How to prepare for an emergency
Lately, summer storms have been very extreme—it’s not uncommon to experience flooding and power outages. If you are hearing impaired, now is the best time to plan for an emergency like this:
One of the easiest ways to be emergency-ready is to put together a preparedness kit in a waterproof bag and store it in an easy-to-find place. These kits should contain:
• extra hearing aid or cochlear implant batteries;
• backup hearing aids or chargers (if applicable); and
• a pen and paper, which can be used to share important information during a crisis.
These bags should contain pre-printed index cards that state you have hearing loss, along with information about preferred methods of communication, medications being taken or other health issues.
You should also include contact information for your hearing health-care provider in these kits so that if your hearing aids are lost or destroyed, or someone needs to know how to help you, they know who to call.
Let’s hope the rest of the summer is calm and free of extreme weather. But if we do experience bad storms or an emergency, you’ll be prepared.
