Who’s On Your Kid’s Emergency Contact Card?

Emergency contact cards…   We’ve all filled out hundreds of them. 

Whether they’re our own cards for work, or college, or for our kids or at the office of a new doctor.  They’re so ubiquitous, we barely give it a thought before, scribbling in the name of a spouse, a parent or a best friend. 

But think about it a moment.  Those cards are there for a reason, right?   In case of emergency.  In case something happens where people need to act fast on your, your spouses or your child’s behalf.   If that’s the document that people are going to pull out when life and limb are at stake, shouldn’t you be spending more than a half a second thinking about the information it should contain?

We’ll get into the information an adult’s card should contain in a couple of weeks.  But today, since the kids are going back to school, or daycare in a few weeks, let’s concentrate on your children.

Here’s a startling statistic for you.  In the days after September 11th, two thousand, one hundred children were left stranded in daycare. 

Why? 

Because their parents didn’t fill out one of the fields on their daycare emergency contact cards.   

It wasn’t a difficult field, but it was one that a lot of parents simply don’t want to think about — some to the extent that they didn’t even bother to answer it on a document as vital as their child’s emergency contact card. 

What was it?   “Who should we contact if you are not able to pick up your child?”

How could something so basic, strand two thousand children on one of the scariest days in American history? 

Procrastination! 

The inability or refusal to take a few moments to think through what might happen, if both parents were unable to reach their child.  It doesn’t even have to be a real emergency for this to happen. You could be stuck on the freeway, or trapped in an airplane you were certain would arrive on time. 

So take a few moments to think about it.  And please, please don’t just jot down the first name that pops into your head! 

What if an accident, or a transportation nightmare occurred and you and your spouse were unable to get to your child for two or three days.  Who would you want taking care of him?   You need someone who knows your child extremely well.  Someone who would be able to calm her down and would have the energy to care for her.  Someone who knows what she likes and dislikes.  In case of extreme emergency like September 11^th, you would need someone with the ability, brains and fortitude to help locate you or your spouse, if overburdened emergency personnel weren’t able to help.

That is the kind of thought you need to put into emergency planning, especially where your children are concerned. 

Now what about your child’s medical history?  Some schools or day care centers don’t even provide a card for medical history, or the one they provide might be so sparing in information that it would be useless in a true medical emergency.  Don’t forget that you can simply create your own medical history card and see that it’s stored with your child’s records.  That way you can be sure that the information you would want emergency personnel to used in an emergency, will be right there in an emergency. 

With our Ready In 10 System, we provide a full set of forms that you can use for medical history (along with everything else you could possibly need in an emergency), but in case you don’t have them yet, here are some tips. 

You probably already have a basic medical history for your child.    Get a piece of paper and gather everything you have for each child on his or her own sheet.  You’ll need to include a list of chronic conditions, allergies, medications and vitamins that they have or currently are taking along with dosage.  Include a list of all of your child’s health providers including specialists, dentists and any other professional who sees your child on a regular basis.  

Before you begin entering the information into the medical portion of your child’s forms, take a moment to sit by yourself in a quiet place where you won’t be disturbed.   Close your eyes and imagine your child, or each of your children individually, with a moderate injury, like a broken ankle.  You’re sitting in the emergency room with him. 

The doctor – someone you’ve never seen before and who doesn’t know your spouse or child’s unique medical or emotional needs – walks through the door.  What would you tell the doctor about your them?  What do you need him to know?    

Child by child, jot down all of the things that just went through your mind.  Old injuries, allergies, surgeries, anything you think is important.   Then do the exercise again, imagining that this had been a serious injury.  Is there anything else that you would need to tell the doctor or surgeon caring for your child?  Anything that might help save his or her life?

Again, jot down any additional things that went through your mind for each of your children. 

At the end of our forms, we  include a few other questions about your child.   Things that a nurse or physician might need to know to help calm your child down while treating her, until you’re able to be at the hospital   So include a brief section on your child’s like and dislikes, what calms her down, favorite foods or toys or anything else that might help.   No matter how old your child is, kids tend to regress a bit when they’re hurting or frightened, so the information you provide here can go a long way towards keeping them calm and helping the medical team give them the treatment they need.

