# 2330
During yesterday's HHS Webcast on personal preparedness the question was asked:
How long should American households be stocking up for?
The answer given by Dr. Richard Benjamin, Chief Medical Officer, of the American Red Cross was:
"At least two-weeks."
He went on to say, "but if you could do more, that would be a wonderful thing." He added, "Six to 12 months would be wonderful, but that's probably not practical for most people."
And indeed, individual stockpiling for 6 to 12 months for a family would be a huge undertaking. There are, however, quite a few families that either have achieved that goal, or are working towards it.
Lest you think it involves some form of madness to stockpile weeks or months of food and water in your home, consider how much less pain and misery there would have been on the Texas Gulf Coast last week if every family had gone into Hurricane Ike fully prepared with at least two weeks of emergency supplies.
It doesn't require a pandemic to ruin your entire day. A hurricane, or other natural disaster, can do nicely.
Here is some preparedness advice from the American Red Cross Pandemic Preparedness page.
Planning Ahead
During a flu pandemic, government officials may be required to limit community movement or impose travel restrictions to help prevent the flu virus from spreading. Things to keep in mind:
- You may be asked to stay home for an extended period of time even if you are not sick.
- Schools, workplaces and public gatherings such as sporting events or worship services may close temporarily.
- Mass transportation such as subways, buses, trains and air travel may be limited.
- You, your family and friends may need to rely on each other when you cannot depend on the services you normally use.
Think about how you handle stress and know your strengths. Take steps to plan for, get through and recover from a flu pandemic...
Planning at Home
Along with food, water and medical supplies, store cleaning supplies such as bleach with household emergency supplies.
- Store a two-week supply of food. Select foods that do not require refrigeration, preparation or cooking. Ensure that formula for infants and any child’s or older person’s special nutritional needs are a part of your planning. Plan for your pets as well.
- Store a two-week supply of water, 1 gallon of water per person per day, in clean plastic containers. Avoid using containers that will decompose or break, such as milk cartons or glass bottles.
- Store a supply of nonprescription drugs, such as pain relievers, cough and cold medicines, stomach remedies and anti-diarrheal medication, as well as vitamins and fluids with electrolytes (such as sports drinks).
- Store health and cleaning supplies, such as bleach, tissues, a thermometer, disposable gloves, soap and alcohol-based hand sanitizers.
- Ask your health care provider and health insurance company if you can get an extra supply of your regular prescription drugs and medical supplies, such as glucose monitoring supplies.
- Talk with family members and loved ones about how they would be cared for if they got sick.
Planning in Your Community
- Ask about plans to enable you to stay home if you are or a family member is sick.
- Find out your employer’s plans to keep the business open if key staff can’t come to work.
- Find out now about your child’s school or daycare provider’s plans for handling a flu pandemic.
- Ask if there are plans to encourage sick children to stay home to reduce the spread of the disease.
- Ask if there are plans to close during a pandemic that would require all the children to remain at home.
Finding out the answers ahead of time will have a significant impact on your plans and decisions during a flu pandemic.
Related Content
Remember, two-weeks is the minimum recommendation. More, like they say, `would be wonderful'.
For more in-depth emergency preparedness information I can think of no better resource than GetPandemicReady.Org. Admittedly, as a minor contributor to that site, I'm a little biased.
But whether you are preparing for two-weeks or three-months, the important thing is to start.
Today.
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