Tune in to a discussion about hurricane preparedness and getting yourself and your loved ones ready in case a storm heads our way.
Check out our blog on the same topic here.
www.HomeInsteadSWFL.com
Call: 239-241-9765
Tune in to a discussion about hurricane preparedness and getting yourself and your loved ones ready in case a storm heads our way.
Check out our blog on the same topic here.
www.HomeInsteadSWFL.com
Call: 239-241-9765
Speaker 1: Hello and welcome to The Home Care Pod, your local resource when considering care. Now, introducing the home care ladies, Laura Gillian and Audra Bidwell, at your service.
Laura Gillian: Hello everyone. And welcome back to The Home Care Pod. We are your home care ladies. I'm Laura.
Audra Bidwell: And this is Audra. Laura, how are you been? Long time, no see.
Laura Gillian: I've been doing pretty well. I can't believe the year is just going by so fast and we're busy and we're having fun. Nothing exciting, really, but just having fun. How about you?
Audra Bidwell: Yeah. Yeah. Summer is well underway in the Bidwell home. The kids last day of school was Friday. We spent a day at the Hyatt Regency hotel doing some water sliding to celebrate, and we're getting ready to head on a little road trip for a couple of weeks, take the kids and do something, finally feeling a little confident. Joe and I are both vaccinated. The kids are mask masters, so we're feeling good about heading west and seeing the country.
Laura Gillian: That's so cool. I'm sure you and everyone else was at the Hyatt Regency over Memorial Day.
Audra Bidwell: It was very busy. It was very busy, but lot of fun. Yeah.
Laura Gillian: And honestly, I can't believe it's already summer again, but it sure does feel like it here in Southwest Florida.
Audra Bidwell: I know. It really does. Saying that, it occurred to me that yesterday, June 1st is the official start of hurricane season.
Laura Gillian: Insane.
Audra Bidwell: Yeah. So we thought maybe today would be a really good time for us to talk through some tips and ideas on how to keep a senior loved one safe and prepared as we go into hurricane season. It's something to think about.
Laura Gillian: Well, absolutely. I've lived here since 2003 and we have had some crazy weather over that time. And I'll never forget in 2004, when Charlie came through, it was super tough and scary for me who knew nothing about hurricanes. And at that point, cell phone service was so different than it is today. It was hit or miss. We had no idea how our clients and caregivers were, let alone our loved ones couldn't get in touch with us. And it was pretty scary. And Audra, I believe Irma was your first major hurricane here in Florida? And I know you learned a lot from that experience.
Audra Bidwell: I sure did. Yes. Irma was my first hurricane experience. I'm hopeful that we never have one again, but I know that's not realistic.
Laura Gillian: Lets hope for that.
Audra Bidwell: Yeah, we went into it feeling pretty confident. And then as the days got closer and closer, little unnerving, I ended up evacuating pretty soon, midweek with the kids. So Joe was left behind, unfortunately, to do all of the major house closing up and closing up his house, his parents' house, our Punta Gorda office, and then the other two offices. So he had his hands full. I think he was happy we were out of his hair, but gosh, what a crazy event. And I have to say that from a business perspective, I was really thankful for our phone system and our ability to unplug our handsets and evacuate and plug back in and people could call our phone numbers and it was like we weren't even gone. So that was a really huge, huge win from a business perspective.
Laura Gillian: Absolutely.
Audra Bidwell: Personally, we went through about 10 days without power, which I was not anticipating, but apparently where my neighborhood was low man on the totem pole, but there's also some really awesome things that came out of it. A big sense of community, which I thought was just amazing how people were helping, neighbors helping neighbors, I know my husband went with his Land Rover. He was feeling like a mountain man in a Land Rover and a chainsaw going from client to client chopping wood and stacking wood and helping people unearth their driveways so they could get their cars out.
I remember a couple of our caregivers who at the beginning of the storm were adamant that they were not evacuating. In fact, they were sticking around to take care of the people that they take care of. And many of them, I know a couple of them took their clients to hotels and just said, "I'm going to stay there with them, whatever it takes, I'm I'm going to do." So that was something really cool that came out of a tough situation.
Laura Gillian: Yeah, absolutely. I was just telling that story today to someone that we had one plan and caregiver combination that stayed together for 15 days, which is just amazing. I know there are a lot of people who live here in Southwest Florida and have lived here a long time, who wouldn't dream of leaving their home during a hurricane. When I sign people up, they mentioned that to me, it's like a badge of honor, we're never leaving. And then they tell me how many hurricanes they've lived through and how they're just going to stay through the next one. But that being said, I think it's super important that we help these sweet seniors be prepared. So Audra, talk to me a little bit about hurricane kits and what they are, why they're important, what should be included.
