Be Prepared, Not Scared is the theme of September, which is National Emergency Preparedness Month. Washington County Emergency Management Coordinator Marissa Reisen says it’s good for your family and your business to have plans in place in the event of a disaster. The themes for each week this month include save early for disaster costs, make a plan to prepare for disasters, teach youth to prepare for disasters, and get involved in your community’s preparedness.

Reisen says it’s good for every family member to have the same contact person out of state, so that if something happens when one person is at work and another is at school and another is at practice there’s one central hub for communication, “We’ve got kids in sporting events, we’ve got all kinds of stuff going on, so the chances that something bad will happen when you’re not around your family is pretty significant. So you want to make sure that if you can’t get a hold of each other that you have a plan of where you’re going to meet, that you’ve got a safe place to go, and that that contact person that you’ve got, so we’ve got an out of state contact that we can all check in with.” Also, phone lines may be full with phone calls but text messages can go through because they use less bandwidth. Reisen adds it’s important to have kids involved in the plans so they understand what to do. Reisen has materials for all ages on how to discuss disaster plans. She also encourages anyone looking for a way to volunteer to contact her to find a good fit for skill level and need.

Click here for contact information for Reisen.