It has been more than a year since emergency preparedness was last mentioned in the “From the Director” messages. I think revisiting the topic is overdue. Even for those families, individuals, businesses, and facilities that have prepared and planned, maintaining a plan and the “things” that are a part of it is an ongoing necessity and an ongoing challenge.
I remember when I was first involved in public health in the City of St. Louis, participating in the cleanup of overlooked and long outdated Civil Defense shelters from the 1950’s. These shelters were numerous during the Cold War era, but most had been decommissioned by the time I started in public health. However, some had been missed because they were tucked away in basements, sub-basements, parking garages, and other long forgotten places. The ones I saw contained deteriorated cots and bedding, water and “crackers” that were long out of date and no longer fit for human consumption, and first aid kits that were outdated as well. In most cases, the only salvageable items were containers of hard candy. (As I recall it was butterscotch flavored and actually pretty good.) But what I intend to illustrate is that planning and preparation is a dynamic process. Approaching it as a one time, static process will inevitably lead to what we found remaining in the Civil Defense shelters: useless supplies and equipment only fit for the landfill.
In Missouri, we have a spectacular resource for planning available. It is the “Ready in 3” program and it has grown into a comprehensive source of information for many different groups. There are “Ready in 3” materials for families, faith-based organizations, seniors and special care needs individuals, adult care facilities, schools, employers, child-care providers, dialysis patients and children. Each of these groups can find resources tailored to their specific needs. There is also information on community preparedness for pandemic influenza.
Where can you get these materials? It’s simple! Just visit the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services “Ready in 3” page at www.dhss.mo.gov/Ready_in_3. If you have already used “Ready in 3” materials and created a plan, it would still be a good idea to visit the website to see what’s new. If you haven’t developed a plan and prepared, now would be a good time to start! As a community, planning to take care of ourselves in the event of an emergency is the single best way to have confidence that we are prepared as well as possible for the unknown.