Personal Health Records Online

Hi folks,

Mr. Prepared here, today.  I want to talk about My Emergency Card and PHR`s, personal health records on line. You might not know this, but at your doctor’s office assuming you go to a doctor at least once a year for a checkup and you should. They are doing away with the paper file folders.  You know that big store room they have with all those file folders in it.  If you haven’t seen it “ask them to show it to you”!  They will after all those are your files.  Did you know that they store them for their records and just for you?  So you can request a copy of your records anytime, and they may charge you a fee, and it may take a couple of days depending on how much staff they have on hand, but the bottom line is their your records.

Back to My Emergency Card, everyone should carry one:

Example: On July 20th 2009 a couple of days ago my own mother in law had a car accident back in Michigan, someone turned in front of her at a light.  My mother in law had the right of way and she hit them, nothing she could do? That’s the way accidents happen “out of the blue”! Reminds me of when I was going to cut a limb off the same mother in law’s tree 10 years ago so she could get her car in the driveway. All the voices, bells and whistles were going off, don’t do it, don’t do it but I said it will only take a minute, stupid ladder, the next thing I know my wife is holding my head after it bounced off the cement asking me if I was all right.  My head was ok but my wrist was broken.  I’m hard headed that’s way I was on the stupid ladder in the first place. So the point is folks -  accidents happen. Back to my mother in law, after her Onstar came on to see if she was all right, they contacted the police and an ambulance, when they arrived she gave them her emergency card, should I say, My Emergency Card.  Because she was prepared, they immediately contacted her family down state and rushed her to the hospital.  They knew from her emergency card who to contact, her medications, her blood type, everything to treat her properly. My mother in law fractured her breast bone from the seat belt impact but other than that she seems to be ok, thank god!  She’s a hip mother in law, 80 years young, drives a 2008 SS impala, and when she wants to go -  she goes in style!  Soon she’ll be back in her wheels; the car will be fixed in 3 weeks.

Mr. Prepared is working on a P. H. R. personal health record system that will be 2nd to none for all medical records. So stay tuned everyone that goes to Mr. Prepared.com or My Emergency Card.com and sign up for your free download of My Emergency Card.  Remember you don’t want to be in an accident and you don’t have an emergency card.  So Act now and get your free My Emergency Card.  When we go on line, you will receive 6 months of FREE service to try it out!!!  It just doesn’t get any better than FREE!

Thanks this is Mr. Prepared bring Awareness to Preparedness!

THE PILOT WHO WAS PREPARED FOR DISASTER!

An American Hero Who Knew Safety Means Survival!

 On January 15^th, America held its breath as an Airbus A320 came in for a landing – not on a runway, but on top of New York City’s Hudson River!  The US Airways flight had lost power in both engines – apparently due to a flock of birds hitting the aircraft – and was forced to make an emergency landing in the Big Apple’s most famous waterway.

Casualties?  A total of none.  It was a miracle – and the kind of spiritual pick-me-up that was just what America needed.

I call myself Mr. Prepared, but probably the pilot who successfully saved all 155 passengers and crew members on the flight, Chesley B. “Sully” Sullenberger III, deserves that title more than I do!  Sullenberger has spent most of his professional life working towards raising preparation and safety standards across the airline industry.  And most observers agree, he was the one man who could make that kind of extraordinary crash landing – and make sure everyone on board survived!

One of the passengers, Beth McHugh, gave credit where credit was due, saying, “I just can’t believe how well he did.  We’re all alive because of him.”  A former colleague, Peter Goelz, simply said, “It was an amazing piece of airmanship.”

Sullenberger’s commitment to the people on board his plane didn’t stop after the Hudson River splashdown, either.  The pilot walked through the plane twice as it was gradually sinking to make sure everyone got out safely, before he allowed himself to be rescued with everyone else.

This is one 57 year-old pilot who has demonstrated his commitment to ensuring safety standards over the years.  As president and CEO of Safety Reliability Methods, Inc., a company that he himself began, he’s worked to provide emergency management, safety planning and performance monitoring to the aviation business.  He also served as the Air Line Pilots Association safety chairman, speaks internationally on airline safety and collaborates with the Center for Catastrophic Risk Management at Berkeley University.

In other words, this is the exact right man you’d want in the cockpit of a plane that suddenly lost all jet power mid-air over New York City.  Sullenberger knew his options were limited – and he made sure to put the plane down in a part of the Hudson where he knew rescuers could reach the downed 81- ton aircraft quickly.  The river waters were freezing cold and he knew they would need emergency help fast. 

