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Step 6: Maintain Your Plan and Emergency Kit

By Sarah Anderson
Published: May 15, 2006

Preparing your family emergency plan and emergency kit is a great start. Now it is important to maintain the plan and refresh the kit to assure maximum preparedness. It is very important to perform these tasks regularly as you can never know when a disaster will strike.

A good maintenance routine is a very simple task if performed regularly and will allow you and your family to be as ready as possible, providing you with peace of mind.

Maintaining the Family Plan

Maintaining the family plan mainly includes reviewing and practicing the different scenarios. Here are a few suggestions:

1. Periodical Knowledge Test
   Review your plan periodically (recommended: twice a year) and test your family members questions about details from it.
2. Periodical Family Practice
   Conduct fire and emergency evacuation drills on a regular basis with your family members.
3. Refreshing Emergency Card and the Communication Plan
   Update your emergency cards whenever there are any changes to:
   
   • Local or Out-of-Town Contact
   • Meeting Location
   This step is even more important for your kids. You must keep their emergency card up to date at all times.

Refreshing the Emergency Kit

You must keep your emergency kit fresh and safe to assure it can serve you when needed.

1. Food and Supplies
   At least twice a year, check water and food supplies for expiration dates and discard. It will make sense to refresh your food and supplies more frequently and use the "about-to-expire" food instead of discarding it.
2. Equipment
   Test your equipment every time you check your food and supplies. Read the indicator on your fire extinguishers and follow the manufacturer's instructions to recharge. Test your smoke alarms monthly and replace the batteries as required. Check portable radios and communication devices.
3. Medical Supplies
   Do not forget to refresh your medical supplies and replace with new medical when expires.

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