Kane County recently launched a new online resource meant to help residents prepare for severe weather, climate-related hazards and other emergencies.
The idea of the Emergency Preparedness Toolkit, the Kane County Health Department said in a news release, is to give residents practical and easy-to-use information to help prepare them for such situations.
“Emergencies can happen quickly, and being prepared ahead of time can make a real difference,” Michael Isaacson, the health department’s executive director, said in the news release. “This toolkit gives residents practical steps they can take now to protect themselves, their families and their neighbors when an emergency occurs.”
The toolkit is available at https://www.kanehealth.com/Pages/EmergencyToolkit.aspx.
It was developed through an interdepartmental Kane County effort, combining public health, emergency preparedness, environmental and climate resilience expertise to create one central resource, the news release from the health department said.
Kane County can experience a range of hazards, including severe thunderstorms, tornadoes, flooding, extreme heat, winter weather, poor air quality and power outages, the news release said. The toolkit also addresses how changing climate conditions may affect some of these hazards.
In the toolkit, emergency preparedness is organized into four steps.
The first step, per the toolkit, is to identify possible hazards that may affect Kane County.
The next suggested step, the news release about the toolkit indicated, is to take action through steps like creating a household emergency plan, building a “Go Bag,” protecting important documents, planning for medical needs and considering the needs of children, older adults, people with disabilities and pets.
Subsequent steps suggest residents stay informed by signing up for local emergency alerts and share what they have learned about emergency preparedness with family, friends and neighbors.
The toolkit also emphasizes that emergency preparedness does not need to happen all at once, and that actions like signing up for emergency alerts or identifying family meeting locations can make “a meaningful difference,” the news release said.
The online resource also includes links to additional local, state and federal resources, the news release indicated.
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