After logging over 19,000 hours in the air as a pilot, it only took the minute after he told his passengers, “Brace for impact,” for Sullenberger to become a national hero.  All of a sudden, this respected but mostly anonymous pilot was an internet sensation, with 10,000 people joining his Facebook fan page created by an admirer. 

But there was one person who was well aware of his amazing abilities all along. “This is the Sully I know,” Sullenberger’s wife Lorrie told CNN.  “I always knew this is how he would react. So, to me, this is not something unusual. It’s the man I know to be the consummate professional.”

Being prepared for disaster sometimes seems a waste of time to many of us, because we don’t think we’ll ever have to deal with a worst-case scenario.  But if Chesley Sullenberger hadn’t prepared – and prepared well – 155 people might not have had such a happy ending on January 15^th.  So let’s all take a page from Sully’s book – and put some time and thought into our own emergency preparedness!

Until next time, be Smart!  Be Safe!  Be Prepared! This is Mr. Prepared, bringing Awareness to Preparedness!

Make Sure Safety Is Under Your Christmas Tree!

Preparedness Makes For a Happy Holiday Season! 

This year, over 33 million American homes will have a natural Christmas tree inside their home, waiting for Santa Claus to drop a bagful of presents under it.  What has always been a wonderful holiday tradition, however, can turn to disaster if you don’t take the proper precautions!

I’m Mr. Prepared and I’m wondering if you know just how long it take a dry Christmas tree to ignite into a full-blown fire.   Answer?  Three seconds.  It takes only two more seconds for the fire to spread to other parts of the room.  And in only forty seconds, “flashover” will occur – when the entire room is engulfed in an out of control blaze and toxic smoke fumes fill the air.

Now that’s one Christmas present all of us can do without!  

Each year, lives are lost and over 6 million dollars in property damage is inflicted by holiday tree fires.  But it doesn’t have to be that way!  There are several simple ways you can keep “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” without “Burning Down the House!”   So read the following tips so you can survive the holidays in style!

1)     BUY LIVE!

When you pick out your Christmas tree, make sure that sucker is alive and well.  Obviously, your best option is to cut it down yourself at a Christmas tree farm that allows that sort of thing (Mr. Prepared does not advocate sneaking around in the woods and cutting down other people’s trees willy-nilly!). 

If you are buying from a lot that trucks in pre-cut trees, make sure you pick one that’s still among the living!  Shake those branches – if too many needles fall off, you know that tree’s terminal.   Also, the branches shouldn’t snap off – they should be flexible, the trunk should be sticky, and the tree should feel fresh and alive.   Dry and dead is the wrong combo for festive fun!

2)    EXTRA CUT MEANS EXTRA FRESH!

When you bring your tree home, get out the hacksaw and cut off a couple more inches off the bottom of the trunk.  Otherwise, the tree may not be able to take in the water you’ve put in the tree stand – and won’t stay as fresh and moist as possible.  By slicing off the extra chunk, you make it easier for the tree to drink up – and live longer!

3)     WATCH THE WATER!

The ongoing survival of your Xmas tree depends on making sure the tree stand is filled with water – well above the bottom of the trunk.   You don’t do so well when you’re dehydrated – and your tree won’t either!  So top off that stand every day or so!

4)    A COOL TREE MEANS A COOL YULE

Thinking about parking your tree right next to a heater vent?  Or your fireplace for the perfect holiday portrait?  I’d think again!  Putting a flammable tree next to a heat source is like throwing dirt at an angry dog – somebody’s going to get hurt!  Keep the tree in a cooler part of the room away from heat and fire – that’s highly logical, as Mr. Spock used to say!

5)    DON’T TURN YOUR TREE INTO A YULE LOG!

Okay, the holidays are over – your Christmas tree is ready to be history – and there’s a big ol’ fireplace just calling for some fresh wood.  Don’t try to burn your tree in order to get rid of it – they burn quickly and can also go out of control faster than you can put it out.  You can also cause a chimney fire by burning Christmas tree clippings.

6)    HAPPY NEW YEAR – GOODBYE OLD TREE!

Don’t keep that tree up until spring and confuse the heck out of the Easter Bunny!  Instead, dispose of it promptly shortly after New Year’s.  Otherwise, it just keeps getting drier and deader and more of a fire hazard.  It’s already depressing enough after the holidays without your house burning down! 

