Tag: Google Alerts

Do you have a blog of your own?

If so, you know that coming up with new and interesting information takes some effort. Of course, I keep a swipe file of articles, quotes, various tidbits of craziness that I use for inspiration. Lately, I’ve found some great online resources that I wanted to mention today.

Google Alerts as Blog Resources

In past Advisories, I’ve talked about my Google Alerts. I have one for “Emergency Preparedness” and “Emergency Planning” and get 10-12 articles daily on each. Most are standard announcements (who, what, where, when) announcing a preparedness fair or the test of an emergency plan in some facility. Today’s Alerts mention tests in airports, a test for security in a hotel, and for fire in a warehouse.

LinkedIn Groups as Blog Resources

Over the past month I’ve also become active in several LinkedIn groups, in particular, one for Emergency Preparedness Consultants/Trainers.  (The group”s page is shown in the image, above.) Themes discussed by members of the group have included:

• Planning for vulnerable members of the community (people in wheelchairs, hard of hearing, seniors, children)
• How to handle and train live “victims” when planning a field exercise (see the headline in the image, above)
• If and how to include humor in training exercises

Further, the group shares about various in-depth studies taking place. For example, these people asked for input:

• What areas in the U.S. DON’T use 9-1-1 to call emergency services? Posed by Paul Myers, PhD, CEM Director, Emergency Preparedness @ Save the Children, US
• Potential grant opportunities for emergency preparedness education. Brought up by Karen Elliott, Alternative Energy and Emergency Preparedness Traveling Exhibit and Activity Program
• Examples of Warming Center SOPs (“Standard Operating Procedures”), Requested by Steven Maynard, MA, AEM, CHS III, Emergency Planner at City of Fairfax

And your point is?

What I wanted to share is the fact that there’s a lot of great activity taking place across the country aimed at doing just what Emergency Plan Guide wants to do:

Raise awareness and the level of preparedness so more of us will survive in a disaster.

This one LinkedIn group alone has 4,455 members! If you have questions, or something to add, I recommend you join in the discussion. It’s  fun and rewarding.

Virginia Nicols
Your Emergency Plan Guide Team

As you can imagine, writing an article or two every week about disaster preparedness requires that I do some research. I don’t already know EVERYTHING! Let me tell you about some of the best sources I’ve found.

First place goes to my neighbors.

I note what they do, and don’t do. Sometimes, I’m impressed, and share the good ideas. Sometimes I’m appalled, and I try to turn that into some sort of lesson, too. “Names have been changed to protect the innocent.”

Second place goes to online forums and websites.

I do try to spend an occasional half-hour on the big “prepper” forums. (Just type into your browser a key word – such as “survivalist” – followed by the word “forum.”) Always interesting, not infrequently overtaken by expressions of fear and hate – not what I’m trying to generate or stoke with my articles. Emergency Plan Guide aims to get neighbors to work together effectively, leveraging their knowledge and equipment for the benefit of all.

Third place goes to my Google Search tools.

I have Google Alerts set for “Emergency Preparedness,” “Survival” and “Disaster Recovery.” Every day I am fed about two dozen articles. Usually, 9 out of 10 are press releases from cities, and they read almost identically. For example: “[City] Holds Emergency Preparedness Fair.” Good news, but ho hum as far as stimulating me to write!

That tenth article is the one I’m looking for! That’s where I get the latest report from the National Fire Protection Association (www.NFPA.org) – this week, their newsletter is about Thanksgiving Cooking Fires. Or I get an expose about the New Jersey city employees who used municipal resources to get generators delivered to their own homes during Hurricane Sandy. (?!) Or, like earlier this week, I found a blogger from Oregon who wrote about using a fire extinguisher as a self-defense device! Thanks for that great idea, Dave. (You can see more from Dave at http://www.disasterprepdave.blogspot.com .)

UPDATE on a source that I was testing.

I had a link on my home page for about a year to current press releases provided by PR Newswire. And while the releases were professional ones, the fact that they focused almost exclusively on health care issues (Ebola, influenza, etc.) made them less valuable for me and my users, who are generally “ordinary citizens” and not health care workers.

So, I’ll keep checking PR Newswire on my own, but I’ve removed the full-page link for now.

So here’s my question for today: what are YOUR sources of information for emergency preparedness ideas? How would you rate them? Let me know by leaving a comment, and I’ll be sure to follow it up with my own research.

Looking forward to your input!

Virginia