Keeping your home prepared for an emergency is a simple step you can take that can make dealing with a stressful situation much easier. It can also be as simple as having a first aid kit in your home in an accessible place.
"The first thing I would want to do is get help coming. Right? Get the professionals coming. Call 911. Get them rolling. And, if you realized that later you didn't need it, you can always call them back. They can come out and assess that situation. And then what we want to do is really buy time for those emergency responders to get there," says Todd Kerfoot, Director of Operations at REMSA Health.
After taking a deep breath, calling 911 is the first step to any emergency. The dispatcher will assist in assessing the severity of the situation and send help on the way. REMSA's dispatchers are unique in that each one of them are trained as EMTs or Paramedics and will walk you through what to do with their experience.
If you are alone during the emergency or live alone, the SOS features on your smartphone can assist in contacting 911, as well as alerting family and friends to your situation. Most smartphone SOS features can be activated in an emergency by repeatedly pressing the power or lock button, five times.
Taking the five minutes to set up the emergency contacts settings on your smartphone can save minutes during moments where every second counts.
"We have learned calming techniques on how to talk to somebody who's stressed out, how to talk to elderly, how to talk to children. And we use those tactics to bring them in so that we can get the answers that we need so we can provide the right response. Once we get our questions answered, then we can move into lifesaving interventions," says Shannon Popovich, Director of Regional Operations, REMSA Health.
A standard first aid kit can be found at most retailers like Walmart or Target, but it should be adjusted to fit the needs of members in your home. Adding an EpiPen for someone who has severe allergies, a bleeding control kit or Narcan if there are any Opioid-based medications in the home are all things to consider.