Now, if you think good old Mr. Prepared is just trying to scare you, I’d suggest you take a look at the videos at http://www.usfa.dhs.gov/citizens/all_citizens/home_fire_prev/holiday-seasonal/treefire.shtm  .  They’ll show you just how fast and furious a Christmas tree can burn!   If you take the right precautions, however, your tree will survive to 2009 -and so will you!

Have a wonderful and safe holiday season – and please stop by my website at http://www.mrprepared.com for more free emergency survival tips and tricks.  Until next time, be Smart!  Be Safe!  Be Prepared! This is Mr. Prepared, bringing Awareness to Preparedness!

RICH OR POOR – PREPAREDNESS MATTERS!

No Amount of Money Can Stave Off Wildfire Disaster!

It’s wildfire season again in Southern California – and the latest round of brutal blazes took its toll on the well-to-do and working class alike!

I’m Mr. Prepared, here to take a look at just how deadly wildfires can be – and how easily they can get out of control.  In this case, a mobile home park – as well as one of the most exclusive neighborhoods in So Cal – was equally devastated. 

Montecito, near Santa Barbara north of Los Angeles, was named as the seventh most expensive neighbourhood in America by Forbes magazine, with an average home price of 2.9 million dollars – a little out of Mr. Prepared’s price range!  The community contains hundreds of lavish estates belonging to the likes of Oprah Winfrey, “Monty Python” comedian John Cleese, actor Michael Douglas and other big-time celebrities with more money than they know what to do with. 

And all it took was the aftermath of an all-night college party to take down dozens of those magnificent mansions.

Some local students got together at a nearby abandoned home on a hillside one night – and built a bonfire that burned into the early morning hours.  They finally put it out and went home – but the fire wasn’t ready to call it a night.  Conditions were so dry that the blaze reignited and continued to burn all day – and then powerful evening gusts that the locals call “sundowners” spread the wildfire everywhere despite fire fighters’ best efforts. 

Everyone’s survival was at stake.  That meant the stars were forced to evacuate their homes just like anyone else would have been.  Maybe they had chauffeurs to drive them out of disaster, but otherwise, they were just as terrified as you or I would have been.  Take popular TV and movie star Rob Lowe.  His relaxing day had a very rude interruption, according to a report from the Associated Press. 

“I was watching the football game with my son and my wife called and said ‘Montecito’s on fire – get out!’,’ said Rob.  “I thought she was kidding because there was no indication that there would be any problem whatsoever. But we got in the car, pulled out of the driveway and the entire mountain behind us was in flames.”

Meanwhile, at a different place where you probably wouldn’t find a guy like Rob Lowe hanging out, another deadly wildfire took its toll – in a San Fernando Valley motor home park that was actually very special to Los Angeles County Fire Captain David Yonan.  He had lived there for two of what he called the happiest years of his life with his ex-wife. 

After battling wildfires in another area all night, Yonan was ready to go home – then one of his former neighbors called him and begged him to come help at the motor home park – where high winds were driving an incredibly destructive inferno. 

Yonan went “rogue,” immediately taking his fire fighting team over there before getting permission from the higher-ups.  He turned out to be a hero, saving 131 of the motor homes, despite gusts of up to 70 mph.  One of those homes belonged to his ex-wife – who gave him a big teary-eyed “thank you.”   Maybe that will get his alimony reduced!

Wildfires, especially in areas like Southern California where hot, dry conditions and desert winds combine to create disaster, are fast-moving and deadly – and knowing how to prepare for them.  I strongly advise you to find out the wildfire dangers of the area you live in – and visit my website at http://www.mrprepared.com to find out lifesaving survival tips and tricks.

Until next time, be Smart!  Be Safe!  Be Prepared! This is Mr. Prepared, bringing Awareness to Preparedness!

HURRICANE HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF WITH IKE

Mr. Prepared Reveals How a Century of Preparation Saved Lives!

In 1900, the worst weather disaster to ever hit the United States struck in early September. A giant Category 4 hurricane – forever anonymous, since they didn’t name hurricanes at that time – with sustained winds of over 130 mph struck Galveston, Texas, with storm surges of 8 to 15 feet – sweeping over the island and leaving over 8000 residents dead.

