Note: Today is Day 4 of National Preparedness Month. Follow the campaign on Twitter by searching the #NPM10 hash tag.
# 4869
Being prepared is a habit, one that takes time (and practice) to establish.
Even though I consider myself reasonably well prepared for most emergencies, I have – on occasion – regretted not being better prepared.
One night about 3 years ago I felt a bit unwell (feverish and tired) and laid down. The next 24 hours were lost in a feverish delirium as I came down with a brief, but violent, viral infection.
Although the bathroom and kitchen were but a few steps away, I was too weak, and too delirious, to even fetch myself a glass of water. My cell phone was in its charger in the living room, so I couldn’t call for help.
I remember laying there knowing I should be taking some acetaminophen to quell the fever and forcing fluids . . . but I was simply unable to do so.
Luckily, I recovered enough that the next evening I was able to get up and rehydrate myself. A few days later, I was almost human again.
I, like millions of others, live alone.
And those of us without an in-house support system (and particularly single parents raising small children) need to take extra steps to prepare for this sort of event.
Since that long night’s journey into the next day, I’ve made two simple changes.
First, I’ve moved my cell phone charger to my beside table. My phone now goes with me when I retire at night, that way I can call for help if ever the need arises.
Second, I made a simple under-the-bed flu kit.
In it, I’ve got:
A couple of pouch Sports drinks (rehydration)
A bottle of acetaminophen
A bottle of expectorant pills
Imodium pills
A thermometer
Throat lozenges
Surgical masks for me to wear in case I have to call for help or have visitors.
All of which fits in a small plastic box. Any small container would do.
And of course, my cell phone close at hand.
It’s a simple prep. One that I put together with things I already had around the house and in my medicine cabinet.
But a prep is useless if you can’t get to it when you need to.
Since then, I’ve had one occasion to use this `flu box’, although I wasn’t anywhere nearly as incapacitated as I was 3 years ago. It was more of a `flu comfort kit’ than an emergency prep.
It did, however, give me a reminder to replace the sports drinks (always check expiration dates!).
For those of you hesitant to plunge into personal preparedness because it seems too daunting . . . sometime all it takes is a simple first step.
Putting together a simple flu kit may seem like too insignificant of a prep to bother with, but believe me, I wish I’d thought of it before I needed it.
