One emergency that you need to prepare for is a family emergency. By family emergency, I mean an emergency that affects one member of your family, which in turn could complicate the normal flow of events in your family. One example of a family emergency is that one member ends up in the hospital due to a sudden illness or accident. If you have young children you will need to have a plan so that they will be taken care of during a highly stressful time. You don’t want to be scrambling around when all you really want to do is to help the family member who is in distress.
1) The first thing you should is to find someone whom you trust to watch your children. You need to let your children know who will take care of them during an emergency. If possible you should have at least one back up to your first choice, just in case they aren’t available. You can have a password that you teach your children, so that they will know that this person is safe. You would not give the password to the adult until the emergency has taken place. After the emergency, you would need to change the password for safety reasons.
2) You should have a central location for important papers. These could include a copy of a living will, social security numbers, medical records, insurance information, and a family medical history. This information may be needed if there is a need to rush to the emergency room. It is nice to know that you will not be rushing around looking for the different papers throughout the house.
3) If you have older children, you may need to implement a contact plan. My mother was involved in a serious automobile accident, which involved a short stay at the hospital. I was living out of state and I did not hear about the accident for three days. I was quite upset that I was overlooked. I later received calls from my grandmother and two sisters who had each thought that one of the others had called me. Still if it had been more serious the lag in time would have made it difficult to reach my mom in time to help.
4) If you have pets you may want to find someone that would be willing to come in and care for them on a regular basis with short notice. Your pets will still need care, especially if you will be gone for an extended period of time.
As you experience a family emergency, it is important to remember to keep a positive attitude. You should also make sure that you take time to explain to your children what is happening, and what direction things are going. At the end of the crisis be sure to thank those that helped you during your time of need.