Emergency Preparedness Jeopardy and Other Reindeer Games

When I got my first car, my dad trained me to make sure I always had some emergency supplies in my trunk in case I needed them. My emergency box included things like water, oil, gloves, tire gauge, duct tape, towels, flashlight, etc. Looking back on this now, I think this was my first lesson in how to be prepared.

This is a busy month around our office. Governor Brewer declared September “Arizona Preparedness Month” in coordination with nationwide preparedness month. An opportune time to sing the preparedness tenets . . . .make a plan, build a kit and stay informed. What does that mean for our office . . . a bunch of outreach events.

I am kicking off our festivities this year with Emergency Preparedness Jeopardy at an event for state employees. This is my chance to wear the emergency preparedness lab coat and see if state employees are smart enough to get the “daily double”.

I like doing outreach events. . . it makes for some great people watching. I will admit that our booth is not usually the most exciting, we don’t offer fun freebies. We can provide some handouts with preparedness games (word wrangle, pictograms, etc) and we are disaster junkies that like a good story.

Funny how when you hear disaster, you immediately think of the big ones . . . .but it is really the small ones that we are more likely to encounter and can wreak havoc. I had a power outage last week and had to go out to my car to get the flashlight from that trusty box of emergency supplies in my trunk . . .too bad I didn’t have a battery operated fan.