As the cleanup from Hurricane Sandy continues we came across these two stories. People are now being allowed back into their storm damaged neighborhoods swept by fire, to survey the damage to their homes and properties. We found this NBC News story to be of particular interest because it dramatically illustrates the need for the GO|STAY|KIT, as a tool that allows you to have all your medical/personal info safe and in one place, should you be asked to leave your home quickly. The Fireman said, “You got 2 minutes, and if you’re not out in 1 we are breaking the door down, and we’ll pull you out.” If you had a GO|STAY|KIT you could have just grabbed it and left.
We also came across a Mashable Tech story about the 13 Gadgets to Prepare You for a Natural Disaster written by Matt Petronzio, give Matt a shout-out on Twitter and ask that the GSK be included next time. The GO|STAY|KIT would have been the perfect 14th addition to Matt’s list, the problem is that the GSK has not been raised yet to the level of product awareness, so that reporters know to add it to these kinds of lists. It is the ultimate emergency preparedness tool for a natural disaster and medical emergency. And IT IS a gadget of sorts, it is made of space-age waterproof fabric, and it is 100% recyclable.
This top-of-mind awareness issue is what happened to me in one of the ResilienceNW classes last week in Portland Ore. A doctor stood up in class and said he had been looking for something that had waterproof pages, a place to write down medications, door hangers, and plastic pouches for information. He wanted to know why there wasn’t something like that available for natural disasters. I quickly stood up in class and said “Yes” there was something like that, it’s called the GO|STAY|KIT.
