20Apr / 2022

Prep Your Health with Advance Care Planning

writing

April is National Donate Life Month. April 16 is National Healthcare Decisions Day.

Emergencies, including personal injury and illness, are often unpredictable. That unpredictability is both a reason to prepare and something to prepare for.

Plan Ahead for Personal Health Emergencies

Many people face decisions about treatments that a medical emergency might leave them incapable of making.(1)

Advance care planning is an important preparedness step toward making sure you get the medical care you would want if you cannot speak for yourself.(2)

While you might prefer to think that you will never need such a plan, advance care planning is a way to care for others if you get ill or are injured.

Advance care planning is not just for older adults. At any age, a medical emergency could leave you too ill or injured to make your own health care decisions.

Advance care planning can save loved ones from confusion, family infighting, and second-guessing if they made the right decisions on your behalf.(3)

Advance care planning involves several steps:

Learn about the types of healthcare decisions that you might need to make.
Consider those decisions ahead of time.
Make your decisions known to others.

Talk to family and a doctor as part of your advance care planning. They can help you understand the choices you may need to make and think through your decisions before you put them in writing.(4)

Organ Donation

Organ donation is one of many important decisions you can make as part of your advance care planning for medical emergencies. Others include deciding when you want emergency medical professionals to use cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) or an automated external defibrillator (AED) to restart your heart.

Organ donation is the process of taking healthy organs and tissues from one person for transplantation into another. Organs you can donate include:

Internal organs: Kidneys, heart, liver, pancreas, intestines, lungs
Skin
Bone and bone marrow
Cornea(5)

Learn more about how donation works and the difference you can make when you become an organ donor.

Become a Donor

Anyone can sign up to be an organ donor regardless of age, race, ethnicity, religion, or health status. It only takes a few minutes. Sign up online through your state registry or in person at your local department of motor vehicles. Your donation can save or improve more than 80 lives.(6)

You can update your information on your state’s online donor registry at any time. Most states let you choose which organs and tissues you want to donate.(7)

Make Your Decisions Known

Preparedness isn’t a prediction of the future. There’s no guarantee that you’ll need advance care planning. You may never need others to make healthcare decisions on your behalf.

Once you’ve come to decisions on things like organ donation, you should talk to your family about your decisions and write them down. There are several ways to do that.

Advanced directives, including living wills, are legal documents that go into effect only if you are incapacitated and unable to speak for yourself.(8) You can use them to organize and communicate your decisions about things like end-of-life care and organ donation.

Another way to make your decisions known is to carry a wallet card that explains that you have an advance directive and where it is kept.

Give copies of advance care planning documents to your healthcare proxy, your healthcare providers, your hospital, and anyone you think should have the information.

Create digital duplicates of hardcopy documents. Save them in a password-protected format to a flash or external hard drive or a secure cloud service.

Like most important paperwork, advance directive documents, wallet cards, and even online profiles for decisions like organ donation require occasional maintenance. Periodic proofreading for errors and outdated information will save yourself and others time, frustration, and added worry in an emergency.

References

Resources

Public Health Matters: Get Involved: Donate Blood. Save Lives.
Give Peace of Mind: Advance Care Planning
Advance Care Planning: Health Care Directives
CDC Transplant Safety
HRSA Organ Donor

Thanks in advance for your questions and comments on this Public Health Matters post. Please note that 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.

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20Dec / 2021

In Case You Missed It: Favorite Posts of 2021

Best of 2021

Year’s end is a good time to reflect on the events of the past 12 months.

The Center for Preparedness and Response (CPR) published about 30 posts to its Public Health Matters blog in 2021. Most of them include suggestions for how you can prepare for emergencies of all shapes and sizes.

In case you missed it: Here are some of our favorite posts from 2021.

Prep Your Mental Health for an Emergency

A man sits in the woods with his eyes closed. Traumatic events and most emergencies are beyond your control. You can, however, prepare your mental health for the stress of an emergency. Practice self-care, develop coping skills, and make social connections before an emergency happens. Taking care of yourself can also better equip you to take care of others.

This post suggests ways you can prepare your mental health for an emergency. They include practicing gratitude, staying connected with friends and family, and learning relaxation techniques like meditation.

Home Alone: Prepare Kids for Emergencies

Dialing 911 on a cellphone Many children don’t have adult supervision 100% of the time. Parents and caregivers have jobs, errands, and other responsibilities that require them to leave their kids home alone sometimes.