Since children don’t carry wallets or driver’s licenses, make sure that they have ID cards with current emergency contact information in a few different locations, like his backpack or near an iPod or cell phone.   Shoewallets are great for kids too, because they can be strapped right to your child’s shoe, belt or clothing.  And don’t forget to add ICE (in case of emergeny) entries to the cell phones of older children.  You can find out how to do that on this recent blog entry.

Taking the steps to ensure your child’s information now, will help keep him safer while giving you a little more peace of mind.  Talk about a win-win!

Think You’re Ready For A Disaster? Think Again!

Here is the third piece in a series we began a few posts ago, after the earthquake in Baja.   Not only does the series tell you how to prepare for an earthquake, but this part gives you tips on being prepared for ANY disaster — the right way! In case you didn’t see part one and two, you’ll find the links below… lg 

part 1 Earthquake Rocks Baja California
part 2 The Right Way To Get Ready For Earthquakes

Facing a disaster without giving yourself a plan to recover from it, is like trying to build a house with no blueprint and no tools!

Having two plans can make all the difference, in getting you through those first few days and weeks after a disaster strikes. 

What are the plans?  They are the Ready In 10 Evacuation Plan and the Get Back To Life Plan — the same plans that we’ve built into our Ready In 10 System.

The evacuation plan is pretty simple.  It all comes from one question…  If you were at home or at work and suddenly had to evacuate your home, or your general area, where would you go? 

As you think about the locations you’ll use for your evacuation, consider, the people  travelling with you,  how you’ll get there (car, bus, plane), any pets travelling with you and whether those locations will actually work for you – for instance are they close to stores or services your family might need, like pharmacies, clothing, banks and doctors. 

We suggest that people have three different locations in mind, to give you different types of locations and choices depending on the circumstances.   As you create your plan, write everything down in detail.  If you have to use this plan, you and the people you love are probably going to be in panic mode and following an easy to understand plan, will help calm and focus you.

Write down the people who will be travelling with you, and any special instructions you’ll need to gather everyone together, in case a disaster or emergency occurs while you’re all away from home.  Name the location that you and your family will use to meet up with each other and the location you will be evacuating to, if you cannot live in your home, but your immediate area is still safe.  Include the address of the location, contact phone, email address and directions.  

Next choose a location (writing down the details, address and contact information) that your family will use if you not only need to evacuate your home, but your immediate area or city.  This might happen during a moderate hurricane or a tornado.  Your third location is out of state, for a serious, widely destructive emergency like Hurricane Katrina, the Iceland Volcano, or other disaster that will make your entire region uninhabitable.

You will also include these locations on your emergency wallet card and your family’s wallet cards (and hopefully your Shoewallets to carry them securely!).  Now, no matter what the disaster, even a fire or local emergency, you and your family will now know where and how to gather, and who will be responsible for what, so you can quickly reunite and travel on to your emergency location together.  If you like, you can also give a card to the person you chose to be your out-of-area contact as well.   Will you have any pets travelling with you?  Be sure to fill out the pet section, so that you will have all the information you need for them, like the name and numbers for the veterinarian, their licenses, and names/numbers of kennels in the location you are evacuating to and any prescriptions or special instructions you’ll need until you return home.

So are YOU prepared to deal with a disaster? Check out our latest video and see.

Your Get Back To Life Plan

The worst part of any disaster, short of losing a loved one, is the possibility that the home you love and care for and everything in it would be damaged beyond repair.  That is what your Get Back To Life Plan is all about.   

