Always take your pets with you!

When You Go – They Go  This is the message the State of Massachusetts Animal Response Team (SMART) wants all pet owners to have.

If you have to leave your home for an emergency don’t leave your pets  behind.

Barbara Legatowicz, Animals in Disaster Coordinator, for the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency, reminded me of an incident in Peabody, MA where a fire took the lives of some of the animals left behind.  It was this disaster that led Ms. Legatowicz to create the When You Go – They Go campaign.

Remember, most shelters do not take animals.  So plan ahead.

Where can you and your pets stay if you must evacuate your home?  Can you leave your pets with a friend or relative if you need to stay in a shelter?  Which hotels in your area take pets?  Some hotels may take pets post disaster.

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

I got my information from my favorite blog, In Case of Emergency Read Blog.

Watch Craig Fugate talk about this new site. FEMA\’s New Mobile Website (m.fema.gov)

Here is a copy of FEMA’s press release:

FEMA Launches New Mobile Web Site For Smartphones

M.FEMA.GOV Gives Smartphone Users Easy Access to Disaster Preparedness Information

Release Date: April 28, 2010
Release Number: HQ-10-081

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate announced the launch of FEMA’s new mobile Web site, m.fema.gov. The mobile Web site makes it easier to access critical information regarding emergency preparedness and what to do before and after a disaster right on a smartphone.

“Smartphones are becoming more prevalent, affordable, reliable and more viable to locate and obtain information and assistance,” said FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate. “This service will provide yet another avenue for the sharing of important information that is so critical to ensuring the public is prepared for emergencies. As we’ve seen in recent cases, often times after a disaster, mobile devices become a crucial lifeline to provide information to survivors.”

The new site is laid out in a user friendly, question and answer format, providing users with the answers to their top questions, such as:

What should I do in a disaster?

Where can I find assistance?

How can I help others?

FEMA will be making several enhancements to m.fema.gov in the coming months, including the ability to apply for individual assistance when a disaster has been declared by the President, check on the status of an application and update an existing application.

Today’s announcement of the launch of m.fema.gov comes just over a month until the start of this year’s hurricane season on June 1.  The mobile site is just one way that FEMA is reaching out to ensure that the public has the tools they need to be prepared for any emergency.  Families are also encouraged to log onto www.ready.gov and learn more about the simple steps they can take to ready for this season.

To view the video about the mobile Web site, visit:  www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4Kib7Am568

FEMA’s mission is to support our citizens and first responders to ensure that as a nation we work together to build, sustain and improve our capability to prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from and mitigate all hazards.

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.

Haute or Not?

Rick Tamargo at Haute or not? featured the Ready Dog Emergency Kit in his March 16, 2010 blog entry.  Rick has a new shop at OpenSky called Haute or Not? Pets.

Having three dogs it’s been great to get to know Rick and to read his blog.  I’m learning lots and making a new friend.  I encourage you to visit his blog and his shop at OpenSky.

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.

Wiggins, Miss., October 29, 2005 -- Cheryl Rasbury shows Skylor Welch, her granddaughter Mariah Rasbury, and their puppy named FEMA, pictures of their destroyed beach house in Bay St.Louis. This family and hundreds of other beach residents were displaced by Hurricane Katrina. George Armstrong/FEMA

In our house, I like to think we wake up each morning to Plan A.  Plan A means the grown-ups exercise, the kids have healthy breakfasts and everyone gets out of the house to school and work on time.  Where is Plan A?  Does anyone get to the bathroom in the morning with Plan A?  Not too often.

Maybe the baby had a bad night or the dog had to go out at 3:00 AM because she got the remaining birthday cake, or you tossed and turned all night because your mind was racing with business-related pressures.

My philosophy is to hold on to Plan A, to strive for it but for goodness sake be ready for reality.  We are all too tired.  We are juggling family, finances and work 24/7.  We have odd stress-related ailments that may turn into chronic illnesses.  The bottom line is: we are pushed and pushing beyond our limits every day.

