Resolve to Get Ready

A calendar showing January 2022.

The New Year is the time many of us make resolutions for the coming year. Sometimes resolutions feel too big and long-drawn-out to accomplish. As a result, our motivation to see them through can peter out before the end of the year.

This year, instead of making one resolution for the year, make 12 micro-resolutions. Focusing on one thing each month can make it easier for you to reach your goal, whether it’s to quit smoking or prepare your health for emergencies.

Here are some example micro-resolutions you can make this year to improve your personal health preparedness.

January

January is Get Organized Month. Get organized by creating a checklist of your personal needs. Being organized can help you stay calm during an emergency. Ways to get organized include using checklists to help you collect emergency supplies and scanning important paperwork.

February

Just 35% of respondents to a recent Healthcare Ready survey said they could list all their prescription details if they had to evacuate their homes without their medicines or medical supplies.(1)

You don’t have to memorize the details of your prescriptions. Instead, make a list of your medicines, including information about your diagnosis, dosage, frequency, and medical supply needs. Make an annual appointment with your doctor to discuss your prescriptions and how you can create an emergency supply of them.

March

National Proofreading Day is observed in March. Organize, check, correct, and protect your important paperwork, such as medical records, insurance (e.g., flood and earthquake) documents, action plans, etc. Examples of common errors found in medical records include

  • Missing or outdated personal information.
  • Missing information about a new medication or allergy.
  • Missing or incorrect information about your health history or the date of your visit.
  • Mischarges for a test you didn’t have.(2)

April

Practice your emergency action plan with your entire family, including pets. Take the 10-minute evacuation challenge. Set a timer for 10 minutes. In those 10 minutes, see if everyone can:

  1. Put on long pants, a long sleeve shirt or sweatshirt, shoes, and a hat.
  2. Take emergency supplies and other important things to the car.
  3. Find your pets, put them in carriers if they have them, and take them to the car.
  4. Pack the car.
  5. Get in the car and buckle your seatbelt.

May

May is National Wildfire Awareness Month. Create defensible space if you live in an area prone to wildfires. Defensible space is a buffer you create between your home or another structure on your property and the grass, trees, shrubs, or any wildland area around it.

June

The Atlantic hurricane season begins June 1 and ends on November 30. Be prepared to evacuate in case you find yourself in the path of a storm:

Learn more ways to prepare for hurricanes and tropical storms.

July

Emergency supplies expire. Check your supplies regularly so you can be sure they’re safe to use when you need them. Remove, throw away or use, and replace any food and water, prescription medications, and supplies every six (6) months.

August

August 15 is National Check the Chip Day. Microchipping your pet(s) is one of the best ways to ensure that you and your pet are reunited if separated during an emergency. Remember to register the microchip with the manufacturer and to keep your contact information up to date.(3)

Also, keep a photo of your pet with your important paperwork to help with identification and as proof of ownership.

September

Get a flu shot. It’s best to be vaccinated before flu begins spreading in your community. September and October are generally good times to be vaccinated against flu. Ideally, everyone should be vaccinated by the end of October. Even if you are not able to get vaccinated until November or later, vaccination is still recommended because flu most commonly peaks in February and significant activity can continue into May.(4)

October

Participate in emergency drills and exercises like the Great ShakeOut earthquake drill for practice and the peace of mind of knowing how to respond to an earthquake. The Great ShakeOut is held annually on October 21. The drill is an opportunity for you to practice how to “Drop, Cover, and Hold On” during an earthquake or aftershock.

November

Take action to protect yourself and others from carbon monoxide poisoning and house fires. Change the batteries in your carbon monoxide (CO) detectors and smoke alarms at the beginning and end of Daylight-Saving Time. If you own a generator, know how to operate it safely during a power outage.

December

There are ways to prepare for emergencies that have nothing to do with collecting supplies. Learning practical skills, like CPR and seizure first aid, is also important to your health preparedness. Many practical skills don’t require special certification or formal training to perform, but you do need education. Seek out local volunteer organizations that can help you learn these types of skills.

There are many ways you can improve your emergency preparedness without being overwhelmed. Doing one thing each month can help you be prepared for an emergency that can happen anytime. Make sure how you prepare aligns with your needs and those of your family.

References

  1. https://healthcareready.org/community-resilience/
  2. https://www.healthit.gov/how-to-get-your-health-record/check-it/
  3. https://www.cdc.gov/healthypets/keeping-pets-and-people-healthy/emergencies.html
  4. https://www.cdc.gov/flu/prevent/vaccinations.htm

Resources

Places Please: Get Better Prepared by Getting Organized

A person uses their smartphone to take a photo of a paper document.

January is Get Organized Month.

A new year is a popular time to make resolutions, like to get more exercise or quit tobacco. Another common one is to get organized.

Getting organized can help you prepare for emergencies and stay calm in stressful and time-sensitive situations, like an evacuation. Here are a few ways to get organized and improve your emergency preparedness at the same time.

