Thursday, September 24, 2009

20 60-Second Preparedness Tasks

In less than a half hour, you can complete the following preparedness tasks and know that should a disaster--large or small--happen, you will be a little bit more prepared than you were earlier today:
  1. Put an ICE (in case of emergency) number on your cell phone. This makes it easier for paramedics and law enforcement to know who to call if you are unconscious at an accident scene.
  2. Check to make sure all of your smoke detectors are working.
  3. Put yourself on the Do Not Call list ( so that you/your family/your kids/etc. won't become victims of telemarketers.
  4. Check your annual credit report ( to make sure no one has hijacked your credit.
  5. Sign up for NOAA alerts for your particular state/region at
  6. Make sure all of your computers are password protected.
  7. Look in your wallet, if you don't see a $100 bill in there, put one in ASAP for emergencies.
  8. Stand up and stretch for 60 seconds--twist your torso, touch your toes, reach for the sky, etc. Do this many times throughout the day.
  9. Write down these five numbers to keep by your phone: the number for natural gas emergencies, the number for electric emergencies, the number to report cable outages, the number to report phone outages, and the number for your local nurse hotline.
  10. Set a regular date and time to test your emergency communications plan contact system. Take 60 seconds now to email your contact and warn them that you will regularly be testing your system by having your family members call them on, for example, the first Tuesday of each month at 10am.
  11. Test your blood pressure (you will probably need to do this at the grocery store or the mall or other location where they have the machines to provide this free service). It takes less than a minute to stick your arm into the sleeve and get a blood pressure reading. While these machines may not be the most accurate, any elevated reading should be cause to consult with your doctor.
  12. Run an anti-virus scan on your computer (it takes longer than 60 seconds but only a few seconds to get the process started).
  13. Put your seatbelt on. Again, you can't do this sitting at your desk but make wearing a seatbelt a habit, it only takes a few seconds to put it on.
  14. Go compliment a family member. It takes less than a minute to point out something good that you appreciate about a person (this improves their self esteem and builds family harmony).
  15. Check your fire extinguishers. Make sure they are properly charged and have been checked within the past couple of years.
  16. Toss a stuffed pillow on the floor, pretend it is your CPR mannequin, and practice 60 seconds of chest compressions to the beat of "Staying Alive". Doing this for a minute straight is actually more difficult than it looks.
  17. Sign up for CDC alerts through their various social media tools (
  18. Practice breathing. In through the nose, hold it for a few seconds, out through the mouth. Do this for a minute. Sounds odd but this is a great way to relieve stress on a regular basis, a way to get your composure together while shooting, and a way to immediately diffuse tension in a stressful situation.
  19. Plan tomorrow today. Make a list of the things you need to accomplish, the calls you need to make, the errands you need to run, etc. Add a preparedness task to complete on the list as well.
  20. Read the Daily Insight article on the CNI website ( These are usually short, preparedness-related articles that provide useful information on survival-related topics.


  1. Thanks for these tips. I did #1 as I was reading the article...and promptly lost my cellphone (stupid, left it on top of the gas pump at Sam's) the next night. Fortunately, a good soul found it and turned it into Sam's, and someone found my ICE listing and called my wife (though she was less than happy I lost the phone...but who cares, I have it back). I immediately thereafter put ICE on her phone.

    In thinking about the concept of ICE, I came to the conclusion that I will have an order of priority - ICE 1, ICE 2, etc., so that if #1 isn't available (as in wife and I in an accident together), then EMS or whomever can call #2.

  2. Great list! I work on the switchboard for a university hospital, and get many callers asking for the "advice nurse." At least in my community (Portland, OR), there isn't any such thing, unless you are already enrolled as a patient with a specific hospital/healthcare system -- and then you are usually referred to your PCP (primary care provider) during regular business hours, or your PCP's on-call physician. There have been so many issues involving liability that most medical offices these days won't offer an advice nurse.