In 2008, Hurricane Ike, with winds of over 110 mph and a storm surge of 12 feet, hit Galveston all over again. Forecasters warned of “certain death” if residents didn’t leave. Many didn’t – and many did not survive. But the dead and missing this time totaled less than 500, even though the storm was almost equally as powerful.

I’m Mr. Prepared, here to tell you the big difference between these two horrific scenarios – preparation.

Back in 1900, weather forecasting was not yet a very accurate science and, of course, you wouldn’t get far turning on that TV that hadn’t been invented yet to see pictures from that satellite that nobody back then ever dreamt would actually exist! One local weather-watcher said that the reason so many island residents perished was that they were mesmerized by the massive waves crashing into shore – not realizing that those waves would eventually flood over their homes!

And in the Really Bad Decision Honor Roll, you’ll probably find the name of Galveston Weather Bureau section director Isaac Cline, who wrote an article in the local paper in 1891 that a protective seawall was not necessary to protect Galveston – this “expert” also argued that it would be impossible for a hurricane of significant strength to strike the island!

After the big 1900 hurricane, obviously minds were changed. Engineers raised the elevation of the island by four feet and built a 17 foot protective seawall. And while Ike certainly took down its share of houses and caused massive flooding, the consequences would have been far worse if those steps hadn’t been taken.

But mostly, with radar and satellite storm tracking, and TV and radio broadcasts to issue storm warnings, residents were advised of a mandatory evacuation of the island. And people living further inland knew something big and bad was on the way, and could take the emergency hurricane preparations that all of us at www.MrPrepared.com love to tell you about!

Those who survived the storm still had to deal with widespread power outages and lack of usable water, as many pumping stations were offline. And this is where knowing how to prepare for a hurricane really paid off for the smart ones who did the advance work. Having carefully-stored and suitable food and water supplies makes all the difference, as does having a portable generator and necessary first aid and survival gear. When a storm this big hits, you’re often on your own for days or even weeks as emergency authorities take care of those with more critical needs.

Don’t think that because we’re nearing the end of hurricane season, you can put away the preparedness plans until next year. As of this writing, forecasters are predicting at least three more major storms this season. So please check out hurricane preparedness do’s and don’ts – and find out which supplies you need to have on hand – at www.MrPrepared.com.

Until next time, Be Smart! Be Safe! Be Prepared! This is Mr. Prepared, bringing Awareness to Preparedness!

HURRICANE EVACUATION SECRETS

Mr. Prepared Reveals First Hand Advice From Gustav Survivors!

 Well, everyone expected Hurricane Gustav had the potential to be worse than Katrina’s devastation three years ago.  Fortunately, it wasn’t.  But plenty of damage was done – and history was made again!

I’m Mr. Prepared and, so far, Gustav has been the peak of an incredibly active hurricane season.  It started with Dolly drenching South Texas, continued with Fay dumping up to five feet of water over a week in Florida and just recently saw Gustav barreling towards New Orleans, causing the biggest evacuation ever seen of that city – it was estimated that only 10,000 residents remained in their homes, out of a population of over 250,000! 

Now, as I write this, three other storms are building – Hanna, Ike and Josephine.  What happens with that terrible trio, we can’t be certain about.  What we can obviously see, though, is that, as all the major weather agencies predicted, this is certainly one of the busier hurricane seasons in recent years.

You can’t know what it’s like to have to deal with an evacuation order and leave behind your home and possessions until you’ve gone through it yourself.  With that in mind, I’ve collected a few observations from the lucky evacuees who fled the Big Easy and escaped injury from Hurricane Gustav.  They’re eager to share what they did right – and what they did wrong – in their emergency evacuation preparations.

For instance, L.E. McNutt says that, when evacuating, you should “avoid hotels. Stay with family, friends, campgrounds, anything. Only as a last resort should you lock yourself into a box with nothing but two beds and non-stop cable news coverage of the hurricane.”

Karen Scallan, who dealt with both Katrina and Gustav, has some great ideas of how to help kids through an evacuation.  “You can never be too prepared. Never try to evacuate without the portable DVD player. People who say parents shouldn’t use TV as a baby sitter never sat in a car for 14 hours in one spot on the interstate with screaming kids who have nothing to do.  Also, give kids their own snack bags for when they get the hungries in the car.  And let them help before you go. Even if they’re little. Give them something “important” to do to help them feel in control.”

