Monongalia County Health Department
  • HOME
  • SERVICES
  • News
    • Press Releases
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Twitter
    • MCHD Blog >
      • blog highlights
    • Video Library
    • Health Statistics
    • Education and Training
    • Posters
  • Dentistry
    • SMILE Express >
      • Portable SMILE Express Location Contact Form
      • SMILE Express Location Contact Form
      • Smile Express Referral Partner
    • Dental Services
    • Make an Appointment
    • Patients >
      • Child First Visit
      • Adult First Visit
      • Payment Options
    • Our Team
    • Contact
    • MCHD Dentistry Blog
  • Environmental
    • Contact Environmental
    • Food
    • Food Safety Training
    • Septic & Wells
    • Housing & Institutions
    • Recreation
    • Pools
    • Tattoo & Body Piercing
    • Rabies Control
    • Clean Indoor Air
    • Radon
    • Disaster Sanitation
    • Tanning
    • Fee Schedule
    • Online Permit Renewal
    • About Environmental Health
  • Clinics
    • Reproductive Health >
      • Family Planning
      • Adolescent Health
    • STD and HIV >
      • Syphilis
    • Immunizations >
      • Travel Clinic
      • School Immunizations
    • Communicable Disease >
      • TB Program
      • Influenza
      • Pertussis
    • Providers
  • Preparedness
    • COVID Dashboard
    • COVID-19
    • Testing & Vaccines
    • COVID-19 Links
    • COVID-19 Guidance
    • Mon Co. COVID-19 Stats
    • COVID-19 Press Releases
    • Recent Events
  • WIC
    • WIC Services
    • WIC Eligibilty Guidelines
    • WIC News
    • Doddridge County WIC
    • Harrison County WIC
    • Marion County WIC
    • Monongalia County WIC
    • Preston County WIC
    • Taylor County WIC
    • Breastfeeding
  • Mon QRT
    • QRT Press Releases
  • About
    • Contact Us
    • Our Location
    • Board of Health >
      • BOH Meeting Agenda
    • Meeting Rooms
    • Job Opportunities
    • Notice of Privacy Practices

Are you ready? National Preparedness Month provides a road map to help.

9/4/2019

 
Picture

Are you ready? National Preparedness Month provides a road map to help.

By Mary Wade Triplett

​Hurricane season runs from June 1 to Nov. 1 but lately, it seems to pick up right around National Preparedness Month, which began on Sunday.

We’re still waiting to see how the ever-changing Hurricane Dorian, which reached category 5 as it devastated the Bahamas and now has started its way up the East Coast starting with Florida and Georgia.

It does appear the West Virginia will be spared potentially flooding post-hurricane rains that sometimes result, such as with 1985’s Hurricane Juan. 

Two years ago, we watched as Houston dealt with massive flooding in the wake of Hurricane Harvey. 

The question Monongalia County Health Department’s Threat Preparedness poses not only at this time of year but also anytime we discuss potential crises is: Are you ready?

To brush up on what you can do to be prepared, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has compiled a thorough website, Ready.gov, that you can review to figure out your level of readiness. 

And that can be for a variety of situations, not just disasters, that you want to make preparations for. Such as losing power in your home.
​
What did you do? Did you have enough flashlights so you could make your way around the house? And even though you knew the power would come back on eventually, did you wonder if it would be out long enough to disrupt your plans? Would your food last in the refrigerator? How would you get ready for work without power? Does a family member require supplemental oxygen that runs on electricity?

Those situations make you realize you want to be better prepared in the future.

Ready.gov has divided September into four main points of emphasis. The first one—make and practice your plan—hits close to home. Let’s examine steps you can take now to make life easier if something happens.

First, consider how you might learn about a disaster or some other incident.

In this day and age of cell phones and a 24-hour news cycle, this is easier than ever. Also available is IPAWS, or the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System that was developed in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. IPAWS can deliver a Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) via a 90-character text to mobile devices in case of emergency. The WEA will tell you the type of alert and what you should do in response.

If you use social media, you probably know that Facebook and Twitter are great ways to find out what is going on in your community. You can follow key pages, including those of local media, the city of Morgantown, and, of course, Monongalia County Health Department. We post updates almost daily on health news in the area and that would be ramped up in an emergency.

You can also follow the social media of your local neighborhood associations. This is a great way to meet neighbors, which could be even more vital down the road during an incident. There are also apps such as Nextdoor. You can download it to your smartphone and get alerts about lost cats, power outages or worse.

Next, make a plan for your family. Do you have a shelter plan? What items would you need if you couldn’t leave home for a few days? This is where having an emergency kit comes in handy. It should include food and water for everyone in your household—including pets—to last three days. Count on a gallon of water per person per day.

Other items should include a first aid kit, battery-powered radio and flashlights as well as plenty of batteries for both, moist towelettes and garbage bags for personal sanitation, wrench or pliers to turn off utilities, a manual can opener for food, a local map and a cell phone plus charger and a back-up battery plan.

There is a lot more information on preparedness at Ready.gov. It’s not fun to think about disasters, whether due to weather, power outages or a violent incident. But there is peace of mind knowing that you are prepared for the worst while hoping for the best.

Mary Wade Triplett is the public information officer for Monongalia County Health Dept.


Comments are closed.
    MCHD logo

    Archives

    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    April 2016

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Picture
Lee B. Smith, MD, JD
Health Officer
Monongalia County
Health Department

453 Van Voorhis Road
Morgantown, WV 26505
Hours M-F 8:30-4:30
(304) 598-5100


Home Page
MCHD Services
Public Health Nursing
Environmental Health
WIC Program
MCHD Dentistry
Threat Preparedness
Food Safety Training

Provider Information
Health Statistics

Contact Us
Location/Directions
Training Opportunities
Job Opportunities
Privacy Practices
Website Notices

Contact Us
Find us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter