Ken Hayes, RN was the guest speaker at the monthly meeting of the Aroostook Amateur Radio Association (AARA) held at Northern Maine Community College in Presque Isle.

Hayes, who is also a licensed amateur radio operator, had worked in hospitals in California and Minnesota before moving to the Houlton area. While at those hospitals he helped write their emergency preparedness plans and recently assisted the town of Houlton in updating theirs. At the AARA meeting he gave a presentation on emergency preparedness and covered a host of things one may want to consider when developing plans for their own family.

Hayes says even though the best efforts are made at developing emergency preparedness plans for government, institutions and families, no plan can ever possibly cover all the potential possibilities that one might have to deal with. “They had a plan in place for Hurricane Katrina and recently, Hurricane Sandy,” said Hayes, “but as you saw, things came up that nobody expected or was prepared for. They’re still trying to work things out with in the aftermath of Sandy.”

He said planning ahead and not trying to be too specific is a good place to start when developing your own emergency preparedness plan. “Once an event happens, there’s no time to prepare. When preparing for an emergency, try to keep your plans generic so the things you acquire can cross over to multiple scenarios and other events.”

As we saw in Louisiana and New York, it is not realistic to rely on government agencies to take care of individuals in a prompt and efficient manner. “You can’t rely on government, you have to do for yourself and plan for yourself,” said Hayes. “Politicians are the worst emergency planners.”

In emergency scenarios, Hayes said there are “slow” events, such as hurricanes and forest fires that allow for some warning, and “rapid” events that occur with little or no warning, such as earthquakes, tornadoes and terrorist attacks.

In developing a family emergency plan, Hayes said not to focus only on one type of event. “Plan for dual use of your gear, the more detail you work into your plan, the less likely that particular event will happen.”

He gave tips on how to handle medical supplies, such as prescription drugs that may need to be stockpiled for diabetics, as well as knowing basic first aid. “When a major event happens and you have a medical situation, the hospital will likely be overwhelmed so the more you can do for yourself, the better off you will be until things settle down.”

Hayes is planning on conducting a series of emergency preparedness classes in the Houlton area through Spring.