Stuart Palermo learned a valuable lesson about keeping copies of valuable documents: “Katrina taught me that an immaculate file cabinet means nothing when soaked underwater for weeks. Now I file everything electronically…I now have a back-up system, too. I make a DVD of my files and one of digital pictures that I send to a friend up north for holding. I only keep the originals of things that are certified (birth certificates, marriage license, etc.) and evacuate with them. Everything else can be reprinted.”

Karen Benrud took a favorite Mr. Prepared suggestion and kept a journal of her ordeal.  She reported, “At the top of one page, I wrote the heading “Shoulda, Coulda, Woulda,” and as I thought of things I wish I would have brought with me, I jotted them down. Here are a few I came up with:   More clothes than a three-day supply (just because you are a refugee doesn’t mean you have to look like one), my own pillow, my prescription sunglasses. (You don’t think of sunglasses when escaping in the gloom of an approaching hurricane), a sweater, the good bottles of wine we were saving for a special occasion, and lots of perfume!   We had no showers for 10 days. Of course we also had no A/C, so we stunk so bad that at night when I was trying to fall asleep for a few hours, I was wishing I was 20 feet tall, so that my nose would be further away from my feet and armpits.”

And perhaps the best advice regarding evacuation comes from Meghan Finnegan: “Biggest lesson learned: Leave earlier to avoid sitting in the most nerve-wracking traffic known to man for 17-plus hours!”

Most of the time, evacuations aren’t necessary, fortunately.  Whatever the situation, if you’re in hurricane country, you need to make sure you’re prepared for the worst.  Please visit my site at www.MrPrepared.com to find out more about how you should plan with your family and what emergency survival supplies you should always have on hand, so you can handle what weather comes your way.

Until next time, Be Smart!  Be Safe!  Be Prepared!  This is Mr. Prepared, bringing Awareness to Preparedness!

THE BIGGEST AMERICAN FLOOD DISASTERS

Mr. Prepared Says Floods Can Create Incredible Chaos!

 When we think of the most harmful natural disasters, we tend to concentrate on big storms like hurricanes and tornadoes, or the destructive power of a large, unexpected earthquake or tsunami.  Floods, however, should never be underestimated – and should always be prepared for!

I’m Mr. Prepared, here to talk about just how huge and horrific floods can be.  What’s interesting about floods is almost every other natural disaster can actually lead to flooding.  Hurricanes, of course, can flood areas with their torrential rains, earthquakes can cause levees and dams to fail, and tsunamis obviously bring in a huge wave of water that covers an entire region.

Since 1900, over 10,000 people have lost their lives in flooding in the United States alone.  The once-in-five-hundred-years Midwest floods this past June alone was responsible for thirteen fatalities and caused tens of billions of dollars of damage.  And of course, in 2005, the flooding in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina caused roughly 1500 deaths in the New Orleans area, with over 700 people still reported as missing. 

The biggest, longest and most far-reaching flooding in recent history was the great Mississippi Flood of 1993.  The stage was set for that disaster actually in late 1992, when soil moisture levels were already unusually high.  When spring of 1993 rolled around, rain and the melting snowpack, which normally would have been able to be absorbed into the ground, instead had no place to go – so the extra water just ran off into nearby streams and rivers. 

When storm after storm came calling on the mid and upper Mississippi River from June to August of 1993, launching drenching thunderstorms on the already water-logged area, all the bodies of water just kept on rising.  Some areas received as much as 30 inches of rain during this period – a 200% increase over normal precipitation.  Flooding was inevitable!

The four states hardest hit were Iowa, Illinois, Missouri and Minnesota.  The Mississippi went over 19 feet above the flood stage at St. Louis, beating the old 1973 record by over 6 feet!  Not only that, the river stayed over flood stage for over two months.  In Des Moines, Iowa, the situation was even worse – at one point, the flood took out a major water station and a city of almost 200,000 people was without safe drinking water!

Yes, the figures were staggering.  Of the 1300 levees designed to stop this kind of flooding along the Mississippi, 1000 of them failed!  Over 70,000 folks were displaced by the floods, 50,000 homes were either damaged or ruined completely.

When you read numbers like that, you can see why I go a little crazy about telling people to be prepared.  A flood doesn’t have to be as powerful as the ones I talked about above to completely disrupt your everyday life. 

You should always have an emergency evacuation plan worked out with your family or loved ones, you should find out what the flood risk is in the area you live in, and you should have food and water supplies, in addition to a first aid kit, a generator and other survival gear, stored in a safe place so you can get to it when you need it.  There are lots of other useful tips on my website at www.MrPrepared.com. 

