Note: This is day 14 of National Preparedness Month. Follow this year’s campaign on Twitter by searching for the #NPM11 hash tag.
This month, as part of NPM11, I’ll be rerunning some edited and updated older preparedness essays, along with some new ones.
# 5839
I began promoting the idea of `Flu Buddies’ in 2007, but only really fleshed out the idea in a 2008 blog called Lifelines In A Pandemic, where I wrote:
Each of us need, in advance, to make `Flu Buddies'. And not just people who live alone, although they are at the greatest risk.
An arrangement with one or more people (or families) that you will come to their aid during a crisis, and that they will come to yours if needed. For most, these `buddies' will probably be family members, good friends, or neighbors.
People we care about.
If someone on your `buddy list' gets sick, they will have buddies to help them through it. Someone to fetch medicine, bring food and water, and make sure they take their meds.
I returned to this theme often during the 2009 pandemic, including Pandemic Solutions: Flu Buddies, UK: Call To Appoint Swine `Flu Friends’ and Canada Urges People To Find `Flu Buddies’.
After the pandemic receded I reworked the idea into a more generic `Disaster Buddy’ concept in a blog called In An Emergency, Who Has Your Back?.
It doesn’t require a pandemic, earthquake, or hurricane to put you in perilous straits. A house fire, car accident, sudden illness, or some other more limited emergency can overwhelm as well, and having a pre-existing support system makes a lot of sense.
Nearly 1 person in 10 in the United States lives alone. That’s roughly 27 million adults.
Add to that the number of households with one adult caring for one or more minor children or caring for elderly, disabled, or otherwise unable to fend-for-themselves individuals, and the number goes up dramatically.
People who live alone, or who are the sole responsible adult in a household, have the greatest need to establish some kind of disaster `safety net’ with friends, relatives, or neighbors.
And the best way is by arranging to have (and to be) a `Disaster Buddy’.
A `Disaster Buddy’ is simply someone you have prearranged that you can call on during a crisis, and who in turn, can call on you if they need help.
It only works if it is reciprocal.
Frankly, having (and being) a `Disaster Buddy’ to friends, neighbors, and relatives should be part of everyone’s family disaster plan.
No one likes to impose on a friend, of course.
But if you’ve already established a `disaster buddy’ relationship – one that is fair and reciprocal – it shouldn’t be considered an imposition.
In the parlance of paramedics, cops, firefighters and the military . . . “you have their back, and in return, they have yours.”
It is a simple concept, but one that needs to be talked out in advance, not simply assumed.
It is also worth mentioning that there has never been a better time to volunteer to help with the American Red Cross, The Medical Reserve Corps, CERT, or your Neighborhood watch.
We are truly only prepared as our friends, families, and surrounding community are. There are roles to play for everyone, including civic organizations, schools, and church.
Now - before a disaster occurs - is the time to sit down and talk to your friends, family, and neighbors about how you will help one another during a personal or community wide crisis.
For more potentially life saving preparedness information, I invite you to visit:
FEMA http://www.fema.gov/index.shtm
READY.GOV http://www.ready.gov/
AMERICAN RED CROSS http://www.redcross.org/