Emergencies and no-notice disasters can happen when kids are home alone. This post includes tips from the National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration’s Office of Emergency Medical Services for how to prepare children to call 911 in an emergency.

Food Preservation: Home Canning Safety

Glass jars in a hot water bath.

Many of us have discovered new hobbies during the pandemic. Some found self-care in gardening and preserving the literal fruits—and vegetables—of their labors.

Food preservation is an excellent way to extend the shelf life of produce, meats, and seafood. It’s a practical skill that you can learn and use to supplement your emergency food supply. But it can be risky—or even deadly—if not done correctly. This post includes information on proper canning techniques.

Be Prepared for a Day at the Beach

A “day at the beach” can turn into anything but if you aren’t prepared. Rip currents, ultraviolet (UV) rays, and harmful algal blooms are a few of the dangers to be aware of before setting foot on the sand or in the surf.

Swimming in the ocean isn’t like swimming in a pool. This summertime post includes a list of different things you should know before you go to the beach. They include knowing how to escape a rip current and the meanings of different beach warning flags.

Must-Haves for Your First-Aid Kit

First-aid supplies. First-aid kits make it possible for ordinary people to help until professional help arrives. That’s important because family, friends, coworkers, etc.—not first responders—are often first on the scene in a medical emergency.

Owning a well-stocked first-aid kit and the practical skill to use its contents can save a life. This post lists suggested supplies to keep in your first-aid kit. It also recommends practical skills you can learn and use to protect yourself and others during an emergency.

Volunteers Prepare for Another Season of Disaster Response, Relief Work

Red Cross volunteer Gaenor Speed feeds a dog in a carrier. This post was published by CPR in partnership with the Northwestern University Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications. The author introduces us to Gaenor Speed, a volunteer with the Red Cross South Florida Region.

Speed had responded to more than 20 disasters across the country going into the 2021 Atlantic hurricane season. Volunteering with a volunteer organization active in disaster is one way you can get involved in your community.

Emergency Preparedness Tips for Parents of Children with Special Healthcare Needs

A young girl in sunglasses enjoying the beach. Emergency preparedness can be stressful for all families, especially those with children with special healthcare needs. Children with special healthcare needs may have:

A hard time moving from one place to another.
Urgent or constant medical needs.
Difficulty communicating.
Trouble with transitioning to different situations.

This post was written in observance of National Autism Awareness Month in April. It emphasizes the importance of emergency action planning. Knowing what to do during an emergency can help maintain calm and keep your family safe.

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.

07Dec / 2021

Get Involved with Your Neighbors During Hi Neighbor Month

December is Hi Neighbor Month.

Social connections are important to your personal health preparedness. The relationships we build with others are ties that bind during an emergency. One of the more important social connections you can make is with your neighbors.

The Importance of Neighbors

Neighbors can be an important source of assistance in the days after an emergency. Because they live close—maybe even next door—neighbors might be your first and best option for help after a tornado or during something like a power outage.

Research shows that people who think they’re prepared for disasters often aren’t as prepared as they think. Forty-six percent of people surveyed by FEMA expect to rely heavily on their neighbors for help within the first 72 hours after an emergency.(1)

Yes, ask your neighbors for help if you need it, but—if possible—try to be the helper. The more prepared neighbors are to meet the basic and personal needs of their families on their own, the more resilient the community.

Be a Good Neighbor

There’s no science to being a good neighbor. But there are things you can do to create a feeling of community where you live. Here are some neighborly suggestions on how you can build trust with your neighbors.

Introduce yourself. A survey conducted by Pew Research Center in 2018 found that most Americans (57%) knew only some of their neighbors.(2) Starting an initial introduction with neighbors you don’t know can help them and you feel more comfortable about asking for help.
Show kindness. Look for small ways you can be kind to your neighbors. For example, offer to watch their house, collect mail, put out trash cans, or water their yard while they are on vacation.(3)
Be a responsible pet owner. Use a leash in public and clean up after them properly. Cleaning up after your dog helps to keep the environment clean and reduces the risk of diseases spreading to people and other animals.(4)
Lead by example. Pick a regular time to take a walk around the neighborhood. Use your walk to meet new neighbors and model community-minded behaviors, such as picking up trash or litter.(3)

Other simple ways to build goodwill with neighbors include maintaining the exterior of the house and lawn, keeping the noise down, and respecting property lines and personal space.

