Mount Paran Northside Citizens Association

GET PREPARED FOR EMERGENCIES by Ann Lukens

Oct 22, 2004

I? am a neighbor? on Musket Ridge. I am very involved with our Metro Atlanta American Red Cross.? I? am a disaster? team member who responds to local emergencies such as home fires, storm and tornado damage, flooding, etc., and a community disaster Education speaker.

Please? pass along the message that September is National Preparedness Month.? We are encouraging families to make their home safety and emergency plans, prepare a kit with emergency supplies, and practice these plans with their families.? House fires are the number one disaster? for which? Red Cross is called, and far too often people are injured or killed because their home safety equipment did not work properly or there wasn't any. People are also frequently killed or injured because they? go back into a burning building to rescue someone else, without knowing that person was already safe.? I have seen this many times in our local area, in homes and apartments ranging? from the very poor to the very rich, and it is always tragic.

The American Red Cross website www.redcross.org has downloadable brochures in multiple languages for people to use as guides in their planning. Open the website and select the bar that says "Together We Prepare". You'll find links to many different brochures. For those who have physical limitations or are older, the "Emergency Checklist for People with Mobility Problems" is especially helpful. There is also a very good brochure specifically on disaster planning for homes with pets.

For any group of neighbors, schools, PTA's, churches, businesses? or other organizations, the metro Red Cross can provide a community disaster education speaker to present a seminar on preparedness planning and answer questions, as well as demonstrate sample emergency and preparedness kits. We try to pre-pare each presentation to meet the specific needs of the group; for example employees or residents of high rise buildings, families with small children, tornado season, etc. First Aid and CPR classes are available on a regular basis at the Chapter.

If you would like further information on any of these services or about the Red Cross in general, call (404) 846-8794 or email me at janann@Comcast.net or alukens@ arcatl.org