two, be sure to document all your belongings now, and your losses when incurred.  When cleaning up damaged property try not to throw anything away until an insurance adjuster has inspected.  At the very least, photo and/or video all the items you have to discard, and save every repair receipt to verify loss.
  2. Flood damage also means you’ll have to deal with service companies.  Make a list now of the companies you may need in the wake of a flood and keep their contact information with your emergency documents.  If none are available, be sure to check out any new companies before authorizing them to work on your property.  Consumer reports has a good “honest contractor” checklist at:  http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/resources/images/PDFs/HowtoHireaContractorChecklist.pdf
  3. For emergency grant information, visit www.fema.gov.

Special note:  Send us an email at disasterprep101@aol.com and we’ll send you a copy of the 23-page report “Your Flooded Home” which details the steps you need to take when cleaning and repairing a flooded house.

About the author:  Paul Purcell is a security analyst and preparedness consultant with over 20 years risk management experience.  He is also the author of “Disaster Prep 101,” and a partner / adviser to 1-800-Prepare.

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Hurricane Preparedness Preparedness Planning

As Hurricane Season Approaches

I recently stumbled upon this site and wanted to share it with our readers. I truly believe that it is as important if not more important to have a plan in place as it is to have a kit and basic supplies. This site has some great tools to help you build your plan.

http://www.onestorm.org/Default.aspx?ReturnUrl=/OnePlan/

OneStorm is a free tool to make hurricane planning as simple and painless as possible.

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“Rotate Your Clocks – Rotate Your Stocks”

It’s daylight savings time yet again.  Normally that just means we lose an hour, but for those in the know it means we gain an opportunity to check up on our family’s safety.  We do this by using the twice-a-year time change as a reminder to review the parts of our family emergency plans or gear that might need to be updated.

Here’s a quick list of but a few things to look at:

  1. Change your smoke alarm and carbon monoxide detector batteries.
  2. Check the batteries in your emergency gear (you should always write the dates of purchase on them).
  3. Expiration dates of medications (including over-the-counter stuff and meds for your pets).
  4. Conduct a fire drill along with a seasonal / regional drill such as a tornado or hurricane drill.
  5. Check the expiration dates on important documents and policies (and list all dates in a calendar program).
  6. Check the dates on any stored water you’ve put away.
  7. Review maintenance needs for your vehicles.
  8. Rotate and/or use any food in the pantry that is approaching its expiration date.
  9. Look at the purchase or inspection dates on your fire extinguishers (do this when conducting your fire drill).
  10. Change your password and run an anti-virus and anti-spyware scan and backup your computer.
  11. Put any stored gasoline in your vehicles and refill the spare cans with fresh gas.
  12. Health improvement: review your exercise plan or get a medical / dental checkup.
  13. Update your emergency contact information.
  14. Log on to www.disasterprep101.com for additional how-to articles.
  15. Log on to www.1800prepare.com to find updated gear for your safety.

Again, these are but a few of many ideas.  Once you start with these, more opportunities that are unique to you and your family will present themselves.

Feel free to pass this list along to others!  (Provided all portions stay intact that is; Copyright 2010 – Paul Purcell.)

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Community Preparedness Webinar Series: American Red Cross Month-Partnership in Preparedness

FEMA’s Individual & Community Preparedness Division is excited to announce the fifth webinar in the Community Preparedness Webinar Series:  American Red Cross Month-Partnership in Preparedness.  The Community Preparedness Webinar Series provides up-to-date information on community preparedness topics and resources available to citizens, community organizations, and Citizen Corps Councils. This LIVE webinar is scheduled for Wednesday, March 17th at 2:00 EST and will provide information on the American Red Cross, presented by American Red Cross Preparedness and Health and Safety Services.  Webinar login will begin 15 minutes prior to the start of the webinar and registration is not required. A question and answer period will follow the presentation.

Live Webinar: American Red Cross Month:  Partnership in Preparedness– March 17@ 2:00 pm EST.

March is American Red Cross Month.  For more than 128 years, the mission of the American Red Cross has been to help people prevent, prepare for, and respond to emergencies. A humanitarian organization led by volunteers, guided by its Congressional Charter and the Fundamental Principles of the International Red Cross Movement, the Red Cross is woven into the fabric of our communities with more than 700 chapters nationwide. The American Red Cross has been a Citizen Corps Affiliate since 2003, offering state and local Citizen Corps Councils resources for education, outreach, training, and volunteer service opportunities to support first responders and disaster relief activities.  Joscelyn Silsby, from American Red Cross Preparedness and Health and Safety Services, will highlight ways to work in partnership with local American Red Cross Chapters and learn about resources to better promote community preparedness.

