What would you do in the event of a major flood, man-made disaster, power outage, toxic spill, or health-related quarantine?  Could you survive on your own for the first 72 hours after a major disaster or emergency? 

The 72 Crew Awareness and Preparedness campaign is dedicated to helping you and your family Be Prepared . . . Not Scared. Click on Get Involvedto learn how your community can be 72 Crew Certified.

Set up a Personal Support network – Designate someone to check on you in an emergency and to help with evacuation or sheltering-in-place.  Make sure your neighbors are aware and that you have someone who can check in during an emergency.

Personal Care Assistance – If you receive assistance from a home healthcare agency or in-home support provider, find out how the provider will respond in an emergency. Designate backup or alternative providers that you can contact in an emergency.

For Persons using a wheelchair: Plan for how you will evacuate in an emergency and discuss it with your care providers. If you use a motorized wheelchair, have a manual wheelchair as a backup

For Persons who are Blind or Visually Impaired: Keep an extra collapsible cane by your bed. Attach a whistle to the cane; use it if you need to attract attention. Exercise caution when moving around after an earthquake; items may fall and block paths that are normally unobstructed.

For Persons who are Hearing Impaired: Keep extra batteries for your hearing aids with emergency supplies. Consider storing your hearing aids in a container attached to your nightstand or bedpost, so you can locate them quickly after a disaster.

Medication & Medical Supplies

• Keep a separate supply of at least 7 days worth of any medication or critical medical supplies, such as oxygen.
• If you rely on electric medical equipment, such as wheelchairs, ventilators and oxygen compressors, talk to your medical supply company about getting batteries or a generator as a back up power source.
  

Additions to the Emergency Kit and Go Bag:

• Extra mobility aids, including a manual wheelchair (Car batteries may be used to run an electric wheelchair)
• A whistle to signal for help
• Necessary medications and supplies
• Special sanitary needs
• Important medical phone numbers
• Food that meets specialized dietary needs
• Make a list of your medications, medical conditions, insurance information, allergies, and have your insurance cards available. Keep one copy with you at all times, and give the other copy to someone else for safekeeping.

If you have a service animal, make sure that it has a registered tag.