But it is our responsibility to be prepared for the inevitable disaster or incident.  This may mean your child falls off his skateboard and needs his wounds cleaned and bandaged.  It may mean you are stuck in a major traffic jam on the way to a ski resort and need blankets, flashlights, food and water to survive several hours in the cold and dark.  It could mean there is a blackout in your city which cripples public transportation and leaves you wondering how to pick-up your toddler from daycare on-time.

When we watch television, we see terrorism, natural disasters and war in places far from us.  What is local may seem manageable and still not close enough to touch us.  But the old saying “it is not if but when” truly applies to disaster in our lives.  House fires, car accidents, hurricanes and winter storms do happen.

Finding yourself in a situation that requires you to act without the right supplies is devastating.  We know how to bandage skinned knees, but where are the band aids?  We know how to use flashlights in the dark, but has anyone seen the flashlight?  Do the batteries work?  We know to pick an emergency meeting place in case we cannot get home, but did we pick the middle school or the grocery store?  The fact is we are not ready.

We have many excuses for why we have not prepared.  We are too busy, our finances are stretched, and we live in a safe place.  But the excuses will not protect us from the inevitable.   So why not help your family, co-workers and friends be ready for disasters?  It is the best gift you can give them.  It shows you truly care about them and that you understand the risks in their lives—because they are the same ones in your life!

The news media and government agencies keep reminding us that we will have a flood or other disaster and should be prepared now.  You cannot see experiencing a flood unless you win the lottery and move to the beach or buy lakefront property.  Those people have floods.

Actually, all homes can flood.  Growing up I can remember an upstairs neighbor who let their bathtub overflow and a whole line of apartments had water damage and flooding.  A friend of mine recently moved his family into a trailer next to their home because they had a flood.  Their upstairs washing machine water hose disconnected and while everyone was at work and school water ran through the walls and pooled in the kitchen and basement damaging 75% of their home.

Driving is a time we all are likely to experience flooding.  Our aging infrastructure increasingly floods.  Pot holes turn into lakes when it rains and the trenches next to roads are overgrown with weeds forcing water onto roadways.

In fact we are all at risk for flooding.  Be especially careful when driving during heavy rain or near swollen rivers.  The National Weather Service has a campaign called Turn Around  Don’t Drown.

“Each year, more deaths occur due to flooding than from any other thunderstorm related hazard. Why? The main reason is people underestimate the force and power of water. Many of the deaths occur in automobiles as they are swept downstream. Of these drownings, many are preventable, but too many people continue to drive around the barriers that warn you the road is flooded.  Whether you are driving or walking, if you come to a flooded road, Turn Around  Don’t Drown. You will not know the depth of the water nor will you know the condition of the road under the water.”[1]

Help your customers, friends and your family be prepared for a flood or other disaster by giving them the gift of safety.  All of our Ready Gift Boxes include educational information and essential supplies that can be immediately applied to lessen their impact of any disaster.  Plus, you really do not need to be the person who gives another bottle of wine.

[1] NOAA National Weather Service information

Most people know to call 911 during a medical emergency or other type of emergency.  We teach our children to call by showing them how to use the phone and by posting the 911 emergency numbers near telephones in our homes.  We have included several 911 stickers for a family’s convenience.  The other number all families need to have on hand is Poison Help.  America’s poison centers are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week to help you.  The Poison Help hotline 1-800-222-1222 serves as a key medical information resource and helps reduce costly emergency room visits. We have included several Poison Help Hotline stickers for families to post near telephones in their homes.

Ready Home Gift Box Safest Size

Information is power before, during and after any disaster.  For that reason we have included two American Red Cross and FEMA publications, Food and Water in an Emergency and Preparing for Disaster.  These brochures guide a family through the process of preparing an emergency food and water supply as well as how to make an emergency plan.

We recently discovered the Fire Resistant Document Bag and include one in the Safe House gift box.  Use this bag to protect your property deeds, passports, birth certificates, and cash and family photos.  This bag even holds legal size documents.  Post disaster, you will need these documents for insurance purposes.  Putting your important papers in a central location that can survive a fire will inevitably streamline the process of resuming to normal.  After Hurricane Katrina, many homeowners were waiting for FEMA checks because they did not have proof of insurance.