Digitize to Minimize

Getting organized can require you to minimize. A good way to minimize paperwork and paper items, like family photos, is to digitize them. Collect and take steps to protect documents, like insurance cards and medical and vital records before an emergency.

Saving digital duplicates of original documents makes it easier to share and access the information in the documents, preserves the original (handling a document can damage it), and ensures that you have a backup in case the original is destroyed.

Here are some tips on how to get organized by going digital.

  1. Sort through your paperwork and paper items to identify which items you want to scan or photograph and which you can safely throw away. Do not discard originals of important paperwork because digital files have preservation risks and can get lost.(1)
  2. Use consistent and descriptive language to name your digital files and folders to make it easier to find the information you want later.(2)
  3. Backup your files. Save a copy on your computer, a copy to an external hard drive, and a copy to a secure cloud service.(3)

Get squared away

People in South Central Pennsylvania have a saying, “redd up.” It means to tidy up or put things in their proper place. The perfect spot for your emergency supplies depends on what they are. Here’s are some categories of supplies and suggestions on where to keep them.

Food

Store at least a three-day supply of non-perishable food, such as canned foods, dry mixes, and other staples. Keep food in a dry, cool, dark place, like a basement, that is accessible to your family. Transfer food packaged in boxes or paper cartons to waterproof, airtight containers to it protect it from pests.(4)

Water

Store at least 1 gallon of water per person per day for 3 days, for drinking and sanitation. Keep your emergency water supply in a place with a constant cool temperature of 50°F to 70°F. Do not store water containers in direct sunlight or in areas where toxic substances, like gasoline or pesticides, are present.(5)

Prescription medications

Keep medications and vitamins in labeled, child-proof containers. Put the containers in a cool, dry place that does not experience extreme temperature changes or humidity and is up and away and out of children’s reach and sight.(6)

Break it into checklists

Checklists are a way to break large jobs down into smaller, more manageable chores. They are as useful at home as in the workplace to help people stay on task, cut down on mistakes, and remember the “little things” that need to get done. Checklists can help you pack for a trip, grocery shop, and even prepare for emergencies.

Organization experts describe two kinds of checklists. One kind for performing a new task one step at a time for the first time and another for familiar tasks that are second nature.(7)

Read-Do checklists

A Read-Do checklist is often compared to a recipe. It gives step-by-step instructions on how to complete a task. If you were using this kind of checklist to help you stock up on emergency supplies, it would explain the type of supplies you need to stock up on, where to get them, and what to do with them. A checklist for gathering personal needs might say to “store at least 1 gallon of water per person per day for 3 days, for drinking and sanitation” and go on to provide tips for how and where to store the water.

Do-Confirm checklists

A Do-Confirm checklist is for jobs that are so familiar that you could perform them from memory. This kind of checklist can help you complete the important job of reviewing your supplies every six (6) months (or as the needs of your family change). You should remove, use, and replace any food, water, and other supplies before they expire.

Tips and tricks for staying organized

As if getting organized isn’t difficult enough, there’s the added challenge of finding the motivation to stay that way. Even the most organized people need to work at it. Here are five ideas that can help you remain organized throughout the year:

  1. Use to-do lists to help you plan your days.
  2. Break down difficult or intimidating tasks by using a checklist and calendar. If part of getting organized is to get prepared, the Do1Thing program and the concept of doing “1thing” each month to improve personal preparedness can help.
  3. Know how and where to safely discard expired things, including emergency supplies. Sometimes, we hold on to things because we are not sure how to get rid of them. In the case of prescription medications, follow FDAs advice for how to dispose of unused medicines.
  4. Stick to a schedule. Make time in your schedule to organize.
  5. Create a system for paperwork that comes into your house. Have a plan for how to decide what paperwork to toss, what paperwork to keep, and what paperwork to digitize.

For more suggestions on how to prepare your health for emergencies, visit https://www.cdc.gov/prepyourhealth/.

Resources

References

  1. https://www.archives.gov/preservation/family-archives/digitizing
  2. https://library.stanford.edu/research/data-management-services/data-best-practices/best-practices-file-naming
  3. https://www.npr.org/2020/12/08/944307272/heres-how-tech-experts-recommend-organizing-your-photos
  4. https://www.fema.gov/pdf/library/f&web.pdf
  5. https://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/emergency/creating-storing-emergency-water-supply.html
  6. https://www.cdc.gov/medicationsafety/protect/campaign.html
  7. https://www.forbes.com/sites/bryancollinseurope/2018/08/02/two-powerful-types-of-checklists-you-must-use/?sh=55db72437044

Thanks in advance for your questions and comments on this Public Health Matters post. Please note that the CDC does not give personal medical advice. If you are concerned you have a disease or condition, talk to your doctor.

Have a question for CDC? CDC-INFO (http://www.cdc.gov/cdc-info/index.html) offers live agents by phone and email to help you find the latest, reliable, and science-based health information on more than 750 health topics.