Emergency preparedness drill brings together service providers to ensure families are prepared for emergencies July 3, 2014

On June 7, 2014, an Emergency Preparedness Exercise was held at HOPE Shelter in Kalaeloa. This was a collaborative effort by the Hawai‘i Air National Guard (HIANG), Wai‘anae Community Outreach (WCO), the Leeward Public Health Nursing Branch (PHN), and Ka Pa‘alana.

Several weeks before the drill, Emergency Preparedness was introduced in Ka Pa‘alana’s parenting class. Parents were given an “Emergency Backpack” containing practical guides on how to prepare for an emergency, and what to include in an emergency kit. The PHN’s together with Ka Pa‘alana also did emergency preparedness presentations for each floor of HOPE Shelter.

The exercise itself was a mock evacuation of the shelter, complete with emergency tents erected by HIANG to receive the “evacuees,” and to provide education on a variety of health topics. The PHN checked emergency backpacks to help families assess how prepared they were for an emergency, and Ka Pa‘alana provided canned goods to add to their backpacks.

During the mock evacuation Ka Pa‘alana provided games and activities for the children to alleviate some of the stress as the parents participated in this exercise. We would like to extend a big mahalo to all of the providers that participated in this event.