Imagine that you and your family have survived an earthquake, but had to leave your area because it is uninhabitable.   You’re in your evacuation location two days after the hurricane subsides.  The phone rings.  It’s a good friend of yours, who has just toured your neighborhood and is calling to tell you that your home is badly damaged and he doubts that you will be able to live in it for several months, if ever again.  After you and your family hold each other for a while and talk, you finally feel strong enough to open your Ready In 10 Notebook.   There you find your Get Back To Life Plan and begin making calls to your insurance agent, your contractor and your boss.  You call the local real estate agent in your evacuation city and ask her to begin looking for temporary housing, register your children in the local school, and begin calling the contacts you need (that you jotted down just in case), to help you settle in.  Getting settled is easier than you thought, since you have copies of all of the vital documents you need, like your birth certificates and property deeds in a safe deposit box at the local bank.  It takes some time, but with hard work and a lot of courage, you and your family are back to living in a matter of weeks.  

Now imagine the same scenario, the same phone call, holding your family, talking and then realizing that you have no plan and no clue how to get back to living your life.   It’s CNN coverage all over again.  The best part of this little scenario is that it hasn’t happened to you and that you have time right now, to make sure no matter what ever occurs in your area, you and your family will be prepared.

If you don’t have a copy of our actual Get Back To Life Plan, grab a piece of paper.  Take a few minutes to answer the following questions:

• How will we handle our bank accounts, paying our monthly bills and receiving our paychecks?  How much emergency cash do we need to have, while traveling?
• What are our credit card limits and toll free numbers for emergency increases?
• How will we work?  Will we work remotely or have to look for new positions?  What people or contacts can we call about temporary or permanent jobs?
• How will we handle our medical, dental and prescription needs while in the new location?  What doctors and dentists can we use while there?
• How long can we stay in our evacuation location?  If we need to remain evacuated longer, where will we go/stay?  Who will our real estate contacts be, if we need to find new permanent or temporary housing?
• How are we going to secure the property or vehicles we had to leave behind?
• How will we take care of our pets, during the evacuation and until we find new permanent housing?
• How will we handle our transportation needs?  What contacts will we need to purchase or lease vehicles?
• How will we handle our daycare needs?  How will we handle getting our children into school if necessary?  What schools or contacts will we need, to enroll them in a new school in a temporary or new location?
• How will we handle any special needs in our family?

Once you’ve answered the questions, get your family together to work out any potential problems you have uncovered and then draft your plan.  And don’t forget to compile a list of real estate agents, financial contacts and jobs, schools, doctors and other professionals or information that you might need to establish yourself in the new city temporarily or permanently.  

Starting over is never easy, especially when it happens because of a disaster or other life changing emergency.  But taking a few hours now to think through and draft a plan, will give you and your family the direction, information and support that you need, to get through not only the first hours and days after a disaster, but the first steps back to living the life you’ve worked so hard to build.

Your Cell Phone Can Save Your Life!

Your cell phone can be a real life saver, but can it save your life?  You bet it can, and here’s how.

Can you imagine your life without that electronic appendage of yours? I’m taking about your cell phone. Hard to imagine isn’t it? If you’re like most people, it’s the main way that you connect with your family, friends and business associates. But few people viewed it as their literal lifeline. On 9/11 all that changed. As workers in and around the World Trade Center began running for their lives, they didn’t necessarily have the time or presence of mind to grab their purses or briefcases. But many of them were smart enough to have made a habit out of always having their cell phone within reach. They grabbed the phone and were able to reach their spouses or their children as they walked down the stairs, before cell phone towers gave out from the overwhelming traffic of users dialing each other all over New York and New Jersey.

How Disaster-Ready is Your Phone?

As the workers ran down endless flights of stairs to safety, many of them learned a very important lesson.

A cell phone is only as good as its battery life and the numbers & information that are stored on it!

Let’s take those lessons one at a time. The first one is easy to prevent. Keep your phone charged. The simplest way to do that is to keep a charger stand where you store your phone every evening, and charge it while you’re watching TV or helping the kids with their homework. What? You don’t keep your phone in the same place every night? That’s another one of those habits you need to get into! What if you had to grab it to make an emergency call in the middle of the night? While you’re at it, purchase an extra phone charger for the office and charge it during the day while you’re reading email or doing routine tasks at work.

