What "Dr. Death" Says Can Save Your Family

Sep 02., 2009 View Comments

: Image by Getty Images via Daylife

The National Guard is “Always ready. Always there.”
The Boy Scouts of America says “Be prepared.”
G.I. Joe says “Knowing is half the battle.”

W. Craig Fugate became Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in May 2009 and since then has been turning heads and infuriating some people.

… FEMA, often a dumping ground for friends of the powerful, Fugate has no political connections to Obama. Instead, he got his job the old-fashioned way – when Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano was looking for candidates, people kept mentioning his name. He has a reputation for telling it like it is – in a field where “it” is usually bad. And what Fugate has to say may come as strong medicine for his fellow citizens, nine out of 10 of whom now live in a place at significant risk for some kind of disaster.

Source: The Atlantic

From what I’ve read, Fugate, who earned the unfortunate nickname “Dr. Death” for having to pronounce more people dead on his first day as a paramedic than anyone before him, sounds like the perfect man for the job. Fugate seems to be obsessed with preparing for the worst, dishes out hard truths and candidly sets our expectations for what we should be doing to help in emergencies. America needs someone like him to get our collective asses in gear to ensure that we’re all prepared to look after and help our neighbors and fellow citizens in the event of a major disaster – until local, state and/or federal officials arrive.

They come to expect ice and water in 24 hours and full reimbursement for sodden carpets. But as part of a federal system, FEMA is designed to defer to state and local officials. If another Katrina hits, and the locals are overwhelmed, a full-strength federal response will inevitably take time. People who need help the most – the elderly, the disabled, and the poor – may not get it fast enough.

Source: The Atlantic

Stop right now and ask yourself: If there was a fire in the middle of my home, would my family know how to react?

The ironic part of all this, is that Fugate has been and continues to be taking flak from folks who seem to think that it’s realistic and fair to expect an immediate response from FEMA in a major crisis. I have no intention to turn this into dissection of the Bush Administration’s response to Katrina – I was working in the newsroom when it struck and saw the photo wire fill with images I don’t think I’ll ever be able to forget.

When I was in high school I was the lead of the Student Crisis team for two years and even on that much smaller scale, we had to anticipate and prepare for the most likely catastrophe – an earthquake. We did everything from CPR instruction, to ensuring that every room had fully stocked first aid kits, to making sure students knew the warning signs of shock and how to treat it.

Luckily, we never needed to put the preparations to real use.

If everyone was really and truly prepared for the most likely disasters, the inevitable delays for government help to arrive would be far less devastating.

As a parent, you don’t want to think about explaining to your kids what they should do if something happens – such as a fire – and you cannot get to them. Purposefully putting your mind through scenarios that would put your family in danger goes against the very protective instict we have as parents. But it’s extremely important.

Here are some places to look online for ideas on how to increase your family’s plans in the event of an emergency.