Do You Have An Action Plan For You And Your Family?
Oct 26, 2017Recently, I went hiking, and I had the chance to talk to the Fire Department in Laguna Beach, and they gave me a booklet. It is called Ready! Set! Go! Your Personal Wildfire Action Plan. It's an emergency plan or an action plan in case of a fire emergency, and it made me think about this: Do we have a family emergency plan? For example, if you are at your house and there's an emergency, and you have to evacuate immediately, (and you know that this is) happening everywhere these days).
Do you have an action plan with your family so you can in 10 minutes or less grab all of the most important items and get out of the house?
In my personal experience, a lot of times we don't, we haven't think about these things because it doesn't happen that often. However, I think it's essential that you have a plan of action where whenever there is an emergency you get to go and grab specific bag and just head out. This is very important. Another thing the booklet suggests is to have a point of contact or a point of meeting in the case something happened, and you cannot get to your home. Let's say that there's a fire in your house or area, and there is no way to reach your closest members you cannot get there anymore. If you guys had strategized, you know that you and your family are going to be able to get together at a certain point away from your home.
Another thing that I think is very important to consider is that if you are not at your house, and you are not going to be able to access it anymore because of fire, flooding or any other condition, do you have copies of your most important documents? Maybe copies of pictures that you love, home Notes and Deed of Trust, identification documents.
One suggestion is, to put it in a place where perhaps somebody outside your closest members will be able to have to access it. This person should be close to the family, but not that close is not with you at all times. This person could have a Power of Attorney in case of emergency and even access to specific vital documents, maybe with an Estate or Legacy Planning Company that they can call and just say: "Hey we need access because a family emergency happened." Again, keep confidential and also be able to provide access when needed.
Unfortunately, we think that this it is not going to happen to us, but think again, it is better to be prepared. For example, I am talking to one of my girlfriends in case something happened to me, maybe if I'm unconscious in the hospital, I want someone to be able to contact the rest of my family, and also allow the hospital to provide information.
And if you're an adult and they call your parents, they are not going to be able to give them any information unless your parents have a Power of Attorney that will give them the right to be able to communicate with them. In my case, my parents are over 3,000 miles away.
I'm just going to show you some of the things that this pamphlet is suggesting, that I think everyone should apply at any time. It says that to keep a pair of shoes and a flashlight handy, as well as the six-Ps.
The six-Ps that they're suggesting is:
- People and Pets
- Papers, Phone numbers, and important documents
- Prescriptions, vitamins, and eyeglasses
- Pictures and irreplaceable memorabilia
- Personal computers, hard drives, and disk
- Plastic like credit cards, ATM, and of course cash
- How are you doing with the six-P's?
Create an emergency plan with your family. Talk to them and plan. If something happened that you are not allowed to come to your house, where are you guys going to meet? How are you guys going to communicate? Are you prepared inside your home with important things? Or if you are not able to come to the house, do you have copies in another secure place?
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