On the 13th of March, I (one of the founders of Storm Packs) awoke like many other Americans to emails stating my vacation plan was canceled, my kid’s school is closed, and that my church no longer will hold Sunday morning worship.
I have received emails and social media messages asking about how to prepare their families, what to do if infected and if Storm Packs thinks this is all a government conspiracy before the election.
A particular Corona Virus, COVID-19, is the source of the panic.
In this moment of Federal Emergency, Storm Packs would like to assist with providing our perspective and preparation solutions to help you live ready so you can live free!
Perspective:
COVID-19 should be taken seriously. This illness spreads quickly and has proven to be lethal. To close the borders, stop travel, and issue stay at home orders do not happen without serious concern to the potentially destructive effects of this virus.
But this should not cause us to fear, panic, hoard resources, or neglect our fellow Americans.
When a hurricane threatens the countries eastern coast, we don't panic, we prepare. Emergency agencies ready supply chains. First responders prep vehicles and shift rotations. Companies issue warnings and an emergency action plan to employees. And individual families make travel arrangements or ensure that they have the essentials to weather the storm.
Unfortunately, as a country, we have found ourselves underprepared.
But our “under-preparedness" is already being remedied through adaptive innovation from some of our country's brightest and immediate aggressive concepts, such as social distancing, to mitigate the risk of spreading the virus.
Fear, panic, hoarding, and self-focus will not beat this pandemic. Nor will fault finding for past decisions or failures to act.
We need to move on to be prepared to help ourselves and one another.
Preparation:
Preparation isn’t the same thing as hoarding.
Preparing is about having a plan and the essentials to be self-sufficient and assist others for a reasonable amount of time.
Hoarding is about amassing and hiding. It is being self-motivated by fear and gathering an unreasonable amount of resources that others may require but keeping it to yourself.
Proper individual home preparation provides significant benefits to our society.
- Proper preparation frees up first responders and public servants to assist those in critical need.
- Proper preparation gives us the ability to assist our family and our community.
- Proper preparation provides a level of personal security in the event of an immediate emergency.
What does proper preparation look like amid COVID-19?
In our opinion, it looks like the following:
- Emergency bag packed for a minimum of 3-days
- Enough food and water for two-weeks
- First Aid Kit that address minor trauma issues
- Enough prescription medication for two-weeks
- Over the counter medication for cough, flu, and fever
- Mental Health activities – games, books, language learning software, ect.
Point 1 is in the event you need to go to the hospital, travel to take care of a family member, or are forced to leave an area for another reason.
While COVID-19 is serious, we cannot neglect other emergency situations that may arise when we least expect it.
How Storm Packs is trying to Help:
Now I know what you are thinking. This seems somewhat self-serving coming from a company that sells emergency packs.
While our sales have increased, you will notice we did not raise the price of any product, and we will not.
We have actually lowered our prices during this pandemic, while our costs have increased significantly.
We continue to pack and ship orders free of charge within the US.
Our resolute commitment is to help as many people as possible through preparedness. Our free family emergency action plan is always available for download and we are happy to assist you in setting it up!
Our Storm Tailoring service is being offered for all individuals and families who need specific solutions for unique environments.
For those who are in a difficult situation financially and need assistance, we have partnered with Quad Pay to provide a payment plan option so you can get what you need now.
If there is a way for us to assist we will. Please do not hesitate to contact us at support@stormpacks.com and we will do all that we can to help you with your personal emergency management.