2021 has shown us the potential for disaster and the importance of being prepared. Our county was fortunate, but as the cliché goes, “it isn’t IF, but when.” Don’t let 2022 be the year that catches you unprepared. Resolve to make your household resilient to disasters and emergencies (big and small).
Here are a few things for your 2022 list to help get you started.
1. Make an emergency kit. Chances are you already have the things laying around this house. This is just organizing and identifying what you don’t have. To get you started, visit: https://www.cc-ema.org/kit
2. Sign up for FREE severe weather & emergency alerts. There are two ways to do it.
EASY: It’s just you and your mobile phone…text CLINTONCOUNTYALERTS to the number 226787. You should receive a response immediately that you are subscribed. If you win the lottery and move to a sandy location, just text STOP to 226787 to end getting the alerts (unless you want to laugh every time your friends back home are in a snow emergency).
I’ve Got People: Be it kids or parents, if you have multiple phone numbers and addresses, you can setup an account and pick WHAT NUMBERS, at WHAT ADDRESSES, you want to be alerted by TEXT, VOICE CALL, or EMAIL, and for what type of EVENT. You have the ultimate flexibility. If you get a new phone or change address, you can make the change easy-peasy. It may not be Burger King, but you can have it your way.
For more information on receiving emergency alerts, visit: https://www.cc-ema.org/alerts
3. Start setting aside money for an emergency fund. Be honest, a lunch time “emergency” isn’t a true emergency as most people treat funds like this as a loan that they likely won’t pay back. If you set aside $10 every week, you will have $520 at the end of the year for an emergency. This could be a financial life saver! Keep adding year after year, with the goal of having six months of earnings saved away and you’ll be glad if you ever need it for a true emergency. For more information, visit: https://www.cc-ema.org/financial
4. Check your insurance. A third of residents in Clinton County are renters, and the vast majority do not have renters insurance. According to the internet, the average cost of renters insurance per month in the State of Ohio. If disaster happens, something more local like a fire or water break, your insurance will help cushion the impact.
Help make YOUR 2022 safer by taking these four steps to help increase your resilience to disaster, and together, we can help make this year better than the prior two combined.
Final thought. This has been a rather tough two years, filled with politics, plague, supply chain shortages, economic stress, and uncertainty. You need to be positive (not COVID) and take your mental health serious. A new normal doesn’t mean it’s the right normal for you. Help is out there, and it usually starts with that first honest conversation with a friend.
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