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Emergency Management, Emergency Services, & Disaster Spox

Rethink your preparedness plans. Thanks #COVID

Posted on September 6, 2020 by rusnivek

What can you do to improve your plans in 2020 National Preparedness Month?!?

With this COVID thing going on, we must be cognizant of new things in our preparedness plans. New challenges, esp in planning, make us rethink our orig plans.

But this is a good thing. A fresh set of eyes and new parameters that could help us enhance our preexisting plans!

I would say that we all need to add a few masks to our plan. Yep, add a few masks in your car, your work bag, etc….

Coronavirus Spurs Demand For Face Masks — But They're Surprisingly Hard To make : Goats and Soda : NPR

If you happen to work in close proximity to or a high contact environment, consider wearing a surgical mask over an N95 mask.

Rising Coronavirus Cases Put Fresh Strain on Mask Supplies - WSJ

Simple things like this could help enhance the protection and extend the life of your equipment. Not all places will be as prepared as you so I would take the time now to plan accordingly.

Aside from masks, I have changed my plans to have hand sanitizer in various locations. Not only car, but bags, pouches, belt loops, etc…

Funny Fruit Food Silicone Mini Hand Sanitizer Holder Travel Portable Safe Gel Holder Hangable Liquid Soap Dispenser Containers|Refillable Bottles| - AliExpress

(Disclaimer-I don’t own jeans)

This kind of proactive behavior allows me and those around me to be less at-risk of contracting COVID.

I can’t trust the places I go to have a fully-stocked hand sanitizer dispenser right?

Creative Nose Funny Practical Hand Sanitizer Bottle Nose Gel Dispenser – Pink-Always

I know you may be prepared, but the company you keep may not be as prepared as you.

So consider augmenting your plan for double masks, more hand sanitizer, extra set of gloves, etc….

nitrile gloves | Tumblr

Be even more prepared for stuff to happen!

Reporting live from 2020 National Preparedness Month!

@rusnivek

3 reasons why you should have a family communications plan #NPM2020 #NatlPrep

Posted on September 5, 2020 by rusnivek

Final day of the first week of the 2020 National Preparedness Month. So to close this week out, we are going to talk about your family communications plan…aka comms plan.

No, not that kinda plan.

An essential part of your emergency plan is the easy family communications plan.

WAIT…did you say “I already have their phone numbers in my cell phone. Why do I need anything else?”

Your memory isn’t that great. You are human. And it’s been proven that during a crisis/duress, your critical skills and ability to recount precise information sucks.

This is precisely why you need a family communications plan.

Technology has proven to fail and fail at critical times in a crisis or disaster. While your cell phone is a critical piece of equipment, there are times where you lose your phone.

Yeah, I know all of you Apple Watch users have used the find my phone feature.

Regularly, we find evacuees after a storm, they report that they do not have good reception or adequate data service for their phones. This renders their phone useless when trying to communicate essential information to loved ones.

And we all know when we lose power to our phones that most definitely eliminate all critical phone numbers, emails, etc…

So three solid reasons why you want to consider having a hard copy family communications plan ready in case of an emergency.

Need some help? Here’s an easy template provided by our Ready.Gov campaign

Click to access Family_Comm_Plan_508_20150820.pdf

Easy peasy right?

Do the right thing for the safety of your family.

Reporting live and closing out the first week of the 2020 National Preparedness Month!

@rusnivek

Bridges are out…now whut? #NatlPrep

Posted on September 4, 2020 by rusnivek

As we near the end of the first week, we should also consider our planning and look at evacuation routes. As far as things go, most major routes should be open esp in emergency to allow for those who need to egress to GTFO of there right?!?

While in perfect situations, this would be the case. But lately, we’ve had some challenging situations across the nation that leads me to believe we may not have the option to evacuate safety out of the city.

While most days, all the bridges are down in Chicago.

Chicago Hotel Packages Add Spice to the Weekend

However the City of Chicago has had some bad luck and was forced to pop the bridges to curtail silly behavior at night.

