Personal Health Preparedness
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A major public health
emergency like a hurricane or a lengthy power outage can limit your access
to supplies and services for several days, weeks, or even months. Be
prepared with safe water and food, basic supplies, and the personal items
you need to protect your health in an emergency.
Personal Needs:
- An
emergency water supply.
- Nonperishable
and ready-to-eat food, including specialty foods—such as nutrition
drinks and ready-to-feed formula—for infants, and people with dietary
restrictions, food allergies and sensitivities, and medical conditions
such as diabetes.
- Home
use medical devices and assistive technologies devices, such as hearing
aids, contact lenses, and contact lens solution.
- Medical
supplies.
- First
aid supplies.
- For
more essentials, click here.
Prescriptions:
- A
7- to 10-day emergency supply of essential or priority medications
stored in a waterproof, childproof container.
- An
up-to-date list, including
- All
prescription medications, including dosage amounts and the names of
their generic equivalents
- Medical
supply needs
- Known
allergies
- Nonprescription
drugs, including pain and fever relievers, diuretics, antihistamines,
and antidiarrheal medications stored in childproof containers.
- For
more information on prescriptions, click here.
Paperwork:
- Copies
of insurance cards and medical records, including
- Health
insurance card
- Immunization
and vaccination records
- Vital
records (e.g., birth and death certificates and adoption records) and
personal identification, including
- Passport
- Driver’s
license
- Social
Security card
- Copies
of current medical emergency plans, such as advance directives and
asthma action plans.
- For
more information on paperwork, click here.
Power Sources:
- A
flashlight or head lamp.
- Extra
batteries in standard sizes, such as AA and AAA.
- Car
charger(s) and adapters for electricity-dependent equipment and
devices.
- A
generator with at least 20 feet of extension cord(s).
- Battery-powered
smoke alarms and carbon monoxide (CO) detectors.
- For
more power sources, click here.
Practical Skills:
- Learn
the right way to wash your hands. Handwashing is one of the best ways
to protect yourself, your family, and others from getting sick.
- Learn
how to use a portable generator safely to prevent CO poisoning.
- Learn
how to create and store an emergency water supply.
- For
more practical skills, click here.
More than a collection of names, phone numbers, and
street addresses, an emergency action plan is an instruction manual for
how to stay healthy, stay informed, and stay in contact in an emergency.
Because an emergency action lan affects everyone in your household, the
whole household should be involved in making and practicing the plan.
Stay Healthy:
- Use
generators safely—outside; in a dry area; and at least 20 feet from
any window, door, or vent to prevent CO poisoning.
- Wash
your hands to prevent the spread of disease. Hand sanitizers are not
effective when hands are visibly dirty and do not eliminate all
types of germs.
- If
you or someone in your family has asthma, make an asthma management
plan that identifies known asthma triggers, describes daily treatment
(such as what kind of medicines to take and when to take them), and
explains when to call the doctor or go to the emergency room.
- For
more ways to stay healthy, click here.
- Sign
up with your state and/or local emergency management offices to
receive emergency alerts and notifications.
- Monitor
local news coverage for emergency information, including evacuation
orders, boil water advisories, and air quality reports. Beware of
rumors, especially on social media. Always make sure the information
comes from trusted agencies and organizations like your local
government.
- Turn
on Wireless Emergency Alerts notifications on your smartphone.
- For
more ways to stay informed, click here.
- Send
text messages to your family, friends, and out-of-town contacts. In
many cases, text messages will go through when a phone call may not.
- Update
your social media statuses and feeds with information about your
location and well-being after an emergency.
- Limit
your phone calls to only critical communications, so you conserve
battery life and keep the lines open for emergency communications.
- For
more ways to stay in contact, click here.
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Social connectedness is an important way to respond
to and recover from an emergency. People are more empowered to help one
another after a disaster when community members have been regularly
involved in each other’s lives. Simple things, such as getting to know
your neighbors and finding out who might need help in a disaster,
learning practical preparedness skills, and assisting others in an
emergency, can help create community.
Care for Each Other:
- Talk
to a friend or family member about your feelings. Seek professional
help if feelings of stress, anxiety, and grief persist for several
days or affect your ability to complete everyday tasks.
- Continue
with your treatment plans if you have a mental health condition and
monitor for any new symptoms.
- Responders—Work
in teams to limit your time working alone and help prevent and
reduce burnout and secondary traumatic stress.
- Check
on your neighbors in an emergency, especially, those who are
pregnant, elderly, live alone, have a disability or chronic disease,
depend on electric-powered medical equipment, or may need help in an
evacuation.
- For
more ways to care for each other, click here.
Get
involved:
- Join
a local Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) Unit or Community Emergency
Response Team (CERT).
- Contact
your state and local public health departments to help with a
Community Assessment for Public Health Emergency Response (CASPER)
or participate in readiness exercises.
- Give
blood.
- For
more ways to get involved, click here.
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