Neighbors Helping Neighbors

People who live in communities in which members are regularly involved in each other’s lives are more empowered to help one another after an emergency.(5) Here are some ways you can get involved in your community.

Offer to help your neighbors, especially older adults and people who live alone or with a disability or chronic disease or rely on electricity-dependent equipment, prepare for emergencies. You can offer to help them collect supplies, sign up for evacuation assistance, and collect and protect important paperwork.
Join neighborhood groups on social networking sites.
Volunteer with an organization active in disaster, such as your local Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) Unit or Community Emergency Response Team (CERT).
Emergency plan with neighbors. Just 13% of respondents to FEMA’s 2021 National Household Survey said they plan with neighbors.(6) But involving trusted neighbors in your emergency action planning can help improve your resilience. At a minimum and if possible, exchange contact information so you can reach each other in an emergency.

Learn more ways to prepare your health for emergencies.

Resources

References

Have a question for CDC? CDC-INFO (http://www.cdc.gov/cdc-info) 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.

19Jul / 2021

Food Preservation: Home Canning Safety

Many people discovered new hobbies during the pandemic.

Some learned to bake bread. Others took up knitting and crocheting. Still others found self-care in gardening and preserving the literal fruits—and vegetables—of their labors.

Food preservation is an excellent way to extend the shelf life of produce, meats, and seafood, and add to your emergency food supply. But it can be risky—or even deadly—if not done safely.

Why preserve food?

A lot of the foods we eat go bad quickly if not eaten right away. We can make these foods last longer when we properly preserve them.

You can preserve food in different ways. They include drying, curing, smoking, freezing, fermenting, pickling, and canning.

Learning how to preserve different types of food is a practical skill you can use to supplement your emergency food supply. Families should stock up on enough food and water to last everyone at least 3 days.

Home canning

Proper canning removes oxygen, destroys enzymes, and prevents the growth of undesirable bacteria, yeasts, and molds.(1) If you can foods incorrectly, you could create the perfect environment for deadly bacteria to grow and cause botulism.

Botulism is a rare but potentially deadly illness caused by a toxin produced by the bacteria Clostridium botulinum.(2)

Botulism is a medical emergency. If you or someone you know has symptoms of foodborne botulism, see your doctor or go to the emergency room immediately:(2)

Difficulty swallowing
Muscle weakness
Double vision
Drooping eyelids
Blurry vision
Slurred speech
Difficulty breathing
Difficulty moving the eyes

Many cases of foodborne botulism have happened after people ate home-canned, preserved, or fermented foods that were contaminated with the toxin. Foods can become contaminated if they were not canned using the correct techniques or tools.

USDA guidance suggests that beginners start with high-acid foods that can be safely canned in a boiling water bath, before trying pressure canning. Only use recipes from reputable sources. Contact your local cooperative extension service office with questions.

How to can safely

You can take steps to make sure your food is properly preserved. The USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning has step-by-step directions to prevent botulism and includes specific guidance for different kinds of foods. Regardless of canning techniques and tools, always consider the acidity of the food you are trying to preserve.

Canning techniques

Low-acid foods—including most vegetables, some fruits, milk, and all meats, fish, and seafood—are the most common sources of botulism linked to home-canning.

Low-acid foods are foods that are not acidic enough to prevent the growth of botulinum bacteria. Pressure canning is the only recommended method for canning these foods.(2)

Pressure canning tools

Make sure to use the right equipment for the kind of foods you are canning, including the right-sized pressure canner.

The canner should be big enough to hold at least four one-quart jars sitting upright on the rack. It should also meet USDA recommendations for pressure canning when canning low-acid foods. Be sure the gauge of the pressure canner is accurate.

After using a pressure canner, check that your cans are properly sealed in one of these three ways:

Press the middle of the lid with your finger or thumb to see that the lid does not spring up.
Tap the lid with the bottom of a spoon to make sure it does not make a dull noise (it should make ringing sound).
Hold the jar at eye level to see that the lid is curved down slightly in the center.(1)

If you have any doubt whether safe canning guidelines were followed, do not eat the food. When in doubt, throw it out!

Storage & maintenance of canned goods

Store your home canned goods properly to maximize their shelf life.

