How to use emergency preparedness as self-care

The preparation is personal, It exists in a wide range. For some people, it has to do with the seasons—the hurricane season in the south or the wildfire season in the west. In some communities, some people block the windows with wooden boards a few days before the storm hits, while others ignore the evacuation warning and think they can enter the laundry room with a box of donuts, a flashlight, and a good book.

Fortunately, there is a middle ground.

“Being prepared is an investment in yourself,” said Katie Belfi, Who is a lawyer Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) During Hurricane Sandy. After Sandy, New York University Langone recruited Belfi to rebuild the hospital’s emergency preparedness/response plan. But her interest in emergency planning began a few years ago, when a 3-year-old child was nagging her mother to buy an escape ladder for the bedroom at home.

“Preparation is always provided through the fear filter,” Belfi said. “And it has a tone of’you must do this or else’.” One of her goals is to let people see resilience through a mindful lens, by taking the narrative from you Must do Something to you start to do.

Instead of talking about Quantitative emergency preparedness In MRE meals, bottled water or solar panels, Belfi builds emergency preparedness in the context of things like gratitude and rest, which we have already linked to self-care. Danielle Roberts, an emergency physician in Norwalk, Connecticut, said: “We have morning routines, exercise routines, and skin care routines.” “Why shouldn’t we have a preparation procedure?”

Roberts is the medical director Prepare collective, The twins Jesse Levin and Sefra Alexandra were founded out of concern for society Disconnected from preparedness“When we strive to acquire the skills and mentality that make us’ready,’ the fear, vulnerability and division that we usually experience in an emergency situation are replaced by calmness, desire, ability, and the desire to help others,” Levin Say. It is difficult to know where to start personal preparation, but the best time is now.

Where do we start?

After someone has experienced a traumatic event, whether it is a wildfire or a global pandemic, when they remember that experience is still fresh, they are in the best position to look at things most objectively. This is unstoppable. Many people want to throw away their masks, forget about the power crisis in Texas, and ignore the predictions of hurricanes and wildfires. Despite the strong urge to leave the past and move on, Belfi said, “This is the most important time to sit down—whether with yourself, your family, or with the larger group in your community—and reflect. What is effective and what is not. Based on this information, you will have an amazing blueprint to develop your plan.”

After reflecting on what works well and what your home needs to improve, you can add, supplement, replace, and repair supplies and tools. The next step is a bit challenging, because this is where you dig deeper, hone some skills, and adjust your plans.

Belfi provides a guide Help you get started on her website, and Bring flexibility home, A Free, printable e-book It lists the basic questions to ask yourself when you draft a preparation plan. It is important to know how much food and water your family needs. A refrigerator full of meat is not the best stable food source, but it is something. A twenty-pound bag of rice, beans and lentils is better. The worst thing is to rely on takeaway, because when everything was shut down when the Covid-19 pandemic began, many people learned the hard way.