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Community Corner

Parents: Are You Emergency Prepared?

If disaster strikes, is your family ready?

The recent events in Japan—a natural disaster followed by nuclear threat—have brought to light the proximately of Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant, New York City and other risks (such as the Tappan Zee Bridge) to Nyack and Piermont.

Is your family ready if something tragic was to happen here?

I realize that my family is unprepared. Recently, when we hired our au pair, my husband and I created a master document of “household rules” and we both put different locations to meet outside our house if there was a fire: I said driveway, and he said street.

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Yes, men are from Mars and women are from Venus, so the saying goes… and we will be looking for each other in different locations. It got me thinking: we can’t be the only ones with this differentiated thinking.

Where to begin?

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I spoke to Dan Greeley, Asst. Director of Emergency Service for Rockland County, and Liz Benjamin, Asst. Director of Emergency Preparedness, who highly recommended to look at the many resources available on their website. Additionally, I learned that creating a family disaster plan should include at least:

  1. Family Contact: Have a planned phone number outside the area to call. (Aunt Ann in Denver would be perfect for us.) Every family member should have the number and if we are separated, call her to say we are okay.
  2. Prepare your Go Kit in case resources are limited. This should include batteries, battery operated radio and flashlight, blankets, sleeping bags and more. There is a great list on Healthy Children.org.
  3. Food and Water: Have 3 case of water in the basement and canned food—again, the list at Healthy Children.org has many ideas.

It is important to teach your children how to call for help (911), turn off the household utilities (gas, electricity, etc), when to use the emergency numbers (and where they are) and how to call the family contact.

There is a New York household emergency planning guide available at http://www.nyc.gov and a wealth of information at http://www.nyhealth.gov.

Children tend to be prone to anxiety when facing obstacles that they don’t understand, so it is important to talk to them to ease their fears, comfort them and reassure them. We as parents need to remain calm—no matter how upset we are internally—so that we can, as usual, set a good example for our children. FEMA has a great website that you can go through with your child before disaster strikes to help prepare them.

Another idea I read to ease children’s anxiety is to make sure that you have their favorite pillow, toy, book or favorite stuffed animal to comfort them at this time of need. Having an extra in your “kit” might be a great option.

Where is my child going to go if disaster strikes while at school?

Nyack schools have a district wide safety plan that can be found at http://www.nyackschools.com/safety.html and South Orangetown School district has a newsletter you can sign up for to get information. Please familiarize yourself with where your child may be in case of an emergency. Mr. Greeley mentioned that they will move children within a 10 mile radius of the disaster (for example, Indian Point) and that in most cases that is to Rockland Community College.

Now what?

Complete This Checklist  (courtesy of healthychildren.org)

___ Put emergency phone numbers by each phone. 
___ Show everyone how and when to turn off the utilities. 
___ Make sure you have enough insurance coverage (for example: flood, fire,   earthquake).
___ Do a home hazard hunt for items that can move, fall, break or cause a fire. 
___ Stock enough emergency supplies to last three days. 
___ Take a Red Cross first aid and CPR class.
___ Plan home escape routes—two from each room. 
___ Find safe places in your home for each type of disaster.
___ Make two copies of important documents and keep the originals in a safe-deposit box.

And after you accomplish preparing your family, move-on, live and enjoy life and every moment you have with your kids.

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