Natural Disasters
Daily we learn of new natural disasters ravaging our planet. Earthquakes, floods, blizzards, earthquakes, tsunamis, the potential collapse of dams, etc. These are just a few disasters that could strike anytime and anywhere in the world. When nature strikes, you may only have seconds to spare. If you are very reliant on your medications, as most diabetics are, you are at risk if you cannot have access to your medications in an emergency as you are trying to escape from the unfolding disaster. Where are Your Medicines? To manage and control my diabetes, it is not enough that I take the prescribed medications on a regular basis and maintain strict compliance with the doctor's orders. I need to know where the medicines are anytime, for any emergency. When disaster strikes, you may not have access to pharmacies to get emergency prescriptions, you may not even have access to your doctor to obtain the needed prescription. This is what I do: The first and most obvious is to keep all you medicines in one place. Be sure that you and everyone else in your family know where this place is. In addition to knowing where these medicines are, make a copy of the prescription information such as the name of the medicine, dosage, instructions, name of the pharmacy, etc. Keep this information together with your medicines and in the event of an emergency, you should be able to access and take it with you. Make sure that the copies are stored in a waterproof containers or bags. Periodically check the paperwork to be sure that they contain the most current information. For example, if there are seasonal events such as Hurricane or tornado season, be sure that your records contain the most updated information. Since some natural events might be much unpredicted, just check your documents every few months for accuracy. An alternative is to take pictures of the medicines and the prescription information. Since almost everyone nowadays has smartphones, it is easy enough to store all these information in one place. In the event of an emergency, grab the medicines and your cell phone. If you have access to a computer, it would be easy enough to scan the prescription information and upload it to the cloud. There are various sites where this can easily be done, Dropbox, OneDrive and iCloud are just some examples of cloud-based sites. The cloud offers the security and accessibility once you have access to the internet after a major disaster. While these alternatives to storing prescriptions are viable, do not forget that the most important action needed in the event of an emergency is to carry with you all your diabetes medicines. (Of course, what I am writing about is applicable to other prescription drugs).
Bottom Line
How I manage, my diabetes includes steps to take in case of an emergency. One never knows when a disaster might strike. We are all susceptible to the whims of Mother Nature. By keeping simple, common-sense steps, another emergency from not having the needed medication after a natural emergency is averted!
