National Preparedness Month: How Your Community is Preparing and What You Can Do at Home

It can happen when you least expect it. From natural disasters and health crises to terrorist attacks and infrastructure breakdown, emergencies often happen without warning and can have devastating impacts. This is especially the case when communities and individuals are not prepared.

This year’s National Preparedness Month theme is “preparedness starts at home,” a reminder that every one of us is vulnerable to emergencies, whether natural or man-made. The good news is that taking action right now can make all the difference later.

Why Emergency Preparedness Matters

Preparedness is not a one-time responsibility. It is an ongoing commitment to be prepared for any type of emergency, to protect ourselves, our family and our community.

Across the United States, no state is immune from disasters. Natural disasters like extreme temperatures, tornadoes, floods, severe weather and wildfires can severely impact communities and destroy critical infrastructure like electricity, roads, and healthcare facilities. While we are unable to prevent such disasters, we can play a vital role in limiting the damage.

Through mitigation and preplanning activities, families can prepare in advance by creating and maintaining a family kit. Communities and local government also coordinate mitigation, training and preparedness activities to respond more efficiently and effectively to actual events; this allows communities to recover and bring communities back to normalcy as quickly as possible, allowing communities to recover faster.

In addition to saving lives and protecting infrastructure, preparing in advance is cost-effective. Mitigation efforts can lead to significant cost savings after a disaster. It is estimated that for every $1 spent on mitigation through federal mitigation grants, there is a cost savings of at least $6 in future losses.

Looking at analyses from the National Centers for Environmental Information, there were more than 27 weather or climate disaster events in 2024 with losses exceeding more than $1 billion each. This includes one drought event, one flooding event, 17 severe storm events, five tropical cyclone events, one wildfire event and two winter storm events.

It is important to note that between 1980 and 2024, the annual average was nine events per year (consumer price index adjusted); the annual average for the most recent five years (2020-2024) is 23 events per year (consumer price index adjusted).

Emergency Preparedness in Northeast Ohio: How WellLink Health Alliance is Helping Communities Prepare for the Next Disaster

In Northeast Ohio and across the country, communities face the possibility of not only weather-related emergencies, but man-made disasters such as terrorism, water contamination, and hazardous materials incidents. So, what is being done to prepare for these large-scale disasters?

Since 2003, WellLink Health Alliance’s emergency preparedness program has played a critical role in coordinating regional emergency preparedness, serving as the regional healthcare coalition coordinator for 25 acute care hospitals over a five-county region. With the support of a Hospital Preparedness Program grant from the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR) through the Ohio Department of Health, the program assists hospitals in strengthening their ability to respond to emergency events.

Grant and regional coordination activities encompass planning, training, exercises and drills, resource and information sharing, and maintaining situational awareness. This includes helping hospitals strengthen emergency response plans, enhancing communication capabilities with public safety personnel and external stakeholders, supporting hospital emergency management programs, and leading regional healthcare coordination.

Some examples of the initiatives that are part of the program’s response planning include:

• The Ohio Department of Health Hospital bed and patient tracking system.
• Medical response and surge exercises.
• Redundant communication drills.
• Regional Healthcare Coalition support and development.
• Pharmaceutical caches.
• Personal protective equipment and sharing of supplies.
• Hospital Incident Command System support (HICS) / Hospital Emergency Response Team Support (HERT).

In 2026, the WellLink’s emergency preparedness program and the Northeast Ohio Healthcare Coalition will participate in a National Disaster Medical System (NDMS) exercise.

The NDMS Patient Movement Program is utilized during a federally declared disaster or public health emergency when the number of patients who need to be evacuated or cared for exceeds state and local resources. When that happens, states can request federal assistance. 

WellLink will also be working with the Coalition on a Forward Movement of Patients Exercise. This exercise uses the same premise as NDMS, however, it will be the movement of patients from Northeast Ohio to other areas of the country.

Large in scale, this exercise will go to great lengths to be as realistic as possible and will include the use of a C-130 Hercules plane. Both exercises will involve Burke Lakefront and Cleveland Hopkins Airports, and planning will include actual volunteer patients along with paper patients.

Volunteer patients will have a triage tag that provides emergency responders with essential information such as the patient's name, vital signs, and injuries. Based on this information, responders make triage decision in the field and coordinate transport to the appropriate medical facility.

The exercises include dozens of response partners and non-governmental organizations and provide a learning opportunity for hospitals to coordinate patient movement and tracking among systems. They also provide an opportunity for family reception center and family reunification planning.

Preparing Your Household for an Emergency

Just as important as regional planning is preparedness at the individual or household level, and National Preparedness Month is the perfect time to take small steps that can lead to big impact. Preparing yourself, your family and your home for emergencies means you are better equipped to handle large disasters, should they arrive.

While federal, state and local agencies work tirelessly to provide support during disasters, their time and resources can have limits. When individuals are equipped to manage small emergencies on their own, emergency personnel can focus their efforts where they are needed most.

The collective preparedness of a community can lead to faster recovery as communities can mobilize resources and support more effectively, allowing for faster care for the more vulnerable populations, such as the elderly and disabled.

How Should You Prepare for a Disaster? Here are four key actions:

1. Know your risk: Learn what hazards are common in your area (flood zones, severe storms, severe temperatures, chemical risks, etc.). Use official resources like the FEMA app, a vital tool that offers a range of features, such as real-time weather alerts and emergency shelter locations, that help users stay safe and informed during disasters.
2. Create a family or household emergency plan: Decide on a meeting spot in the case of separation, identify emergency contacts, and understand escape routes.
3. Build or update an emergency supply kit: Your supply kit should provide for at least 72 hours and include the following items:

   o   Water and non-perishable food.

   o   First-aid supplies and medications for you and your family.

   o   Flashlight, batteries, radio (battery-powered or hand-crank).

   o   Hygiene items such as N95 masks and sanitation supplies.

   o   Phone chargers and backup power. This includes a generator.

   o   Clothing that varies by the season.

4. Get involved and stay educated: Learn vital skills like CPR, basic first aid, fire safety, and shelter-in-place procedures. Register for alerts and learn how your local emergency systems work, and participate in drills when possible.

Those four action steps can help you and your loved ones stay safe during a disaster. If possible, consider sharing your plan with your neighbors and offer guidance to those who might be more vulnerable. Working together as a community can save lives.

Do you live in Northeast Ohio? Sign up for ReadyNotify to receive emergency notifications delivered through text message, phone call, email, and sign up for the CodeRED mobile alert app. Notifications include:

• Emergency events.
• Water boil alerts.
• Weather alerts.
• Cuyahoga County building closures.
• Safety messages.
• Cuyahoga County government news.

You can learn more about how to build a plan for you and your family by visiting www.ready.gov/plan, and you can take a free online independent course through FEMA’s Emergency Management Institute, and a CPR course through the American Red Cross to help you and your community become more prepared.