To mark Emergency Preparedness (EP) Week, running May 3 – 9, 2015, St. John Ambulance is urging Vancouverites to take safety into their own hands and get emergency ready with the launch of their dedicated emergency preparedness blog, 15 Easy Steps to Emergency Preparedness at EmergencyReady.ca.

The blog will feature new content every day, for 15 days, as well as guest blogs from the City of Vancouver, a Registered Clinical Counsellor and Certified Parenting Facilitator, and a pet expert, covering everything from how to identify and reduce household hazards, to how to discuss emergency preparedness with your family with practical tips and advice on preparing for the unexpected.

Just earlier this year an Earthquake Consultation Report released by Emergency Management BC stated “more must be done at the individual level, and at all levels of government if BC is going to be adequately prepared for a major earthquake or other catastrophic disaster”.

According to René Bernstein, director of marketing for St. John Ambulance British Columbia and Yukon, being prepared is all about feeling empowered and the more prepared you are, the lower your anxiety will be in an emergency situation.

“You only need one good reason to make emergency preparedness a priority, but we all have many reasons – whether it’s family, a pet or friends. Yet we know that many feel overwhelmed when it comes to preparing for an emergency. For example, in a survey release last year, just five per cent of Vancouverites say they feel very well prepared for an emergency,” Ms Bernstein said.

“The truth is, we all have the ability to do something because it’s up to each individual in their community to be ready for the unexpected. We want people to feel confident about emergency preparedness so we developed 15 Easy Steps to Emergency Preparedness which provides people with easy and actionable items like downloadable practical exercises and shopping lists.”

At EmergencyReady.ca, emergency preparedness is broken down into 15 bite-sized activities, taking the reader through the process of identifying risks, making an emergency plan and preparing an emergency kit.

The activities are designed to prepare British Columbians for the emergency situations most common in this province, including:

• Extreme weather events
• Power outages
• Wildfires
• Flooding
• Earthquakes and tsunamis
• Backcountry accidents
• Landslides and avalanches
• Chemical spills and releases

“Because an emergency is unexpected by nature, it is often assumed that it’s not possible to prepare for it – this is simply not the case. The 15 Easy Steps to Emergency Preparedness blog at EmergencyReady.ca is something everyone should get involved in,” Ms Bernstein said.

St. John Ambulance is a leader in first aid and safety training, and also provides emergency response support in the event of a disaster or major emergency as part of the organization’s community service program.

Contest!

We have partnered up with St. John Ambulance to give away a home emergency preparedness kit (valued at $83.95) to one lucky fan.

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