Emergencies can happen anywhere, anytime, with or without warning. In the past few years, Kentucky has had its share of disasters leading to emergencies across the state- from tornado, fires, and floods. These recent natural disasters highlight the importance of preparedness for individuals, families, and communities. Emergencies can also be less widespread and just as severe- localized power outages, deaths in the family, car wrecks, etc. Once again these situations highlight our need to be prepared in the event of an emergency- whether it be on an individual, community, state or national level.

In the fall of 2023, the McCreary FCS agent provided a lesson on Emergency Preparedness to the Lake Cumberland Area Homemakers. The agent traveled to each county in the area to present the lesson as well as provide practical tips and advice for creating an emergency kit. The agent also encouraged participants to take steps immediately in preparing for an emergency- even if it was just gathering all the important documentation into one location or putting a few items in an emergency kit. The lessons focused on being prepared for emergencies, what to include in a emergency kit, how to prepare finances and important paperwork for an emergency, as well as a hands-on demonstration of packing an emergency kit. There was a total of 36 participants that attended from 6 counties in the Lake Cumberland Area.

90% of participants indicated an increase in knowledge of:

• steps to take to prepare for a disaster
• how to find reliable resources on disaster preparation
• items to include in a disaster kit.

100% of participants indicated an intention to:

•  Assemble or review emergency kits
• Create or review disaster response plans.

Participates also stated that they intended to prepare their important papers for emergency, one participant stated they learned how much food is needed for each person for a specific time period. One participant stated that she was ready to get serious about preparing! 40% of participants stated that they intended to start working on getting an emergency kit of their finances and paperwork prepared.

Overall, participants indicated that the presentation was timely and useful to them. The majority of participants stated they learned something new from the presentation, and that the information and demonstration would help them prepare their own homes for an emergency or disaster.