Five Tips for Keeping your Family Safe in an Emergency

Life can change on a dime. While you can take steps to help prevent traumatic situations such as burglary or fire from occurring in your home, some events are unavoidable. Fortunately, you can reduce the risk of injuries, property damage and added stress during a crisis by creating an emergency preparedness plan with these tips.

Be Informed

Know what to do before, during and after an emergency. This means you must know what types of emergencies are likely to happen in the area you live. Understanding what kinds of emergencies could happen will prepare you to react better and to keep your family safe. Pay attention to warnings and alerts, such as severe weather warnings, road closures and emergency alerts.

Have a Plan

Every family should be prepared for emergencies. Hold family meetings to discuss how each member of the family should respond. Draw a floor plan of the house and map exit strategies for every room in case of a fire. Also examine what the family should do if they are separated during an emergency. Planning now will help your family react better to dilemmas later.

Know your Numbers

If your child needed to call you on someone else’s phone, would they know your number? Saving cell phone numbers in your phone’s contacts is a great way to keep all your connections in one place. But in times of emergency, an electronically saved contact list can’t help you.

CPR

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation is useful in many emergency situations. It can aid in heart attacks, choking, strokes, drowning and severe electrical shock. Being CPR-certified will make you prepared for emergencies and accidents. Studies show that when CPR is performed within the first four minutes of an accident, the chances of survival double.

Make a Kit

Your family shouldn’t be left unprepared for emergencies. Start a food and water supply that lasts two weeks. Dried and condensed foods are purposed for storage and are a good choice for an emergency supply. Clean water is one of the most important things to have saved for an emergency. Each person will need one gallon of water per day. Medical supplies like bandages and rubbing alcohol should be packed and prescribed medicines should be in medicine bottles. Don’t forget to include flashlights and matches.

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