Disaster Survival

The past four weeks, our Survival Students have been learning about Natural Disasters....what are the risks, how to protect yourself, and first aid treatments. We have talked about earthquakes and tsunami's, where to take cover during tornados and volcanic eruptions, and even how to protect ourselves from radiation should a nuclear bomb occur.

 You may have noticed your student leaving our class with bloody noses, contusions, broken bones, insect bites, and burns.   Hopefully, these "injuries" helped to illustrate proper application of first aid treatments.  We have learned how to administer CPR, how to treat shock, different bandaging techniques and even tasted some new foods that can heal our body from the inside.  Aloe Vera juice was surprisingly tasty, while the dried seaweed was much less popular.

Today we had a special guest speaker from the Pierce County Emergency Management team.  Roxanne reminded us about 911 services.  Did you know 911 calls are FREE from any public pay phone? She also stressed the importance of each of us having a 72 hour kit "bug out bag" should we ever need to evacuate, as well as preparing our home with a 7-day emergency supply kit.  (Remember the ice storm of 2012, where we all were hunkered down inside of our homes for 7-9 days)?

Each student was sent home with a goody bag containing a helpful reminders on Disaster Preparedness for your families.

I would like to draw special attention to the "Bucket List" brochure.  Inside is instructions on how to make your own Grab-N-Go bucket.  The HOMEWORK this week is for each student to fill out the EMERGENCY PLAN CARD, place it in a sealed Ziploc bag, and carefully include it in their own emergency bucket.   We have encouraged the students to discuss as a family what your Emergency Plan is:  Where is our Meeting Place?  Who is our out-of-state phone contact?

Our CLASS CHALLENGE is to prepare our own personal 72 hour "grab-n-go" emergency kit.  I'll bet most of the items you already have in your homes. (If you already have a kit, go through it and replace expired food items, update clothing to your current size, etc)  Once your kit is complete, snap a photo of it, and email it to me.  Those who complete this challenge will be rewarded with a special emergency "tool" (it's a surprise)  Let's see if we can complete this challenge by December 11.