When Kirk and Ella came to visit us this past weekend, they were very concerned about how prepared we were for the upcoming swine flu season, in light of our family's higher risk (I'm pregnant, and Connor and Lex are/will be very young).
They were planning to take us out to buy things like face masks, gloves, alcohol wipes, etc, but we had already done that, and are all set in that category.
They also brought us a large glass water bottle filled with 5 gallons of drinking water. They have ordered a pump for it, and that is going to be delivered to us any time now.
Then, they gave us a bunch of cash to put together the two week supply of food and other necessary supplies, in case we end up quarantined for some reason, or if grocery stores shut down.
So, I started researching recommended disaster readiness kits and swine flu preparation kits. Some of the information I found was really helpful, so I'm going to share it with you here.
First, is Connor's favorite. The government did a campaign using Elmo to teach kids how to wash their hands and sneeze/cough into their elbows. There are four very short videos online, and we have watched them over and over again. Connor now talks about Elmo every time we wash up, or whenever someone sneezes. And, he really cracks up during the videos when Elmo sneezes. You can find those videos here.
Next, is something that Kevin and I have been talking about buying for ages now, but we never really found a good supplier online before now: potassium iodide. Potassium iodide can be used to block the body's absorption of iodine radiation after a nuclear event, which can prevent death by radiation poisoning. In the event of a nuclear disaster, there really isn't much you can do...but this seems to us to be the one thing that *could* actually make the difference in the long run. Anyways, here is the site where you can buy the pills. They also sell a variety of pre-made disaster kits, if you are interested in checking them out. There are some good suggestions of things to have handy, if nothing else.
Consumer Reports put together an article summarizing what you need in case of a swine flu emergency. Here is a summary of that article.
Finally, here is a link to the FEMA website for disaster kits.
1 comment:
Now that you're home with them, aside from peace of mind, and being able to "control" the bugs a heck of a lot more--it truly will make a big difference, even with the minor stuff. We've never had a single ear infection, a single fever, a single g.i. illness --just a few minor colds--and there's no shame in isolating and protecting them during any high flu season if you can.
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