Health Promotion and Crisis Planning

 Emergency Preparedness: Natural and Human-Generated Disasters

Living in Buffalo New York one natural disaster that might put my center at risk would have to be would be snow storms. They can develop quickly without enough time to get everyone home like the store we had back in October 2006. During this storm power was lost to a large amount of the city and communication was very difficult. Preparing for a natural disaster like this at the center we would first need the plan for alternative communication if land lines were not an option. We might have to rely on cell phones, mass text message, email and maybe even news messages like the ones that scroll along the bottom of the television in case of emergency closings. Another thing we would need to prepare for is making sure we had enough extra food in case we were snowed inside the building for a few days. Alternate emergency contact information for the families as well as first aid kits is something that would be needed. Most importantly we would need to make sure we had extra blankets, as mention earlier to power went out in many areas and some people didn’t have heat, lights, etc.

Not being prepared for something like this could make a bad situation worse, one thing that parents could to help prepare their children for something like being snowed in and away for their parents is to talk to them and let them know that everything will be okay and to maybe think of it like a big sleep over with their classmates.

Another disaster that could happen in our building in a fire; we share a building with VA housing and a least once a month someone burns something and we have to leave the building because of a small fire that set of the alarm system. So far we have never had a fire that caused any direct harm of danger to the daycare but we have a system in place just in case it ever happens. All the classrooms has an emergency bag with all the parents contact information, blankets, first aid kits and flash lights. When we first evacuate we all meet in the back of the building, but if there is ever a serious fire or bad weather we all meet across the street at a subway station until we are cleared to go back in or the parents need to come pick up their children.

I think we have a pretty good system in place as far as the fire disaster is concerned but the only thing that makes me a little nervous about being snowed in is the fact that the weather is so cold and I’m not sure how comfortable we would be able to keep the children if it’s cold, dark and they miss their parents.