With almost all the bridges up, that makes travel through the loop a bit more complex and challenging esp when things happen last minute and late at night.

To help deal with these challenging situations, subscribing to the mass notification systems would provide additional information on which roads are closed but amidst the ruckus, perhaps planning alternate routes out of your location would be best.

Easier said than done but necessary when faced with pressures of the safety of yourself and your family.

While it doesn’t have to be a straight shot out, you can exercise various options on how to exit your location and safely rondevous with loved ones in other places.

Remember, plan at least two alternate routes of egress from your location and try your hardest to reduce the amount of complexity after a disaster/emergency.

As always, remain vigilant and make sure you and your family are safe by planning now.

Reporting live on AlohaFriday…

@rusnivek

Plan for shelter and outside meeting location with your family #NatlPrep

Posted on September 3, 2020 by rusnivek

We’re still in the first week of National Preparedness Month, we need to examine shelter locations. Yes I said planning for shelter locations.

Because if this is your shelter idea…

…you might want to rethink your plan.

If you plan for a proper shelter location WITH your family, you’d likely be rewarded with a more comfortable situation. Food, water, etc….are nice things to have. But the last thing anyone needs during a crisis is more things to think about and burden you down.

No one has time for that!

Ain't Nobody Got Time for That… – Danny Dainton

Interior rooms with no windows is always a good shelter location esp during a tornado strike. Not only is it interior, but you can seek further shelter/cover underneath the counter top.

Nice!

After the danger passes, a simple meeting place outside is a good idea too.It should be a relatively easy to find location that everyone knows and can rally up. Also be identifiable from great distances. Something tall and unique could be used too.

Don’t be the bearer of bad news…make sure everyone knows the plans!

Since most of you are home, consider taking the time to assessing your situation, evaluate your options, and make good decisions. But no matter where it is, be sure to tell the rest of your family where to go in case of emergency.

Plan for stuff to happen right? Just look at us now.

2020 Sucks - Year 2020 - Sticker | TeePublic

Worst. Year. Ever.

Reporting live from the first week of National Preparedness week!

@rusnivek

How I find out the latest deets on stuff #NatlPrep

Posted on September 2, 2020 by rusnivek

Since this is only the second day of 2020 National Preparedness month, we needed to focus in on your plans before, during, and after an emergency.

On the regular, I get TONS of calls/inquiries from people trying to figure out what’s going on. Many of our friends/families can glean this same info I get from the mass notification systems already in place.

The City of Chicago (IL) Office of Emergency Management and Communications (OEMC) has an easy system called NotifyChicago.

By inputting your information and particular way to be contacted, you can get the most up-to-date information about any part of the city. This includes warnings, hazards, and of course major street closures due to riots, protests, or other weird things that happen in Chicago. Choosing to be notified via text message ensures that no matter where you are, you can be alerted to dangers in your area 24/7. Subscribe for free here: https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts/oem/provdrs/alertchicago/svcs/notifychicago.html

At the county level, DuPage County (IL) Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management (OHSEM) uses the Smart911 system which is a mass notification system to alert anyone on issues at the county level.

This could include severe weather, road closures, as well as critical information for anyone living/working in the area. You can sign up here: https://www.smart911.com/

From the region:

I rely heavily on our partners from the National Weather Service. While not the primary way, I think their social media work on Twitter is excellent and pull lots of info from them using the alert feature (notifications on) function on Twitter.

Consider following Mike Bardou and the crew from the NWS Chicago or follow your own local NWS office for immediate weather info. There are 122 Weather Forecasting Offices across our great nation.

More details can be found here: https://www.weather.gov/srh/nwsoffices

And finally, with the amount of info and the onslaught of information being pushed to our mobile devices, it’s good to know that IF it’s too much, you can always unsubscribe to any these services.

IF you have family in other parts of the country, consider subscribing to their area notifications. Doesn’t hurt to help a loved one out as they maybe be too busy, sleeping, or incapable of understanding the severity of their situation. More on that tomorrow.

Keep it safe during this first week of National Preparedness Month by making your plan!

@rusnivek