Knowing how to prepare for the worst helps you survive in the best way possible.  Until next time, Be Smart!  Be Safe!  Be Prepared! This is Mr. Prepared, bringing Awareness to Preparedness!

Floods

Floods are dangerous and happen more often than people think. That’s why Mr. Prepared is writing about them. Floods can be very local affecting only your neighborhood or very large, affecting the whole city, county or even the whole state.  Just look what happened in June 2008 when Iowa and the surrounding states got flooded. Floods can happen slowly over a couple of days or be a flash flood in a matter of minutes, with no warning. Slow flooding can cause water damage; where as flash flooding can cause total destruction in most cases. Bring with it mud, rocks, trees, cars and literally sweep everything away!

So be prepared – have a 72 hour survival kit for every family member that you can grab at a moments notice, keep one in your car too! Survival is everything! You can always replace your home, cars and most of your possessions but you can’t replace YOU! Or your family, loved ones and don’t forget your pets! So find out if you live in a low line area or flood zone. Example do you have levees or a dam in your town?? You need to check that out before you move into a new area. Go to your local fire department or CERT team (Community Emergency Response Team) heck you might even want to join, they should know the area, because their going to rescue you (maybe) if something happens. Besides it’s a good thing to do anyway, Emergency Responders are people just like you, they might even be your neighbor. They also put out fires, respond to auto accidents, get your cat out of the tree, you name it. You might even be hungry someday and drop in for some of that fire house chili! I here their good cooks.

Mr. Prepared likes Emergency Responders, but it is your responsibility to be prepared (ahead of time), with Emergency Preparedness supplies, again 72 hour survival kit, food reserve, and things you need for your area, i.e. fires, earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, floods you get the picture. I am sure, I know your SMART! SO! Be Smart! Be Safe! Be Prepared!  This is, Mr. Prepared bringing Awareness to Preparedness. 

TALL TWISTER TALES

Mr. Prepared Has the Truth About Tornado Chickens!  

 Violent tornadoes can hit suddenly without warning – and they can also cause some very strange things to happen!

 I’m Mr. Prepared and no one knows better than me that twisters are no laughing matter!  That’s why I created www.MrPrepared.com, to help you prepare for such natural disasters with the proper emergency plans, 72 Hour Kit, food reserves, generator and other survival supplies.  

 You can’t help but shake your head, however, at some of the strange side effects tornadoes can cause with their combination of incredible speed and super-strong winds!

 There are stories of horses being lifted up and put down safely two miles away – and houses being picked up so gently that the person inside the house didn’t even know he was airborne – and ended up walking outside and finding the step off his porch was a lot steeper than it had been!

 Those may or may not be tall tales, but one bizarre ability a tornado has been proven to have is to cleanly take all the feathers off a chicken, with the bird remaining intact.  Some would-be experts used to think the feathers literally exploded off the bald bird – but I don’t know that many of us have ever witnessed a feather that spontaneously combusted. 

 Back in 1842, though, a man named Elias Loomis got so obsessed with finding out how a tornado managed to pluck a chicken in seconds flat that he decided to devise his own verrrrrry unusual experiment.   This comes under the heading of “Kids, don’t try this at home.  Or you Grown-ups either!”

 Loomis took a dead chicken – which could have been utilized more successfully for dinner than for this stunt – loaded a cannon with gunpowder and used the poor clucker for a cannonball.  He fired the chicken straight up into the air at an estimated 341 miles per hour.

 Results?  About what you’d expect.  Yes, the feathers came off – but the rest came down as diced chicken.  Loomis decided it might have worked correctly if he had shot the chicken at around 100 mph.  But apparently he had had enough poultry target practice for awhile.   So he tried something else.  He put chickens under vacuum jars to see if their feathers would explode.  Again, the feathers refused to cooperate.

 There is an answer to the chicken-feather conundrum, however.  Scientists now believe tornadoes take the feathers off cleanly because of a protective poultry instinct called “Flight Molt.” 

 Chickens use Flight Molt to escape their enemies.  For instance, when a predator like a wolf clamps its jaw down on a chicken, it’s sometimes left with only a mouthful of feathers – the bird is able to actually discard the feathers in order to escape.  Since the tornado is obviously a stressful situation for all animals, both two and four-legged, the chicken reacts by instantly shedding its plumage – even though it’s not a real big help.  Just think how stressful it is for humans during a tornado even if they are prepared.  Let alone not being prepared.

