Packing an emergency Go Kit with basic preparedness supplies is good advice.  But while lists of contents are easy to find, details about the kit itself are often overlooked. To be practical and usable in an emergency, a Go Kit should be the right size, weight, and design for the person who will use it. Some of the best Go Kits are lightweight and flexible. For example: a backpack with roller wheels can be pulled or worn, and a tote bag with long handles can be carried, worn like a backpack, or tied to a wheelchair.  For people with limited strength, mobility or ability, emergency supplies can be divided into several smaller kits or stashed in the pockets of a safari-type vest or jacket. Everyone should have at least a small kit, with some critical preparedness or comfort items.

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In emergency services a wide variety of general terms are used to define people with disabilities: Special Needs, Access and Functional Needs, Hard-to-Reach, Vulnerable Populations, and the list goes on.

Beyond the many sensitivities related to using these labels, these terms do not clearly identify the actual people being addressed.  Especially for subject lines, document titles, and searchable content, use the most clear/specific terms available.  Example: If you are offering guidance or advice specifically for wheelchair users, use the term “wheelchair users” rather than “mobility impaired” or “users of assistive devices.”  When reviewing your materials, look for and try to eliminate phrases including: “wheelchair-bound” and “confined to a wheelchair.”

Both people with disabilities and agencies serving them will be better served when they can find what they are looking for — without wading through piles of more generically labeled resources.

Tip: While you are reviewing or changing the phrases used on your website: remember to label all pictures and fill in all searchable fields with clear descriptive text. It will improve your 508 compliance level, making it easier for people with a variety of disabilities to access your information AND it will bump up your site in Google search engine rankings.

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April is Autism Awareness Month (and April 2^nd was World Autism Awareness Day), so it’s a great time to ensure that your preparedness efforts are inclusive of people with Autism in our families, staff/volunteer pools, and our community at large. Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a range of complex neurodevelopmental disorders and people with ASD can exhibit varying degrees of difficulty with communicating, social interaction, language and learning.

Often people with Autism have greater capacity for pattern detection and thrive when set patterns and routines are in place. These traits can provide great learning opportunities for your whole team. During Autism Awareness Month, consider making a special effort to actively include people with ASD in your preparedness and planning events – remembering to highlight both their unique preparedness needs and their particular contributions.

Tip: View and post this TEDTalks video for an empowering presentation by Dr. Temple Grandin, Ph.D – a world-renowned Autism advocate, animal behavior professor, author, livestock handling facilities designer – who was diagnosed with autism as a child.

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Painter’s Tape, otherwise known as “paper tape”, is used by painters and decorators to create straight lines and clean, sharp edges when painting.  Unlike our treasured friend duct tape, masking tapes and paper tapes remove quickly and cleanly without damaging the surfaces they cover. For preparedness zealots, paper tape offers a variety of colorful options. Here are some interesting ways to use Painter’s Tape to support your planning and preparedness needs:

1. Mark doors with a big X as part of your disaster evacuation exercise.
2. Use paper tape to create arrows and directional assistance on floors or walls.
3. Extend your disaster color-coding scheme: make name tags, badges, mark property, etc.

Painter’s tape comes in a wide variety of colors, and it’s very easy to tear and use.

Tip: Families can color-code their medications, food supplies, and other key items by assigning a color and a roll of paper tape for each person. Using the tape on key items will help eliminate confusion and makes it easy for anyone to sort and distribute supplies.

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A favorite on the infomercial circuit, Space Bags bring many benefits to preparedness-savvy shoppers. Space Bags are used for reducing the space needed for storing clothes and bedding: with them, your emergency clothes and bedding take less space. They also provide protection from moisture, dust, smells, and bugs — very handy for emergency clothes in the trunk of a car. Some bags are designed to be rolled by hand to squeeze the excess air out, while other bags work best with a vacuum cleaner pulling out the air. Space Bags range from a cube large enough to store comforters and pillows, to smaller pouches that fit clothes for a day or two.

If you need more space in your emergency go-kits or if you just want better protection for your clothes consider adding Space Bags to your preparedness toolkit!

Tip: Space Bags can also be used for items that do not compact, such as papers and electronics. It’s a simple way of protecting items in a see-through package.