During a power outage or other emergency, you are suddenly cut-off from the outside world.  We inundate ourselves with information through electronics, internet, television and radio.  During a disaster a family needs to know the weather forecast, if an evacuation order is in effect, when power will be restored or what the roadway conditions are.  We have included an AM/FM Radio Receiver complete with a crank flashlight.  These have become popular devices and they work.  Ours includes a telescopic antenna, earphone jack, AC power adaptor and carrying strap.  It can also be charged with 2 AA batteries.

Crank Radio and Flashlight

In addition to the flashlight attached to the crank radio, we include a regular flashlight with 2 D batteries and several 6″ instant glow lightsticks.  They last for 12 hours are non-flammable and weatherproof.  Please do not light candles or use propane stoves indoors because these may cause fires or carbon monoxide poisoning.

Next we tackle the issues of food and water.  We include pouches of drinking water with a drinking container.  These are U.S. Coast Guard approved emergency drinking water pouches.  We also include Energy Food Bars.  These actually taste good, will stay fresh for years and contain 400 calories each so they are a true meal replacement.  Your food or your pet’s food may be stored in cans that you typically open with an electronic can opener so we have included two hand held can openers for your convenience.

Considering fires, we have included a Survival Tool.  This tool can be used to shut-off the main gas valve to your home.  It is light weight, reflective and easy to use.  This tool could save your life!  Just imagine the fires in San Francisco following the 1906 or 1989 earthquakes and turn off the gas.

We have included a whistle for you to signal for emergency help or to call your dog.  Disasters are loud and a whistle may come in handy for communicating the need for help.

Of course, we have included a 107 Piece First Aid Kit.  This First Aid Kit comes in a plastic container and includes 35 large plastic bandages, 30 medium plastic bandages, 6 gauze pads of various sizes, 1 rolled gauze, 15 alcohol cleansing pads, 10 cotton swabs, 1 adhesive tape roll, 1 tweezers, 4 tongue depressors, 1 first aid guide book, 1 plastic bandage, 1 instant cold pack.

Finally, we put in a pack of playing cards.  When the power goes out we may feel a bit lost without our “electronic” friends that are why we have included a pack of playing cards.  There is no need to sit in the dark and be bored.  Have some fun by playing a game of Solitaire or Go Fish.

Power lines tend to come down in severe winter storms, hurricanes, tornadoes and other high wind events.  Even though a power line is on the ground it may still be energized.  NO TOUCHING! The best thing you can do is call your local energy company or local Department of Public Works.  You can also call the police or fire departments.

Is it safe to drive over power lines?

No.  It is not safe to drive over power lines.  Your car may become energized.  I recommend finding an alternate route or waiting for help to arrive and clear the road.

If a power line touches your car[1] (This information comes from Puget Sound Energy)

• If you are in a car when a power line falls on it, STAY IN THE CAR.
• Warn other people to stay away. Ask them to call 911 and the local electric utility for help.
• Stay there until rescue workers arrive. You are safer inside the car because the rubber tires help prevent electricity from going to the ground.
• If you must leave the car because of fire or other danger, DO NOT STEP OUT of the car. If you touch the car and the ground at the same time, you will be shocked. Instead, JUMP away from the car so no part of you touches the car and the ground at the same time. Land with your feet together, and shuffle away keeping both feet on the ground.

Note: Once you jump from a car with a power line on it, the danger may not be over. Electricity can spread out through the ground in a circle from any downed line. The voltage drops as you move away from the point of contact. If one part of your body touches a high-voltage zone while another part of your body touches a low-voltage zone, you will become a conductor for electricity. This is why you should shuffle away from the line, keeping your feet close together.

• Do not try to help someone else from the car while you are standing on the ground. If you do, you will become a path for electricity and could be hurt or killed!

A great resource online for more information: http://www.powerlinesafety.info/RightPanel-001.php

[1] http://www.pse.com/safetyReliability/electricsafety/pages/electricSafety.aspx?tab=1&chapter=5