Making Your Cell Phone Speak

Lesson two: you’ve been talking to your cell phone long enough. It’s time you make it speak for YOU – and in a way that can save your family’s lives.

During Hurricane Katrina, the Tsunami and other recent disasters, someone came up with the idea of putting an ICE entry, (short for In Case Of Emergency), on your phone, to make your emergency contacts stand out to people reading it in an emergency. The idea quickly spread around the world, and most hospitals now look for ICE entries on the cell phones of unconscious patients.

If a disaster struck right now, where you’re sitting and the only thing you could grab was your cell phone, would you have everything you need to:

• Reach the people you love
• Be able to communicate your vital emergency contacts
• Be able to communicate your basic medical information if you are injured and unable to speak for yourself
• Survive until you reach home, your loved ones or your pre-planned safe location

That’s a lot of work for one little cell phone, but with some thought and planning, it’s easier than you think to turn your smart phone into your very own emergency command center. In fact we’re going to take this one step further to give you, hospitals and emergency personnel the information necessary to save you or your family member’s life, right in your ICE contacts.

Sit down with each member of your family and decide who their two main emergency contacts are going to be. Depending on your cell phone model, you should be able to put quite a bit of information right in that one contact. The contact name of course will be ICE, but you can put the contact’s first name and relationship, (for example Cynthia – Mom) in the company name field, so a doctor reading it, would know that this contact is the patient’s mother.

Play around with the other fields until you fill in all the information you possibly can. For example:

• Your emergency contact’s main phone number
• Cell number
• Work number
• Email Address
• IM, Twitter and Facebook address if you need to send them emergency messages or quick updates
• A direct URL link to your emergency contact information and basic medical history (optional)

For a second contact person, type in a second entry and name it ICE2.   We’ve put together a demonstration on entering contacts into an iPhone, along with a graphic you can use on your phone to easily identify your ICE contact.  To download it, click on the link.  

Now about that last item – the direct URL Link. Let’s say you (or someone you love), are unconscious and unable to give the trauma team treating you, your basic medical history. Think about this for a moment. This means that you can’t tell them what medicines you’re allergic to or what conditions you might have that could prove fatal, if they don’t treat you, or your spouse or your child, with your personal medical histories in mind.

We always suggest that our customers use our comprehensive Grab it and Go Forms, to capture each family member’s medical and vital information, insurance numbers, emergency contact numbers and other life saving information. If you don’t have those forms you can make a basic version in Word or Excel. Although you don’t want to record anything that could compromise you or your family – like social security numbers or financial information – make sure that you put down everything you would tell a trauma physician about you or your loved one if you were standing in front of them.

Once you have saved the documents (one for each member of the family) on your computer, print out a couple of copies of each. Place one set at home, in a safe but easy to grab location. Place another set in your and your spouse’s file cabinet at work.

Now store one copy of the documents in the file manager of your personal web site, or secure online file system. Put the URL to this document or file into your cell phone. This way if you are injured, the hospital will be able to grab your medical history and extended emergency contacts. If your spouse, child or even a parent is injured and you are in another location, you can easily access that document and email it to the hospital to speed emergency treatment. You might even include a treatment consent form for your children, in case a hospital needs one to begin treating your child, before you arrive.

If your phone has the capability, you can also store those documents as well as a copy of your family’s emergency plan, right in your phone, in case you ever need it while away from home. You can note the names of the documents in the ICE contact for easy retrieval.

You now have the info you and anyone treating you, would need to have to save your life, reunite your family, and not only function, but thrive after an emergency or sudden disaster.

The Right Way to Get Ready For Earthquakes

This is the second part, in a three part series:   part 1 Earthquake Rocks Baja California   part 3 Think You’re Ready For A Disaster?  Think Again!

Our last post was about the recent California/Mexico earthquake and the best ways to prepare for future quakes.  As we said in the last post, and as we tell our Ready In 10 System clients, the first step, is to make sure that you have your earthquake survival gear and know how to secure your home and personal safety when an earthquake strikes.

