Erica Harold-Heine
Erica Harold-Heine, a Banks resident, holds a B.S. in Homeland Security & Emergency Management. While she serves as a Banks city councilor, Harold-Heine noted that her personal views reflected here do not represent any policy of the city of Banks nor the city council.
Happy New Year everyone! I hope you all had happy and safe holidays this past season. We are starting a new year and a lot of us like to make New Year’s resolutions. Hopefully one of those is to become more resilient as a family and community!
What does resiliency mean to you? It can mean a lot of different things. What you choose to do to become more resilient isn’t wrong and may be different then your neighbor’s efforts to become more resilient. One person may begin to can foods so they are more food resilient, while their friends may choose to start saving more money to have an emergency fund. Whatever it is you chose to do you are taking another step on a path of resiliency for yourself and your community.
In times of crisis any amount of resiliency gives us peace of mind and an ounce of personal control. No matter the size of an emergency; having a plan in place or even a partial plan is helping to have less weight on your shoulders. Empower yourself with resiliency!
Here are some helpful ideas for boosting you and your community’s resiliency.
–Have a 2-week food supply for everyone in your household to include pets.
–Make sure to have a 2-week water supply for your household to include pets.
–Have an emergency fund for unexpected expenses.
–Try to maintain at least a half tank of gas. This helps your ability to leave a disaster zone within several hundred miles.
–Have a reunification plan with your family if you are separated by a disaster.
–Get to know your neighbors and their skills. Knowing a neighbor was in the military and knows how to set up emergency shelters is a wonderful thing to know!
–Also, with talking to your neighbors you know who may need help if the power went out and your neighbor is on oxygen.
–Developing these connections with your neighbors helps you to also know how they are resilient. Then you could even collaborate with your neighbors to come up with a group emergency support structure.
These are just a few ideas and are nowhere near all the things a person and or community can do to become more resilient. This is more to get your mind thinking of things that you can do this year to become more resilient and take back control during a crisis!
