Busy Mommy Media » Emergency Preparedness

Establish a Code Word

Pamela — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 18:28:05 +0000

This is sort of scary subject but it should be addressed. If you are a stay-at-home mom, this is especially important because the only person that will notice if you don’t show up to work is your children. But all families need a code word. You need to make yourself aware of the fact that there are some very disturbed people out there. As much as you want to believe that nothing will ever happen to you or your family, the harsh truth is that most everyone that has been harmed thought the same thing. Although there are some situations in which you cannot stop what has already started, there are some things you can do to make things a little safer.

Here are some Tips:

• Come up with a code word or phrase. It needs to be something that would not sound that completely ridiculous in the middle of conversation but also is not something you would talk about everyday. For instance if you do not have a basement a good phrase would be “The basement is flooded”. The appropriate time to use this is in a phone conversation with your husband and something is wrong – you’ve been abducted or carjacked or some other emergency that he needs to respond to (call the police) without someone around you knowing about it. Once your children are old enough to understand the concept they need to be told the code word. They have to know not to ever tell anyone the word or phase and only use it if they need help from the police.

• Let your husband know your plans for the day. I don’t mean give him an itinerary of each outing but a general idea of what’s on your list for the day. If you will be traveling to a “bad” part of town make sure he knows where you are going and when to expect you back. If you will be meeting someone or going somewhere for the first time, make sure he knows about it.

• Do not do the same things, the same way every day. It can be easy to fall into a routine to get the same tasks completed over and over. But this can get you into a lot of trouble when your actions become too predictable. Try to take different routes from the same places. If the task is not dependent on the time day, do it at different times of the day.

• If you feel uncomfortable – leave! Don’t worry about offending someone or sending the wrong message. That guy that you have seen three times now at the mall may be a very nice guy – but do you want to take that risk? Teach your children the same concept but make sure that they come to or call you before going anywhere.

Not a Plan to Cause Mass Hysteria

As I have said before, I am not trying to scare you into hiding out and become a completely untrusting person. You just need to be aware of what is going on around you. Safeguarding yourself and your family will play a major role in your piece of mind. You may also want to look into a self-defense course for you and your family. And it really is true what they say – a woman that walks with confidence and purpose is very unattractive to a would be attacker.

Build a Family First Aid Kit

Pamela — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 07:35:51 +0000

Having a properly stocked and fresh first aid kit at all times truly can save a life. Whether it is a minor cut or an all out crisis situation being prepared is always the first step to survival. So you are probably wondering why I would take the time to write about this when you can just go down to the store and buy a kit. Well there are two reasons – 1: you need to know what items are necessities and 2: you need to be sure that it is customized for your family.

*A first Aid Kit is different from a Catastrophe/Earthquake/Flood Kit. A first Aid Kit is focused strictly on the medical needs of you family.

Items needed in every first aid kit

Latex Gloves – at least two sets, sterile
A variety of sizes and shapes of Adhesive Bandages
Gauze/Dressing – sterile, 2 in and 4 in
Antiseptic/Antibiotic towelettes
Burn Cream
Antibacterial Cream
At least 3 days worth of each Prescription Medication taken by a member of you family on a daily basis.
Scissors
Small Flashlight (store with batteries in a snack sized zipper bag, to prevent corrosion)

Items that are helpful:

Thermometer
Tweezers
Extra Charger for your cell phone
Acetaminophen
Ibuprofen
Antacids
A solar blanket
Breathing Barrier (for CPR)
First Aid Instruction Booklet (filled out with proper local phone numbers)
Triangle Bandage
Eye Wash

Mark your calendar once every 3 months to refresh your kit. You need to replenish any supplies that have been used (it is best to always replace items used as soon as possible, but life does happen). You need to check the expiration dates on all medications and creams.

You need to store your kit in an easily accessible place, that is safely out of reach of the small children, be easy enough for a “stranger” to get to (ie a friend is over and you need to direct them to it so they can give you first aid).

You may also want enroll yourself, your spouse and your older children in a first aid/cpr course. It is a very valuable investment. The American Red Cross (www.redcross.org) offers a wide variety of age appropriate course. You can also check with you local recreation department and/or hospitals to see what they may offer. Another great website for Emergencey preparedness is www.ready.gov .

Can you think of something I have left off my list? Please post a comment.

Building a Water Storage

Rachel — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 22:22:06 +0000

I have always tried to have some sort of a long term food storage in my home but for some reason watching the news footage on Hurricane Katrina a few years ago really hit me hard. Being a mother really changes your perspective on some of the things that you see on the news and it made me cry to watch all of those mothers holding their children and unable to provide for their basic needs because of a horrible natural disaster.

Water storage was always something that I had put off because I didn’t see much of a reason for it. Every time I turn on my water facet water comes out. That’s enough water for our needs isn’t it? But the fact is, I live in a desert. If anything happened, an earthquake, an outbreak of a virus, a problem with transportation, we would have no water. There are absolutely no natural sources of water anywhere near my home. That scared me to think that I have these two children I am responsible for and if anything happened I would not be able to provide for their basic needs. You can survive without food for quite a while but you cannot go longer than a day or so without water. Kids especially are vulnerable to dehydration and can get very sick very fast without water.

I gave up on the idea of storing large water drums in my basement because they are heavy, make the water taste bad, and are hard to replace the water. Water bottles are used much too quickly in my house to ever be a viable long term storage options and those gallon milk-carton-like containers of water are stored in a plastic that deteriorates over time.

I finally found gallons of water stored in the same material that they make regular water bottles out of, so it lasts just as long as water bottles. I know the water is clean and is going to taste good when it comes time to use it and it is small enough that I can fit them anywhere. I chose to store them under our beds. They are out of the way and I can store as much as I need without having it take up room on my regular food storage shelf.

Storing water in gallon containers also makes it easy to check and make sure you have enough water for your family. The recommended storage amount for 2 weeks worth of water is 14 gallons per person. Every so often I will just count the number of gallon containers that we have under our beds and make sure that I have enough stored for my entire family.