What if phones don’t work? Portable communications caches
At neighborhood preparedness meetings, folks sometimes ask us, “How would islanders communicate in a disaster if cell and landline phones stopped working?” One important solution is amateur (ham) radio.
On Saturday, Dec. 6, you may have seen volunteers gathered under the shelter at the Village Green. Leaders from Vashon’s Auxiliary Communications Service (ACS), a committee of the Vashon-Maury Island Radio Club (VMIRC), were training Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) volunteers how to use the latest versions of ACS’s Portable Communications Caches (PCCs).
The ACS team has developed three PCCs, each containing two ham radios, a laptop computer and all the accessories needed to set up regional voice and email emergency communications via radio at distributed locations around the island. A fourth PCC contains a high-frequency (HF) radio for longer-range “over the horizon” communications, if needed.
Detailed instructions are included in each PCC. This is critical because thinking clearly may be tougher immediately after a disaster strikes. Picture-based instructions help someone inexperienced still successfully set up and use the PCC.
By law, however, only people with an FCC license granting an amateur radio call sign are allowed to transmit messages via ham radio.
Lessons learned from the September Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) exercise at Sunrise Ridge informed the training and led to enhancements of the caches. The PCCs have been named after the Sesame Street characters Elmo, Bert, Ernie and Big Bird, as a lighthearted way to distinguish the caches as they travel around the island.
To learn more about ham radio and get involved, visit tinyurl.com/VashonACSPlan.
Plan ahead for your prescriptions during a disaster
For cost savings, convenience and at the urging of their insurance plans, lots of people mail-order their prescription drugs in 90-day supplies. But a big earthquake, a winter storm or any other disruption of U.S. mail deliveries could cause your mail-ordered insulin, heart medicine or other critical medical supplies to be delayed.
Here’s what you can do right now, before any future disaster, if you or family members rely on one or more essential prescriptions:
Document your medication details: drug name and dose, prescription number, name of your doctor and pharmacy. Keep a list in your wallet (or on a mobile app that tracks medications), along with your updated health information, contact information for your doctors, pharmacist and other emergency contacts.
This information can help you get emergency refills from a pharmacy near your current location, if you find yourself away from home or your mail-ordered prescription is delayed after a disaster strikes. (Remember to include at least a few days’ worth of essential medications in your go bag.)
According to Tyler Young, owner of Vashon Pharmacy, state laws often allow pharmacies to issue refills during a disaster declaration, even after all your refills have been used up.
Develop an extra supply that can tide you over during an emergency: request a “vacation supply,” or refill prescriptions as soon as insurance allows (usually five to seven days before you would run out).
Consider filling prescriptions locally.
Because using mainland pharmacies poses extra cost and time burdens, our insurance plans are more likely to allow local, in-person filling of prescriptions. The biggest benefit is that Vashon Pharmacy would have up-to-date records of your critical medications.
Tyler Young added, “After a disaster, it would be very easy to help current patients of Vashon Pharmacy, and much harder but still possible to help patients who didn’t already get their prescriptions at Vashon Pharmacy. Having awareness of medication needs at the community level allows the pharmacy to tailor its inventory to be better able to provide refills after an emergency.”
Another reason to fill prescriptions locally is to get advice about medications that require refrigeration. Keep a small cooler handy, with ice packs or a frozen plastic water bottle in the freezer, to be ready in case of a power outage. Some medications may be fine at room temperature for a few days; the pharmacist can help you determine if that’s the case.
Insulin, for example, can go without refrigeration and be kept at a temperature between 59°F and 86°F for as long as 28 days, per the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Consider refilling your prescriptions for 90 days at a time, if your insurance allows it or if you pay cash for your prescriptions. This saves money over 30-day refills because part of the cost of each prescription refill is the service fee to fill it. Most insurance, including Medicare, will allow 90-day refills for most medications. To make the switch, you may need a new 90-day prescription from your provider. Speak with your health care provider or pharmacist if you need help.
For individuals without insurance, the Emergency Prescription Assistance Program (EPAP) provides free emergency medication refills during federally declared disasters. You can call the program’s hotline at (855) 793-7470 to find out if you’re eligible. Learn more at tinyurl.com/EmergencyRefills.