Label and date your jars.
Keep jars with other emergency food in a clean, cool, dark, dry place between 50 and 70°F. (1) If you store jars at temperatures outside this range, the food inside can spoil.
- Stack jars no more than two high so you don’t damage the seals.
- If storing jars where they can freeze, wrap them in newspapers and blankets.(1)
Remove, throw away or use, and replace any canned food and stored water before it expires.
- Home-canned food usually needs to be thrown out after a year.
- Remember that once a can is opened, the contents cannot be saved until later without proper refrigeration.
- When storing safe water, it is best to use food-grade storage containers and to clean and sanitize the container before using it. Replace stored water every six months.

For more information on how to can safely, visit the USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning.

Resources

References

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05Apr / 2021

Emergency Preparedness Tips for Parents of Children with Special Healthcare Needs

A young girl wearing sunglasses on the beach.

April is National Autism Awareness Month. It is also a time of year when people must prepare for severe weather.

April, May, and June are peak months for tornadoes in many states. And the Atlantic hurricane season officially starts on June 1.

Emergencies come in all sizes and affect people in different ways. All emergencies require some amount of personal health preparedness beforehand to stay safe and healthy during and afterward. At a minimum that means stocking up on emergency supplies, such as food, water, prescriptions, and backup power sources.

For Jennifer Silliman and her family, it means that and more. Her 11-year-old daughter, Allyson, has autism. They live in South Florida, where they’ve experienced over a dozen hurricanes and tropical storms since moving there in 2003.

Preparing for emergencies can be challenging for families caring for a child with autism or other disability. But a little preparation now can make a big difference when an emergency happens.

Planning is paramount

All children have unique needs during an emergency. Preparedness planning for children with special healthcare needs is often more complicated because they may have:

A hard time moving from one place to another,
Urgent or constant medical needs,
Difficulty communicating, and
Trouble with transitioning to different situations.

A disaster can present some or all these difficulties at once.

Having a plan for how to stay healthy, informed, connected, and calm is important. If there is a child with special healthcare needs in your family, your emergency action plan should include an emergency care plan.

An emergency care plan is important paperwork that you and your child’s doctor can write together. It’s used to communicate information about your child to caregivers. During an emergency, this could include teachers, grandparents, friends, and neighbors.

“My biggest fear is that Allyson would get separated from me and my husband during an emergency,” says Jennifer. “Allyson is nonverbal, so she cannot tell people where she lives, what her phone number is, or how to contact her parents.”

Because of her communication challenges, Allyson wears a bracelet that has her full name and her parents’ names and contact information. “She wears it all the time. She never takes it off,” says Jennifer.

Nothing worthwhile is easy

When there is a hurricane in the forecast, Jennifer’s family makes sure they have the basics, such as water, batteries, and flashlights. But they must also prepare for Allyson’s personal needs.

Personal needs include the everyday items that she could not do without in an emergency. Allyson’s needs include a weighted blanket and a white noise machine to help her sleep and several favorite foods.

“My daughter has six foods that she eats every day, including honeydew melon and French toast sticks. Almost every food she eats must be refrigerated or cooked in a microwave and this can present challenges if the power goes out during a hurricane,” says Jennifer.

Some of Allyson’s other must-haves are noise-canceling headphones and a tablet preloaded with her favorite television shows and music. Then there’s the backup battery power that’s needed to run these things. All would be invaluable if her family ever had to evacuate to a shelter.

Strive for peace of mind

Preparing for an emergency can be stressful for all families, especially those with children with special healthcare needs. Having—and practicing—an emergency action plan can help families respond with confidence to the real thing.

Communication is key. It’s important for all families to talk to their children about what is happening in a way that they can understand. Keep it simple and consider the child’s age and type of disability.

Even though Jennifer’s daughter, Allyson, does not have a lot of expressive language, she does understand when others talk to her. “We want to be respectful of Allyson, so we tell her ‘Hey, we might need to pack up and go,’ or ‘It might get really loud tonight, and the house might get dark.’ I think telling children what’s going on puts them at ease.”

After a disaster, parents, caregivers, and healthcare providers must know how to help children cope with their different and strong emotions. Some children react right away; others may show signs of difficulty much later. Coping with a disaster can be particularly difficult for children with disabilities.

Visit the Prepare Your Health website for more information on how to prepare for emergencies.

Resources

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.

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17Feb / 2021

Threats Unseen: Beware of Norovirus During an Emergency

Woman clutches her stomach as if feeling nauseous

Natural disasters are unpredictable. Often, we don’t know when or where they will happen or if we will have to leave our homes because of them. Evacuations for hurricanes and wildfires can force people into emergency shelters, where close quarters, shared spaces, and high-touch surfaces can make it easy for norovirus to spread. Graphic that defines norovirus. Text also in body of article.