Audra Bidwell: Yeah. I think that there's a lot of stuff to think through for a hurricane, especially for a senior. Many times when a storm strikes the unfortunate truth, that it's the elderly and those that have special needs that really tend to suffer the most because they have extra things that they need to prepare for. So, thinking through, what's my exit strategy? Where am I going to go? And then having a backup to that exit strategy. I know there's multiple places where we have shelters in the area and then we also have special needs shelters too.
So thinking through what your needs are and then getting yourself registered for that appropriate, that special needs shelter just in case you should need it. And then, like you said, this hurricane kit I had, I was so ill prepared. I'm so glad that I evacuated because I was so ill prepared. I know that right away, everybody and their brother swamps the Target and takes all the water. So, keeping a supply of those things, water, a gallon per person, some non-perishable food items, they usually say around three days if you're taking off, and two weeks of food if you're staying in your home. Those things that make sense, flashlight, hand crank radios, extra batteries, first aid kits, medication.
This is a big one for seniors too, thinking through that medication. Many of our seniors have daily meds that they need to take. So thinking ahead on how do I get that prescription filled for a week or two in the event that we're going to have to hunker down for a little bit. There's nothing worse than getting in a situation where you can't go somewhere and you need your medication. That becomes stressful. Just thinking through hygiene products, things like pads and those things that we need to live day to day. And then, technology wise, if we have a cell phone, having it charged, maybe having battery backups, I know I've got a couple of those little lipstick battery backups that we keep around here just in case.
And then, family and emergency contact information on hand in the event that someone needs to be contacted for you. Many of our seniors don't have family that live in the area. Many times those family members do come down and take their loved one north or come down and stay with them, but sometimes that's not really feasible. And so, we need to have contact information so that if something were to happen, we know who to reach out to. So, it's a lot of things to think through. And luckily I've created a blog series that I have posted on our blog, which I'll put a link to here in this podcast description that gets into a little bit more detail about some of these things to think through. Have you ever considered registering with FPL, Florida Power and Light?
If you have oxygen machines or registering yourself as a priority service so that they know that you are on oxygen and they need to come and restore your power. So things like that are all linked in here and also links to our Lee, Collier and Charlotte County emergency management locations, hurricane guides, there are general shelters, special needs shelters, evacuation zones, evacuation routes. I went through it all just because it's very important. We live in Southwest Florida. This is what happens. Part of the paradise is planning for the crazy too.
Laura Gillian: Absolutely. I know it sounds like a lot, but once you get that physical kit together, put in a waterproof bin, you should be good to go and it's ready in there when you need it. So physical preparedness is super important, but also talking through your plan is really also necessary.
Every time I go to sign up clients, I ask them what their plan is in the case of a mandatory evacuation. And you would be surprised to hear, even though we're in Southwest Florida, how many people have no plan.
Audra Bidwell: Yeah. Agreed. For those of our listeners who live out of the area, but have family members here, definitely talk to them. See what their plan is, what they would prefer to do, ask them what they plan to do if they need to evacuate and set something up that's great together. I know, like Laura said, when we sign up a new client, we talk through that with them and we go through every year and update those plans because things change. So, keeping on top of that stuff is really important. They always say, what? Spend an hour on the front end, you'll save 10 on the back. This is one of those situations where you want to spend the time on the front end, because it's going to be super helpful in the event something hap-pens.
Laura Gillian: Definitely. And Audra mentioned this, but in Florida and I'm sure everywhere, there's emergency management websites for each county, it's got so much information about disaster planning. Also, if you need to register for special needs shelter, all the rules, all of that can be done online. So spend some time familiarizing yourself with those websites to ensure that you know how to help your loved one proceed should it be necessary.
Audra Bidwell: Yeah. We know hurricanes can be scary and planning for them can be a little overwhelming and somewhat difficult, but if you're out there listening and you're feeling a little overwhelmed, feel free to reach out to us at home instead. We've been doing this for a while and we can definitely point you in the right direction and talk you through what your plan is so that you know that you're safe. Or if you have a loved one down here that they're safe as well.
Laura Gillian: Yeah, absolutely. So happy hurricaning everybody. So I'm just praying for a really safe and quiet season.
Audra Bidwell: Yeah, me too. Me too. Well, thanks everyone for tuning in. If you need to reach us, feel free to call us anytime 239-596-2030.
Laura Gillian: Bye.
Audra Bidwell: Bye.
Speaker 1: Thanks again for listening to The Home Care Pod with Laura and Audra, your home care ladies. To learn more about home care or a career as a caregiver, please visit our website at www.Homeinsteadswfl.com or call us at (239) 226-0007.