Kickoff: Prepared 50+ Emergency Preparedness

On March 11, Pasadena Village launched the first of a series of events for Prepared 50+ Emergency Preparedness with a FEMA webinar and discussion. The webinar covered the importance of making plans for sheltering in place and/or evacuation. The website Make A Plan | Ready.gov provides some basic information and questions that help make plans. Essential areas include:

• How will I receive emergency notifications?
• What is my shelter in place plan?
• What is my evacuation plan?
• What is my family/household/community communication plan?
• What is the status of my emergency kit?

A grant from the American Red Cross will allow Pasadena Village to assemble and distribute 50 emergency kits. Villagers discussed assembling emergency kits and what items should be included. Items discussed for kits: emergency cash, paper maps with evacuation routes, emergency technology items such as chargers and cords, gloves, paper copy of contacts and addresses, first aid kit, pet supplies, potable water, flashlights with batteries, glowsticks, masks, disinfecting supplies, clothing, emergency blankets. Some basic items will be included in the assembled kits, along with a list of suggested items so members can customize their kits. It was also discussed that different kits might well contain different items. For example, a car kit might contain comfy shoes, a hat, water, snack, basic first aid, mask, gloves. An evacuation kit could be different from emergency supplies for sheltering in place.

On April 10, a Village presentation on Pet Preparedness will focus on preparing pet emergency kits. More information about this presentation is available on the Event Calendar. 

On April 22, Prepared 50+ will continue with a presentation by the LA County Office of Emergency Management. This presentation is designed to help older adults stay safe, prepared and independent during emergencies. Areas that will be addressed: awareness of threats in your community, understanding of alert and warning messaging, and how to create a personal emergency plan. Special attention will be given to the unique needs of seniors, including mobility, medications, medical devices, and support networks.

Additional workshops are planned for the fall. Several past newsletter articles also outline some good strategies for emergency preparedness. They can be found on our free resource website at https://agingsgv.org/disaster-preparedness/