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Humans struggled with various ways of lugging  their belongings with them for most of history before some brilliant person thought to put wheels on suitcases. The simple addition of wheels can transform your disaster response supply cache from a stationary asset into a moveable and immediately accessible treasure trove of preparedness.

Rolling carts, containers, backpacks, duffle bags, and suitcases come in a wide variety of sizes, materials, and wheel types. You can get them at hardware, luggage, and big box stores, or nonprofit thrift stores (i.e., Goodwill, St. Vincent de Paul, or Salvation Army).

Whether it’s personal preparedness items for individuals, an agency go-kit for a business, or a massive cache for an entire neighborhood: make sure you have rolling suitcases or carts handy to grab, roll, and go!

Tip: Backpacks with both wheels and shoulder straps make excellent agency go-kits!

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Many low-cost, off-the-shelf products can make brilliant additions to your preparedness and response tool-kit. Sold on late night TV, the WonderFile is a lightweight, fold-out, portable workstation, with multiple pockets and pouches for organizing papers and information.

Three great uses for WonderFiles include:

1. Organize and display your preparedness program handouts for public events and fairs.
2. Make a training file for each class or presentation you offer. Include sign-in sheets, evaluations, fliers, student booklets, train-the-trainer manuals, handouts, etc.
3. Create a field response kit with all of your disaster response forms, tools, and checklists.

By bringing portable organization to your papers, tools, and other resources, WonderFiles can help your team to better package and present your preparedness and response offerings.

Tip: Check out CARD’s WonderFile filled with our ICS for Community Responders products: clipboard with nametags, wallet cards, CUE card, PowerPoints, 1-pager, 2-pager, training booklets, blank ICS org charts and other support items.

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Make fun, laughter, and entertainment part of your emergency preparedness repertoire and you’ll almost guarantee an increase in interest, retention, and participation from your team!

Solicit entertaining contributions from everyone. Skits, performance art, poems, songs, cartoons, crossword puzzles, jokes, riddles, magic tricks, and videos are just a few ways for people to leverage their creativity in support of your preparedness and planning efforts. Tastes vary as to what constitutes acceptable forms of humor and entertainment, so remember to set the standard for all contributions to be PG/PG13 (in language, images and tone) and culturally appropriate.

Whether or not the end result is fit for primetime, your team will have spent time thinking, planning, and being creative — all of which are valuable emergency preparedness and response activities.

Tip: Try your hand at creating a fun preparedness comic strip with this comic strip generator: http://www.comicstripgenerator.com.

Be sure to share and post your entertaining bits of preparedness on this blog!

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Some people are just technophiles: they’ll happily engage in most any pursuit — so long as it involves technology. Use this taste for technology to build your readiness by giving some of these super-helpful techie activities to them. Conduct a Backup & Restore Drill – test your ability to access key files quickly from your computer backups (of course you back up!) Try accessing files stored on disks, tapes or in the cloud.

- Download emergency preparedness and productivity Apps for everyone with a Smartphones, iPads, iPods or tablets.

- Create an Emergency Jump Drive for every key position in your response team. Include checklists, staff and client rosters, Incident Command System tip sheets, media talking points – anything that will help people perform their disaster duties well.

- Empower your tech-lovers to take you to heights of preparedness and response capacity.

Tip: If you have a zealous computer/IT person on your team, be sure to share the resources from TechSoup with them!

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Saving money and cutting costs is a popular and appreciated conversation in most circles. Presenting  your preparedness and mitigation efforts as a cost-cutting or money-saving measures can engage new audiences and reignite the interests of long-time supporters. One of the most beneficial ways to cut costs is to do some basic hazard mitigation: install cabinet latches, use museum wax to keep pictures and breakables in place, and move heavier items to lower shelves. Besides protecting the items, with a little non-structural hazard mitigation, you can avoid the costs associated with injuries to self or others, post-disaster clean up, and temporary relocation.

Other cost-cutting measures include:  buying emergency supplies in bulk, securing sponsorships or donations for necessary items, and finding discount coupons for preparedness items and classes.

Tip: Encourage and empower your super-savers and bargain hunters to be creative!  A cost-cutting contest or a fashion show featuring do-it-yourself disaster goods could be a fun event for all!

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