Being Prepared for Emergencies
I don’t think that we can ever say that we feel 100% sure that we are prepared for emergencies. If we could plan for them, they wouldn’t be emergencies, right!
However, when you are organized and can easily put your hands on the information that you need when an emergency happens, you can (and will) decrease your stress level and be able to handle what you need to do – and what you need to concentrate on.
I just shared a 20 minute session with a group of ladies this week from our local Chamber of Commerce. It was an awesome group of ladies within a variety of age groups, and I think that they all understood what I was talking about, even though they were very diverse.
What they had in common is: parents, siblings, spouses, significant others, aunts and uncles who have all had health issues, unexpected situations and thought that they were prepared for emergencies.
Now, I’m not talking just about natural disasters or medical emergencies (although both of them are very important to be prepared for). I am talking about accounts, documents – beyond Wills and Directives. I’m talking about being able to ensure that you can be the voice of your parents, spouse, aunt, uncle or sibling – or whoever else in this world is going to entrust you to their care and decisions when they can not take care of themselves or make decisions for themselves.
I shared what lessons I have learned from my parents experiences, I.e. Having the safe stolen from their home in the middle of the day; my parents having to switch banks at the age of 80 because their bank folded (was forced to close); my husband’s experience in the hospital and how unsettling it was to find out that he even though he spent 6 days in the hospital for what should have been a minor surgery, almost 50% of his time was billed as an outpatient (not an inpatient). And now, finally, my husband receiving his disability status as a military Veteran, the process of being an advocate for him – and being able to have access to his information in case he is incapacitated. This stuff is huge people!
And just talking about it can cause stress…unless you are prepared.
One of the ways that you can be prepared for emergencies is to know what you need to be prepared for. I am a sandwich generation. I have parents who are older (in their 80’s), an adult child still living at home, a granddaughter that we are raising as well as running a business, my home, being at all of my husband’s doctor appointments and fitting in a little fun time for me! Because I AM important!
Being prepared for emergencies means having your ducks in a row. It is one of the necessary evils in life. When we are born we begin the process of our death and we never know when this will happen. What we do know is that our children don’t need or want any more stress than they already have in their daily lives.
My goal is to share as much on this topic as I possibly can, sharing as many of my personal experiences as I can.
Why? Because I talked to my mom this morning and she told me, “Thank you for having these conversations with me. I’m glad that you will be able to help others because of what we have gone through”.
Do you ever wonder what you need to do to be prepared for emergencies? Stay tuned, I’ll keep sharing my experiences and solutions with you.
It’s all about Getting Around to It! There is no time for procrastination.
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