The Community Preparedness Webinar Series features new community preparedness topics several times each month and is free to the public. Each webinar will accommodate the first 500 visitors that enter the website at the time of the webinar. In addition to airing live, the webinar will be recorded and viewable at your convenience on the Citizen Corps website (www.citizencorps.gov) usually within 24 hours after the live webcast.  To join the webinar live simply go to http://www.citizencorps.gov/news/webcasts/redcrossmonth.shtm and click on the button on the upper right side of the page that says “Join the Webinar”.  Sign in as a guest.

If you need special accommodations or require additional assistance to view or listen to this webinar, please email us at citizencorps@dhs.gov no later than 5pm EST on Monday, March 15th and we will provide you with additional resources so you may participate.

More details on this webinar and upcoming webinars in the Community Preparedness Webinar Series are available at www.citizencorps.gov.

Sincerely,

The National Office of Citizen Corps

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Safety with Medicine; Avoiding Tragedy

Safety with Medicine; Avoiding Tragedy

In recent months we’ve seen the loss of Heath Ledger, Brittany Murphy, and now Corey Haim; all reported to have had some sort of prescription medication associated with their death.

These are by no means isolated incidents.

The statistics on medicine-related deaths vary since some cases are intentional overdose, some accidental overdose, and sometimes death is the result of unexpected side effects of single drugs or unintended interactions between drugs.  The bottom line, all official numbers aside, is the fact that medicine, while being extremely useful, can be dangerous if misused.

Here are a few general safety tips to keep you and your family safe.

  1. Childproof everything.  If you have offspring under 21 years of age living with you, lock up your prescription meds, especially pain killers.  Many trips to the emergency room have been the result of teenagers pilfering their parents’ prescription medications for everything from recreational use to illicit drug sales.  Don’t think that childproofing only applies to babies and toddlers.
  2. Separate your medications.  Some accidental overdoses or unintended drug interactions have occurred when the wrong bottle was picked up and therefore the wrong pill taken.  Keep the more dangerous pharmaceuticals either in a separate place or at least on a different shelf in the medicine cabinet.  Another hint is to put a rubber band around those particular pill bottles so you’ll know the difference by feel.  This is helpful if you get up in the middle of the night to take what you think is an aspirin for a headache.
  3. Discard what you don’t need.  If you’re taking meds for a temporary condition and you have doses left over after the condition has cleared, dispose of the rest if your doctor says it’s okay.  The more dangerous or controlled the medicine the more important it might be to take the remainder back to your doctor’s office for disposal.  This way you have witnesses to the fact the medicine was disposed of.    Hint:  If you find leftover pills and you’re not sure what they are, try looking them up at either www.medhelp.org or http://www.drugs.com/imprints.php.
  4. Ration your doses.  If memory is an issue, then have someone lay out your daily doses for you.  Many accidental overdoses happen when people forget that they just took their pill and then take another.  Plastic pill boxes that help you organize daily doses –even going so far as to have boxes for meals or hourly times – are easy to find at most any drug or department store.
  5. Save the drug info.  Most prescriptions come with a data sheet tucked in the box or placed in the bag by your pharmacist.  If you don’t get one ask for one.  On these sheets are dosage instructions, known interactions and cautions, and other useful information.  As long as you are taking the medication, keep these sheets from your different meds together and inside your medicine cabinet, or in another obvious location so if something happens, emergency rescue personnel can quickly find the information they need.  If you routinely keep backup medicine in your emergency or “bugout kit” (and you should), be sure to keep a photocopy of these drug information sheets in your kit as well.
  6. Know the interactions.  It’s a sad commentary on the state of today’s medical / pharmaceutical industry, but many times we must be educated patients and know enough to check out information for ourselves.  Regarding the information sheets mentioned above, it’s up to you to know the interactions of the various medications you might be on.  If you need to look up potential adverse side-effects, you can log on to www.drugs.com, www.rxlist.com, or http://healthtools.aarp.org/drug-directory.
  7. Don’t self-medicate.  If something’s wrong, go see the doctor.  Other trips to the emergency room have resulted from taking the wrong medication for the wrong condition.  Remember… our health and safety are the foundation for all else we do.  Safeguard yours.

About the author:  Paul Purcell is an Atlanta-based security analyst and preparedness consultant with over twenty years risk management and preparedness experience.  He’s also the author of Disaster Prep 101, and he’s a partner / advisor to 1-800-PREPARE.  Copyright 2010, Paul Purcell.

(Permission granted to reprint this article and share it with others provided all portions remain intact.)