Caregiver motto for disaster planning? Not IF but WHEN!

September is National Preparedness Month

Sep 04, 2025

Hello KIRC fam ~

Did you know September is National Preparedness Month? Now is your chance to think about what you would do in the face of emergency. If you are a family caregiver, the stakes are even higher! I’m sharing this article, which I wrote for AARP Washington.

I’m now officially a volunteer with the organization in my new location, and this is part of my first offering for events and programs throughout September.

Washington State Preparedness

It is this kind of work that YOUR contributions here on Substack help support. I invite you to consider becoming a paid subscriber to this ongoing effort. THANK YOU to those of you who have already done so - I appreciate you!

Let me ask all of you, especially the family caregivers out there, a question.

What would you do if you received an evacuation order from your County Emergency Services office? You’re told you have fifteen-minutes to get yourself and the loved one you are caring for out of harms way. Do you have a plan?

*Tornado Warning during a work trip to McAllen, Texas*

During my 25+ year professional career as a broadcast news journalist, I covered all manner of disasters and chaos. Some were man-made. Others were natural disasters: devastating hurricanes, flooding, and large wildfires which destroyed hundreds of homes and claimed dozens of lives.

When my work role shifted to primarily that of family caregiver for my elderly, now deceased mother, it was through disaster-colored lenses I crafted part of her care and well-being.

My mother lived with me in Northern California from 2016 through 2020. By the time she passed at age 90, her health and physical condition had deteriorated to needing full assistance for all mobility and personal care.

I would often ask myself, ‘How will I get mom to safety when wildfire breaks out?’

Notice, I said ‘when’ not ‘if.’ I’m not a doom and gloom person but rather I have been shaped by those professional experiences and hard data surrounding disaster.

In 2018 alone, CalFire (California’s state fire agency) reported 7,948 wildfires. Some of those were in Butte County, where we lived. One of those, the Camp Fire, destroyed the town of Paradise, located about 30 miles from where we lived.

One of the most poignant stories I covered during that fire, was a husband and spousal caregiver. He had just enough time to hoist his bed-ridden wife, and her wheelchair into a van. They narrowly escaped with their lives.

Washington state is not immune - landslides, tsunami, earthquakes or wildfire.

In 2024, data from the Washington State Department of Natural Resources,there were 826 wildfires around the state under DNR jurisdiction. Primary causes? 305 were considered undetermined, 78 were from lightening, and 443 were human caused.

I always knew I needed to have a non-negotiable approach to keeping my mother safe. Not if, but when…

If you are a family caregiver, I encourage you to do the same. Plan for the absolute worst, hope it never happens but know you are ready if it does.

Here are some of the steps I took

• Prepare and pack an essential ‘go bag’ for each person.two changes of clothes, a week’s worth of underclothes, a package of adult underwear, personal toiletries, a week’s worth of her medications (pre-labeled in small bags) toilet paper, body/hand wipes, and copies of all of her important documents, including Insurance/Medicare cards, passport, AARP card, military identification, and contact information for her doctors.

• Make hard-copy copies of important documents, upload digitized versions to the cloud, other family members and/or email them to yourself.

• Know your evacuation routes. Not sure? Contact your local police or sheriff’s department.

• Rehearse your emergency plan. When a life or death situation arises, it can be easy to lose focus in the moment.

• Sign up with local emergency alert apps.

• Keep your car gas tank filled. You might find long lines or stations already closed.

• Is your loved one residing at a professional care facility? Ask administrators in advance if they have an emergency evacuation plan and what that entails.

• Research in advance area hotels that can accommodate your loved one.

• Make time to digitize irreplaceable photos or family keepsakes.

Thankfully, I never had to evacuate my mother at any point or under emergency orders.

However, those emergency ‘go-bags’ and a rehearsed plan? Well, it came in handy. In July, 2024, I watched as the Park Fire in Northern California consumed my home.