Always Prepared

I don't know about you, but I have been tied to my TV watching the weather radar. Truly, I keep hoping that Irene will hang a right and just go out into the ocean and all of this excitement will be for not.

To be honest, I wasn't as interested in the weather before I started working at Children's Specialized. For us when the basics go down and our kids literally live or die based upon electricity, roads being cleared and all the things that some people may just see as a minor inconvenience.

It’s been my experience at CSH, whether it is a snow storm, floods or the one tornado I was part of, that we always rise to the occasion and demonstrate the absolute best in our planning and teamwork.

Kevin Sullivan is our Emergency Management Expert and has done an amazing job with his committee making sure our emergency plans are always where they need to be. You will be getting an email from him today outlining our plans and also offering thoughts for you as well.

Our friends at Children's Hospital of Alabama sent us a list of tips for our personal use that they have refined from their vast experience managing unpredictable weather. It was so very nice for their CEO to send it, that I thought I should share it with you.

Add your own helpful safety tips in the comments below.

Suggestions from Children's Hospital Alabama for your personal homes:
- At least 18 hours prior, set your AC at 55 or 60 so your house cools down and has the ability to stay cooler if the power goes out.
- Put as many containers of water in the freezer as you can. You will be able to use them in the lower part of the fridge as cold packs if power goes out.
- Make sure you have Coleman ($9-10) battery operated camp lanterns (Target, Wal-Mart, etc) and plenty of batteries. They last a long time and are handy for reading!
- Charge your laptop computers, cell phones, etc.
- Make sure you have a battery-operated radio.
- If you have a grill, make sure you have charcoal or propane to use. A good way to cook ...including eggs and pizza!
- Cook as much food as possible in advance so that you only have to reheat and can do that easily on grill.
- If a storm does strike, move to the basement, if you have one.
- If you have gas hot water heaters, showers are still doable!

Good luck to all and please be safe.