September is National Preparedness Month; so what better time to assess how prepared your library, community, and family are for an unexpected disaster. Having a plan, building a preparedness kit, and ensuring you are informed if and when an event occurs in your area are critical steps in keeping yourself and your families safe. We encourage you to take some time to explore these resources and to share them with your patrons.
Get Your Stuff Together: Free download of Janet and Laura Greenwald’s latest book, Get Your Stuff Together. Their goal is to help raise awareness in light of recent disasters like the Colorado Wildfires, flooding, tornadoes, and now Hurricane Isaac. In the back of the PDF book, readers will find Grab It And Go Forms and Action Plans every family needs to deal with emergencies.
Coping with Disasters: (MedlinePlus) After any type of disaster, people feel relieved to be alive. But then they often feel stress, fear and anger. Most people will also find that they can’t stop thinking about what happened. Learn how to cope with these emotions effectively.
Disaster Apps and Mobile Optimized Web Pages: During a disaster, mobile devices may be your only way to connect with others. Learn how to use NLM’s disaster apps and mobile optimized web pages before disaster strikes.
Disaster News: Check out this RSS feed to the CDC’s Emergency Preparedness and Response site.
Disaster Preparation and Recovery: (MedlinePlus) Preparing for a disaster can reduce the fear, anxiety and losses that disasters cause. Be prepared.
Personal Preparedness: Explore this list of NLM resources on all types of man-made and natural disasters.
Ready.gov: Maintained by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), this site is designed to educate and empower Americans to prepare for and respond to emergencies including natural and man-made disasters. The three tenets of Ready.gov are: (1) build an emergency supply kit, (2) make a family emergency plan and (3) be informed about the different types of emergencies that could occur and their appropriate responses.
Special Populations: Emergency and Disaster Preparedness: Certain populations have unique needs during emergencies and disasters. Be prepared to help these groups.
Sources of Emergency and Disaster Health Information from the U.S.: Discover these sources of emergency and disaster health information.
American Red Cross: The Red Cross responds to approximately 70,000 disasters in the United States every year and offers flexible volunteer opportunities and classes in live-saving skills.
Community Emergency Response Teams: The Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Program educates people about disaster preparedness for hazards that may impact their area and trains them in basic disaster response skills, such as fire safety, light search and rescue, team organization, and disaster medical operations. Using the training learned in the classroom and during exercises, CERT members can assist others in their neighborhood or workplace following an event when professional responders are not immediately available to help.
Emergency System for Advance Registration of Volunteer Health Professionals: The Emergency System for Advance Registration of Volunteer Health Professionals (ESAR-VHP) is a federal program created to support states and territories in establishing standardized volunteer registration programs for disasters and public health and medical emergencies. The program, administered on the state level, verifies health professionals’ identification and credentials so that they can respond more quickly when disaster strikes. By registering through ESAR-VHP, volunteers’ identities, licenses, credentials, accreditations, and hospital privileges are all verified in advance, saving valuable time in emergency situations.
Medical Reserve Corps: The Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) is a national network of local groups of volunteers committed to improving the health, safety, and resiliency of their communities. MRC units are community-based and work to locally organize and utilize volunteers who want to donate their time and expertise to prepare for and respond to emergencies and promote healthy living throughout the year. MRC volunteers supplement existing emergency and public health resources.