 What separates us from chickens – besides our inability to lay eggs! – is that we can react to tornadoes in ways that can genuinely be life-savers.  And more importantly, since tornadoes strike so quickly, we can prepare in advance to make sure we’re as ready as can be.  Having the knowledge of what to do when a tornado is coming could be the difference between life and death.

 Don’t let any member of your family be picked up and moved around in a Tornado.  They may land in a different neighborhood.  It is your responsibility to learn how you can be prepared in case of a Tornado.  Check out my free downloadable special report, “Top 10 Facts for Tornado Survival,” on www.MrPrepared.com, where you’ll find lots of other great information on emergency preparedness and ways to obtain the survival supplies you need to have on hand!  Until next time, Be Smart!  Be Safe!  Be Prepared! This is Mr. Prepared, bringing Awareness to Preparedness!

Why Disasters Mean More Danger To Men!

Mr. Prepared Says Men Are More Often Victims of Mother Nature!  

 We all read about the massive flooding in the Midwestern U.S. this past June.  At least twelve people were killed.  But did you know that, out of the twelve, nine of them were men?   Yes, that’s right – men made up three-quarters of the fatalities.

I’m Mr. Prepared, with a startling fact – natural disasters seem to have a gender bias!  Believe it or not, that ratio of men-to-women fatalities during a storm is pretty typical.  So why is it guys get the worst of it?

 Well, to tell you the truth, you can’t blame Mother Nature.  This unbalanced statistic has more to do with men’s’ behavior, as contrasted to women’s, according to Time Magazine.   Men are more often working outside than women – which explains why they’re more often the victims of flash flooding or lightning strikes. 

 Pursuant to the information provided by Time Magazine, on June 15, 2008 the news reported a 43-year-old Wisconsin man drove around Road Closed signs and hit a washout. He was pronounced dead at the scene. In Indiana, 2 men died in separate incidents this month after their cars were swept away — and they tried to walk home.  

 According to research by Thomas Songer at the University of Pittsburgh’s Graduate School of Public Health regarding U.S. thunderstorm-related deaths from 1994 to 2000 they found that men were more than twice as likely to die than women. Of the 1,442 fatalities, 70% were men.

 Of course, that’s not really men’s fault – that’s bad luck and circumstance.  There is, however, another “guy factor” where they make their own misfortune – and that’s the fact that men take many more chances during a natural disaster than women.

 Take floods, for example.  Most deaths occur when someone drives or walks through floodwaters, not properly judging the depth of the water or the strength of the current.  It turns out the human brain is not really good at judging that sort of thing – unless your prepared with the right education – water covers up all sorts of dips and valleys.   And guess which sex is more likely to put the pedal to the metal to zoom through a water-filled gulley?  That’s right – men!

 The good news is you can prepare yourself mentally to handle a flood that results from storms or hurricanes, so your survival won’t be at stake.  There are a few simple rules to keep in mind so you can keep your head above water, no matter what your gender is!

 ·      If floodwaters are rising around your car, get out and move to higher ground!  Let the insurance company worry about paying for your vehicle!  (unless you’re not sure about how deep that water is – then stay and wait for help!)

·      Don’t be fooled by floodwater that looks shallow – instead of trying to drive through, turn around while you can!

·      If you have to walk through water, find a place where the water isn’t moving.  Even if it is shallow, if that water is moving fast enough, it’ll take you down and for a very unwelcome swim!

·      If you do get swept up in a current, then, as a wise philosopher once said, go with the flow.  Don’t fight it – just float on your back and lead with your feet, so they can knock any debris out of the way before it knocks you out!

 Just remember, floods can result from hurricanes too, so all this advice isn’t just for you Midwesterners – it’s for everyone, and this kind of information is an important part of hurricane preparation.  As always, Mr. Prepared also recommends having a 72 Hour Kit, food reserves, a generator and other survival gear on hand, in case an emergency leaves you isolated with all your services cut off!

 Check out more preparedness information on my website at www.MrPrepared.com – it’ll help you survive any disaster emergency and reminding you guys to be a little more careful out there!  Until next time. Be Smart!  Be Safe! Be Prepared! This is Mr. Prepared, bringing Awareness to Preparedness!