The second, is to make sure that you’re able to grab everything you need – necessities, keepsakes, vital information – and leave for a safe location, in less than ten minutes.  It’s a lot easier than it sounds.  All you need is to do is ensure you have access to all the items and information that will help you get back to living your normal life, as quickly and easily as possible.

The best way to physically prepare for earthquakes, is to think through the different scenarios that could take place.  If a quake is large enough to have to “deal with” chances are, the electricity is going to go out.  Telephone and/or cell service could also be down.  In Calexico, power lines fell, plunging the city into darkness.  That means not only means you won’t have light, but you also won’t have power for computers or televisions and radios.  Grocery and drug stores won’t be able to ring up purchases, ATMs won’t work, garage door openers might not function.  Name any tool in this world and chances are it’s powered by electricity.  So your first defense is making sure that you always have an alternative source of power, battery powered flashlights, extra cash, a supply of canned or frozen food that doesn’t need to be cooked to be eaten, and the all important supply of water – enough to last you and everyone in your family for three days.  Your home or neighborhood might be damaged.  Broken glass and rocks will be strewn everywhere.  Rubber-soled shoes, a warm jacket and other emergency gear should be easily reachable from your bed or right inside your closet.  

There are literally hundreds of sources that can give you tremendous lists of what you should have on hand during an earthquake, including our web site.  Even more will give you specific instructions on what to do before and after a quake – for example, how to turn off your gas line, or when to boil your water – so we won’t get into details like that.   You should also create or update your evacuation checklist, detailing the items that you and your family would need if you were unable to live in your home for three or more days.  This includes all of your necessities, prescriptions, vital documents (or access to them on portable hard drives, online or in out of area safe deposit boxes), keepsakes, personal and professional contacts, ID and basic medical history and anything else that your family will need while evacuated.

But I want you to think about something.  Think about the last few earthquakes – or hurricanes for that matter.  Think about the coverage you saw on CNN or the local news.  Think about the faces of the people in the midst of the quake zone or the storm.  They looked shell-shocked, terrified, lost.  Most of those people, were at least moderately prepared for a disaster.  Those in earthquake country most likely had stockpiled some food and water, those in hurricane country might even have evacuated and done everything their local news and emergency authorities told them to do.  And yet, after the disaster, they were standing there, scared and helpless, because their homes, the people they loved, and basically their entire lives have been destroyed to the point that their own existence was now unrecognizable.  All of those people, rich and poor, young and old — they all had one thing in common.  They had NO idea where to go and what to do from here.

And THAT – knowing what to do and where to go after the disaster, is step two.  The most important step of all.

To Be Continued…

Earthquake Rocks Baja California

This is the first part in a three part series:   part 2 The Right Way To Get Ready For Earthquakes     part 3 Think You’re Ready For A Disaster?  Think Again!

7.2 Magnitude Earthquake Strikes California/Mexico Border

On Sunday April 4^th, millions of families from California and Mexico who were sitting down to Easter dinner, were jolted by a 7.2 magnitude earthquake.   According to Lucy Jones of the US Geological Survey, the powerful quake, centered near the city of Calexico, was felt by nearly 20 million people, from Baja to Los Angeles and as far away as the Bay Area, Las Vegas and Phoenix.  The quake, was most damaging to the city of Calexico, which by mid-afternoon on Monday, was reporting that nearly 80% of its buildings had been red-tagged, a designation that means a building is uninhabitable.  The quake devastated their downtown area and jangled the nerves of people throughout the Southwest, especially after recent earthquakes in Haiti and Chile. 

Watch Mike Von Fremd’s coverage of the quake, along with the rest of the ABC News team on location in Calexico, for more details of the Easter earthquake.  As USGS reminds us, aftershocks continue to occur and probably will for the next week or two.