Norovirus outbreaks occurred in most evacuation shelters in Butte and Glenn counties, Calif., during the Camp Fire in November 2018. Public-health officials identified 292 people ill with acute gastroenteritis caused by norovirus.(1)

A norovirus outbreak among evacuees from Hurricane Katrina in 2005 was also reported in CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. That outbreak might have affected approximately 1,000 evacuees and relief workers.(2)

What is Norovirus?

Norovirus is a very contagious virus that causes vomiting and diarrhea. Most “stomach bugs” are likely norovirus infections because it’s a relatively common virus. Anyone can catch norovirus from direct contact with an infected person, touching a contaminated surface, or eating contaminated food. It only takes a very small amount of virus particles to make
you sick. The number of particles that could fit on the head of a pin is enough to infect more than 1,000 people.

A person infected with norovirus usually starts to feel ill 12 to 48 hours after they’ve been exposed. The most common symptoms of norovirus infection are diarrhea, vomiting, nausea, and stomach pain. But it can cause fever, headache, and body aches, too.

Be Prepared

Follow the guidance of local officials when going to an emergency shelter during the COVID-19 pandemic. They will tell you when and where to take shelter and what to bring with you.

Act now to prepare “go kits” for family members. Include everyday personal items you cannot do without and other personal protective supplies, such as hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol, bar or liquid soap, disinfectant wipes and spray, and at least two masks per person age 2 or older in your household.

If your Emergency Action Plan is to go to a shelter in an evacuation, your kit might also include plenty of nonperishable food, mess kits (e.g., reusable cups, plates, bowls utensils). Also, pack paper towels and disposable plastic gloves to clean up after a sick family member. If you are cleaning up after someone vomits or has diarrhea, use a bleach-based cleaner to prevent the spread of norovirus.

Wash Your Hands

Clean hands are essential to health, whether in an emergency or day-to-day life. Handwashing can keep you healthy and prevent the spread of respiratory and diarrheal infections, like norovirus, from one person to the next. Unseen woman washing her hands with soap in a sink.

Wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water especially after using the toilet or changing diapers; always before eating, preparing, or handling food; and before giving yourself or someone else medicine. Here’s how:

Wet your hands with clean, running water (warm or cold) and apply soap.
Lather your hands by rubbing them together with the soap. Lather the backs of your hands, between your fingers, and under your nails.
Scrub your hands for at least 20 seconds. Need a timer? Hum the “Happy Birthday” song from beginning to end twice.
Rinse your hands well under the water.
Dry your hands using a clean towel or air dry them.

You can use alcohol-based hand sanitizers in addition to hand washing. But you should not use hand sanitizer as a substitute for washing your hands with soap and water. Hand sanitizers aren’t as effective at removing norovirus particles as washing hands with soap and water.

If you start to feel sick, continue to wash your hands often with soap and water and try to avoid direct contact with others. You should not prepare food for others or provide health care while you are sick, and for at least 2 days after symptoms stop.

Learn More

CDC and state and local health departments help to raise awareness among healthcare providers and the public about norovirus and how to prevent it. Learn more about how they work to prevent and stop norovirus outbreaks.

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

Reader

Category Archives: personal health preparedness

Prep Your Health with Advance Care Planning

Plan Ahead for Personal Health Emergencies

Organ Donation

Become a Donor

Make Your Decisions Known

References

Resources

In Case You Missed It: Favorite Posts of 2021

Prep Your Mental Health for an Emergency

Home Alone: Prepare Kids for Emergencies

Food Preservation: Home Canning Safety

Be Prepared for a Day at the Beach

Must-Haves for Your First-Aid Kit

Volunteers Prepare for Another Season of Disaster Response, Relief Work

Emergency Preparedness Tips for Parents of Children with Special Healthcare Needs

Food Preservation: Home Canning Safety

Why preserve food?

Home canning

How to can safely

Canning techniques

Pressure canning tools

Storage & maintenance of canned goods

Resources

References

Emergency Preparedness Tips for Parents of Children with Special Healthcare Needs

Planning is paramount

Nothing worthwhile is easy

Strive for peace of mind

Resources

Threats Unseen: Beware of Norovirus During an Emergency

What is Norovirus?

Be Prepared

Wash Your Hands

Learn More

Resources

References

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