JUST IN CASE you haven't found or heard any information on this Swine Flu deal yet or want more, here's a quick list of a few places with good information (and if you're sick of links about the Swine Flu, just cruise on past this first part--there's more):
Utah Preppers has a 3 part (so far) series:
Pandemic Preparedness
More Swine Flu Info
Pandemic Go-Kits
Pandemic Preparedness Planning information from the LDS Church
What's new on the Swine Flu Site from the CDC
More from the government: (you know this government information took a gazillion tax dollars to write and put online for all of us, so we might as well use it) pandemicflu.gov
Utah State's Swine Flu/Pandemic page
Current Swine Flu Map
I'm sure there are a ton more resources out there also and more will be coming as this develops.
Pick up some hand sanitizer, N95 masks, and latex gloves if you don't already have them in your stockpile, and have some extra food on hand in case you need to self-quarantine/reverse quarantine! ;-)
Ahhh, quarantine. I know it's not heard of much anymore, but my family actually had to be quarantined when I was a kid because my baby sister came down with whooping cough and more than one of the rest of us were carriers. We were escorted home from school in the middle of the day by our principal and I can't remember how long it lasted, but we couldn't have friends over or go to school (I'm sure my son would find this a welcome tragedy) or anywhere really. What did my mom do with us all???
Well, besides health and food supplies, you might think of "preparing" things you can do at home with your family if you all are stuck there with each other and nobody else for two or three weeks. If nobody is sick in your house and you've quarantined yourselves to keep it that way, you might as well enjoy your time together (which to me means NOT sitting around watching the news). You know who you'll be there with--brainstorm some age appropriate activities. That way if you'll need some supplies for your fun, you'll be able to pick them up ahead of time. And if you don't end up needing them right away, you'll have them for some lazy Saturday instead. ;-)
Of course if the power's on you can resort to video games, computer, TV, but why? Remember board games? (but not Monopoly, mom, I know that game made you crazy with us kids) And card games? Go Fish, Speed, Canasta, Scum, Spoons, what are your favorites? Here's a huge resource for card game rules. Just make sure you have a couple of decks on hand.
Play charades, make music, draw, paint, or write something. Build a puzzle or two or ten. Read books. Build a city out of legos. Sew, crochet, knit. Set up your tent and "camp" in your living room. Build a model. You get the idea. Make yourself a list and make sure you've got the supplies for a variety of activities. It is especially important for kids to have a sense of normalcy or even that it is a special time rather than the stressful time quarantine could easily be.
Here's hoping this thing gets under control and things get better instead of worse--you know that saying: Hope for the best, prepare for the worst. :)
Monday, April 27, 2009
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Angela, I helped to develop the Get Pandemic Ready website. It's geared to preparing for a large-scale pandemic (a very large illness-large death event) due to the global concern for an Avian (Bird) flu pandemic. In the mean time, we had this low-illness 'H1N1' (Swine) flu pandemic.
I attended quite a number of national meetings for both Emergency and Public Health officials (as did quite a few of the rest of our GPR team).
It's extensive by offering suggestions in what to consider for a major pandemic. Here's the link: www.GetPandemicReady.org. (the site is actually hosted by a county emergency manager in Idaho). We were featured by CIDRAP (Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy)as a reference for preparation within the first week we went on line a couple of years ago. -k
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