September is National Preparedness Month, a great opportunity to raise awareness about personal preparedness. The EMS Community is always ready to respond to emergencies in our jobs, but are our families, friends and neighbors as prepared? September is a good time to develop or update our disaster plans.

National Preparedness Month is sponsored by the Ready Campaign in partnership with Citizens Corp and the Advertising Council and is held each September to encourage all Americans to take simple steps to prepare for emergencies (FEMA, 2011).

Please visit the following sites to develop a full preparedness strategy.

General Preparedness:

http://www.ready.gov/

http://www.fema.gov/areyouready/

http://www.oes.ca.gov/

http://www.oes.ca.gov/WebPage/oeswebsite.nsf/Content/42B416238228CDEA8825742F0072DF84?OpenDocument

http://www.ie-redcross.org

http://www.sbcfire.org/oes/index.asp

Pets:

http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/disaster-preparedness/

http://www.avma.org/disaster/default.asp