As longtime residents of Southern California, we know how difficult it can be to spend the days and weeks after a quake, living in earthquake mode.  The phenomenon isn’t really something you can explain to someone who hasn’t experience it personally.  New Californians are always asking how they’ll know if what they feel is a quake, or just an especially loud garbage truck.  There’s only one answer to that question.  You’ll know!  And sure enough when it happens, they’ll say, “you were absolutely right!”  An earthquake combines two things that most humans hate– the fear of falling and the fear of loud noises.  Feeling like the floor is going to crack open and swallow you, while listening to your house, cracking and groaning, while glass, bricks and your best china crashing to the ground around you, is a horrible sensation.

So what’s the best way to prepare for an earthquake? 

Earthquakes are probably the most difficult type of disaster to prepare for, for two reasons.  First, there is absolutely no warning when one is going to strike.  Second, you never know how or where it’s going to strike.  Two earthquakes of the same magnitude aren’t necessarily going to have the same destructive capability.  A shallow 5.0 quake, can potentially create more damages and injury than a 7.0 quake centered deep within the earth.  Shallow earthquakes mean more shaking and more cracks and fissures in the earth, which in turn damages more  buildings, streets and injures more people.  You also have to factor in how close the earthquake is to your home and where your home is located.  We once experienced a 1.5 quake that was centered very close to our home and knocked books off the shelves – while a 6.4 earthquake 30 or 40 miles away got us out of bed, but left our possessions exactly where the were the night before. 

In earthquake country “location, location, location couldn’t be more true.  Remember the parable of the man who built his house on the sand versus the man who built his on the rock?  Those guys must have lived in earthquake country!   It’s called liquefaction.  Especially in California, in areas where there are high concentrations of sand in the soil – aka high priced beach communities – the violent shaking of an earthquake causes water underground to rise up through the sandy soil, turning pseudo solid earth beneath homes to turn into liquid, swallowing anything above it – houses, stores, freeway on ramps.  Making sure that your home is build on rock solid ground is a great first step to long term earthquake safety.

The final reason that earthquakes are so hard to prepare for, is that they tend to happen very early in the morning.  Imagine being shaken out of a sound sleep, only to realize that your bed, your walls and your floor are all moving in opposite directions, while you try and remember the first item on your disaster checklist!  Not going to happen!

So how do we prepare?  The way we and our customers  prepare is by taking a two-step approach. 

The first step, is to make sure that you have your earthquake survival gear and know how to secure your home and personal safety when an earthquake strikes.

The second, is to make sure that you’re able to grab everything you need – necessities, keepsakes, vital information – and leave for a safer location, in less than ten minutes.  It’s a lot easier than it sounds.  All you need is to do is to take the necessary steps now, to ensure you have access to all the items and information that will help you get back to living your normal life, as quickly and easily as possible.

To Be Continued…

Only Minutes to Flee Rhode Island Flooding

Minutes To Flee, He Lost Everything, reads the headline on CNN this morning.  Click here to watch the video.

It’s an incredible video.  The saddest part?  Much of the flooding that’s now striking the beautiful little town of Cranston Rhode Island, is striking outside the “flood zone”.  People who thought they would be okay, are ending up having to grab what they can and go with just a few minute’s notice.    It certainly proves one thing — you just can’t count of predictions, to help you decide what’s right for yourself, your property or your family.

Eddie Flynn and his girlfriend fout that out too late.  When firefighters knocked on their door, they got the couple and their pet out of the house with seconds to spare, having to tow them in a boat, across what used to be a street and now a raging torrent, to safety.    Eddie’s face says it all – life as he knows it will never be the same again. 

It’s a good lesson for us all.  Even though you might not technically be in a disaster zone or directly in the way of an approaching disaster, it doesn’t hurt to have the things that are important to you, ready to go.  We keep our own valued items and information safe with the steps outlined in Ready In 10, but anything that you have prepared, and ready to go, is one more thing you won’t have to do without or worry about later. 

A sudden earthquake is one thing, but if you know a disaster is imminent, and anywhere near your area, throw what you need in a plastic bin, know where it is, or better yet having it standing next to your door and ready to go. 

Eddie, we wish you all the best and you’re in our prayers.

Laura
Laura Greenwald, CEO Ready In 10 Network

If you need information on preparing for a flood, check out these resources:
Flood Preparation Guide
Flood Preparation Checklist
Videos on Flood Preparation & Survival

Water from the Pawtuxet River encircles homes in West Warwick, R.I., on Wednesday. Rhode Island rivers overflowed their banks, causing flooding and road closures after three days of record-breaking rains. (Charles Krupa/Associated Press)

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2010/03/31/us-rhode-island-emergency.html#ixzz0k3JNyRCw

Introducing the Ready In 10 Network

You’ve worked hard for everything you have in your life.   

I’m not just talking about your family and your friends, or even the home you live in.  I’m talking about the way you live, the things you love to have around you that make your life comfortable and secure.  Think about the photos that keep all those wonderful moments alive, your favorite book, an old diary, the keepsakes handed down through the generations that make you and the people you love feel connected.  

And what about the other things that make your life secure?  Documents like the deed to your house, your family’s birth certificates, the letter awarding monthly retirement benefits – papers that not only define who you are, but if gone, could mean the end of the lifestyle you have worked so hard to create.  Close your eyes and picture all of those things, all around you, making your life what it is.

Now close your eyes and picture them gone.  In an instant!    

All it takes is one hurricane, or one earthquake, and the things you love, and the normal, comfortable, secure lifestyle you have worked so hard to create and maintain, is gone.

Why You Need a Plan 

If you happen to live in a disaster-prone location, like hurricane or earthquake country, I know what you’re going to say.  You already know what steps to take to prepare your home and make it as resistant as possible to that particular disaster.  Great, we’re glad to hear it!  And you’re right, it is easy to find instructions on how to physically prepare your home for disasters. 

It’s also easy to find information on evacuation routes and public shelters from your local authorities or news stations once a hurricane is imminent.  It’s exactly the same information that was given before Katrina and Rita struck and we agree that it saved countless lives. 

But if you listen to the stories that came out of those storms and other disasters, it wasn’t enough.  Something was missing.  Yes, people survived.  But in what condition? 

• Were they able to pick up the threads of their lives after the storms and go on, basically in the same shape physically, financially and emotionally as they were before? 
• Did they have the information and documentation they needed to prove that everything they possessed before the storm – money, property, pensions, insurance, or citizenship papers – was actually theirs?
• Were they able to maintain the financial status, home and lifestyle they had worked all their lives to attain?
• If their homes had been destroyed, were they able to pick up and rebuild their lives in a new city, with the least amount of time, energy and pain possible? 

Anyone who watched even a moment of CNN after the Haiti or Chile Earthquakes, or Katrina knows the answer to that question!

No. 

They might have survived the immediate disaster, but thousands of people – thousands of families – were unable to thrive once the storm subsided. 

If you think about it, that shouldn’t be much of a surprise.  People that used only the usual information to plan for a disaster or emergency, got the usual results.  And because of it, their lives will never be the same. 

The Right Way To Plan

So how do you keep yourself and the people you love from ending up the same way? 

Imagine that you get a phone call that you’ve won a free trip to Hawaii. The catch is, you have to be packed, ready and standing at the gate at the airport in 45 minutes.  Whether you’re a planner by nature or not, you would hang up that phone, grab the nearest suitcase and tear through your house tossing everything you can think of into it, and throw it into the back seat of the car so you can grab that flight.  You get to your hotel, ready to run down to the sparkling, pristine beach only to discover that you have no swim suit, only flip flops, a hat and a half used tube of toothpaste!  

That’s how most people plan for disasters.  They put it off and put it off, until a hurricane warning, a wildfire or a medical emergency rears its ugly head.  Then they run through the house throwing things into the suitcase, car or duffel bag and end up with none of the tools or information they really need.   Unlike our Hawaii example, not having what you need in an emergency, can literally be the difference between life and death or as we’ve already seen, merely surviving or thriving.

And that’s what this blog and the Ready In 10 Network is all about.

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Laura Greenwald, CEO Ready In 10 Network & NOKEP