I just completed a questionaire for the Medical Reserve Corps/FEMA. We all remember Hurricane Katrina and what a mess it was afterwords. FEMA had such a difficult time dealing with such a large catastrophe. At any rate, since then the government has pumped a bunch of effort (and probably moula too) into FEMA. Subsequently regional Medical Reserve Corps units were beefed up.

I joined the Corps a few years ago…right after Katrina. It is very interesting to say the least. The drills we have to do annually are awesome…real actors with the blood, guts and such..the last one I went to there was a huge plane crash with people literally lying on a hillside, etc…and then we found out during the drill that it was nuclear related so we had to deal with the exposure too.

To my whole point: are you ready if something were to happen in your area? I just had to complete this questionnaire and felt like an idiot at the end. Here I am, trained and prepared to be deployed if needed within in 90 minutes, but I haven’t ever thought through the process of what would happen to me and my family (Adam in particular). So, just something to think about. What if you and your husband work in different towns and something happens during the day (a catastrophe of sorts) and you have no means of communicating and are not allowed to go to your home? Have you ever discussed where your “meeting place” will be? Here are the things I had to answer:

Have you done any of the following in the last year?

Prepared a Disaster Supply Kit with emergency supplies like water, food and medicine that is kept in a designated place in your home?

Made a specific plan for how you and your family would communicate in an emergency situation if you were separated?

Established a specific meeting place to reunite in the event you and your family cannot return home or are evacuated?

Food for thought….