National Get Ready Day

Today is National Get Ready Day!

Prepare yourself — because September 15 is Get Ready Day. Established in 2006 by the American Public Health Association (APHA), the goal of Get Ready Day is to arm individuals, families, and communities with knowledge that will help them cope with crises such as natural disasters, infectious diseases and other emergency situations. To stay prepared, inform and educate yourself and your loved ones about how best to prepare for an unforeseen emergency situation. The three elements of emergency preparedness are: having an emergency kit, making a plan in case of emergency in your area, and staying updated through your phone or radio. Get yourself — and your loved ones — ready to survive any event that may come your way. You could save a life, maybe even your own!

Luckily, getting ready for an emergency situation is relatively simple, and once you have supplies and a plan in place, you do not have to worry for a long time. When you ‘Get Ready’, you can feel at ease that you and your family are prepared for whatever may happen. Hopefully the emergency preparedness kit will never have to be used, but if it is needed, you will sure be glad you have it!

Here are a few essentials that everyone should have in their emergency kit:

-Water → a gallon of water per person per day. Let’s say there are two people in your household, so you would want to have 6 gallons of water as backup for an emergency lasting 3 days. 

-Non-perishable food, like canned goods (Private Home Care wholeheartedly suggests having a supply of emergency dark chocolate as well!)

-Medications and medical supplies for up to 7 days

-Flashlight

-Extra Batteries

-Crank radio

-First aid kit

-Battery operated outlet and charger for cell phone 

-Can opener

-Emergency heat blanket

-List of emergency contacts 

-Swiss army knife

-Extra cash

-Matches

-Long lasting candles