Disaster Preparedness Workshop
By: Rachel Polansky
Updated: July 20, 2012
In the last year, we've seen fires, floods, and the aftermath of tragic hurricanes. We've learned that disaster can strike anywhere, anytime. But the Oneida County Health Department wants to make sure if disaster does strike, area residents are prepared.
They held a Disaster Preparedness Workshop this afternoon designed to educate and prepare residents if a disaster were to impact our community.
"Bad things can happen and it's important to be prepared," says Bonnie Zweifel, New Hartford resident.
Zweifel is one of many people that came out to the Disaster Preparedness Workshop. She says it's easy to forget to plan for disaster
"In the course of a day, i never take care to plan for the future. They made this really easy for us so i said i need to be here. It's extremely important to be prepared for emergencies because disasters do happen," says Zweifel.
The Oneida County Director of Health says sometimes it takes a tragedy to get people to take action. She wants to encourage people to prepare right now.
"When something happens you realize all the things you should've done, could've done, would've done had you known - So this just gets people aware of what's going on and saying I need to do this, I need to do that, and knowing the things I need to have in place," Gayle Jones, Oneida County Director of Health
And one one of those steps is having an emergency starter kit. Each attendee received first-aid kits, a hand-crank weather radio, a water storage container, and other emergency essentials.
"Prepare a kit, make a plan, and be informed, its the traditional things we talk to young people about in schools but it's more important for all of us, every family, every adult, every one whose responsible," says Anthony Picente, Oneida County Executive.
"Anything can happen to anyone at anytime, and so those are moments where people panic and things are out of our control. So we want people to understand that these events occur and what to do in the event of an emergency," says Jones.
Attendees also visited various stations to learn about disaster risks and the best ways to respond to them.
They held a Disaster Preparedness Workshop this afternoon designed to educate and prepare residents if a disaster were to impact our community.
"Bad things can happen and it's important to be prepared," says Bonnie Zweifel, New Hartford resident.
Zweifel is one of many people that came out to the Disaster Preparedness Workshop. She says it's easy to forget to plan for disaster
"In the course of a day, i never take care to plan for the future. They made this really easy for us so i said i need to be here. It's extremely important to be prepared for emergencies because disasters do happen," says Zweifel.
The Oneida County Director of Health says sometimes it takes a tragedy to get people to take action. She wants to encourage people to prepare right now.
"When something happens you realize all the things you should've done, could've done, would've done had you known - So this just gets people aware of what's going on and saying I need to do this, I need to do that, and knowing the things I need to have in place," Gayle Jones, Oneida County Director of Health
And one one of those steps is having an emergency starter kit. Each attendee received first-aid kits, a hand-crank weather radio, a water storage container, and other emergency essentials.
"Prepare a kit, make a plan, and be informed, its the traditional things we talk to young people about in schools but it's more important for all of us, every family, every adult, every one whose responsible," says Anthony Picente, Oneida County Executive.
"Anything can happen to anyone at anytime, and so those are moments where people panic and things are out of our control. So we want people to understand that these events occur and what to do in the event of an emergency," says Jones.
Attendees also visited various stations to learn about disaster risks and the best ways to respond to them.
