Author: Lindsay Peabody

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Emergency Preparedness: Distress vs De-stress!

Hey everyone, we’ve been posting emergency planning information and resources for Emergency Preparedness Week, and we want to take time to talk stress.

Emergencies can be stressful to think about. Planning for emergencies might seem like a big chore, or it might seem like it’s an impossible job to be ready for anything, or it might make you feel scared or sad.

It’s important to know that having a plan is one of the best emergency response strategies you can have: it will help you stay calm if you’re ever faced with a real emergency. So, while emergency planning might seem like a challenge, it’s definitely worthwhile!

Here’s some videos to help lighten things up and simplify some key concepts (and a website to got with them!).

GRAB AND GO BAG:

EMERGENCY KIT:

GRAB AND GO BAG vs. EMERGENCY KIT (What’s the difference?)

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Join SOAR for a Faire tomorrow!

Thanks to our friends at Nelson Cares for passing this along!

SOAR Year-End Celebration Tea and Artisan Faire

Tomorrow, May 5th from 11am to 1pm at Silver King Campus the students of the SOAR Program at Selkirk College will be showcasing their year and selling a number of veggie starts, tropical plants, soaps, and candles. Some veggie starts you can expect to see are a variety of tomatoes, basil, peppers, thyme, and hopefully more!

There will be cake, too! Please email Alison at aroy@selkirk.ca if you plan to attend so she can make sure there is enough for everyone. 

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Emergency Preparedness Week: MAKE A PLAN!

Hey everyone, as part of Emergency Preparedness Week we want to focus in on supporting everyone to make an emergency plan that keeps you ready for anything!

Check out this video for a helpful walk-through of what to consider and what to do in case of some examples like 1) flooding while you’re not home, 2) a severe storm while you’re are home, and 3) a wildfire evacuation order.

Check out this page for access to 9 free online emergency preparedness guides you can use to plan for an emergency specific to your needs — from pets, to power outages, to pocket guides.

Finally, check out this page for some tips on how you can (and can’t) use technology when you’re planning what to do in case of an emergency, like these helpful hints:

  • Non-voice channels like text messaging, email or social media use less bandwidth than voice communications and may work even when phone service doesn’t.
  • Keeping phone conversation brief conserves your phone’s battery.
  • Waiting 10 seconds before redialing if you can’t complete a call helps reduce network congestion.
  • Cordless phones rely on electricity and will not work during a power outage.
  • Save your safe meeting location on your smartphone’s mapping application.
  • Conserve your smartphone’s battery by reducing the screen’s brightness, placing your phone in airplane mode, and closing apps you are not using.
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CMHA Mental Health Week

Hey everyone, we’re taking some time during our emergency preparedness week to talk about mental health.

It’s the Canadian Mental Health Association’s annual Mental Health Week this week — and here are some key strategies you can put to use right away!

  • Listen hard when someone wants to talk.
  • Don’t jump in or judge.
  • Before you weigh in, tune in. 

Start here with The Power of Empathy.

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Emergency Preparedness Week: READY FOR ANYTHING!

Hey everyone, it’s Emergency Preparedness Week and we’re posting some great resources to help you stay prepared for emergencies!

This year’s campaign is all about being ready for anything — and you can share how you’re preparing (and help others in the process!) by participating in the Government of Canada social media campaign in support of Emergency Preparedness Week! Get creative, have fun, and get ready for anything:

Participate in our tag challenge or enter to win an emergency kit.

Be a positive influence within your networks by participating in our tag challenge. Show us your best emergency preparedness tip in a video or photo, and tag 3 or your friends or family and ask them to share their tip.

You can also win an emergency preparedness kit. Simply tell us how how you’re helping to make you and your family better prepared to cope during an emergency, and use the hashtag #ReadyforAnything.

It can be as simple as making an emergency kit with items found around your home, creating a family emergency plan, or becoming more informed about the hazards in your area. Get creative and post those messages, photos, or videos!

Don’t forget to use the hashtags #EPWeek2022 and #ReadyforAnything.

https://www.getprepared.gc.ca/cnt/rsrcs/ep-wk/index-en.aspx

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ZEN ZONE: Part 5!

Hey there everyone and welcome to the ZEN ZONE, where we have taken time out each Friday in April to zoom in on stress management information, resources, and strategies.

Some of the questions we’ve looked at this month were:

As we’ve been exploring our own stress management strategies this month, we can check in on how things went.

Did you use The Stress Management Society’s 30 Day Challenge resources to find strategies that worked for you? Did you track the activities you did for physical, mental and emotional wellbeing? Which tips and tricks worked best for you? Did you learn something new about managing stress this month?

At the end of the day, we are all different – and our best stress management strategies will all be different too!

Making the Zen Zone part of our health and safety month this year has been about exploring new ways to look at stress, trying new ways to manage stress, and (hopefully!) feeling the difference that managing stress proactively can make in our daily lives. Let us know how it went in the comments!

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Safely active springtime!

Hey everyone, welcome to Health & Safety Month 2022! Today, we’re looking at how to be safe while staying active.

It’s springtime – and the days are getting longer, the temperatures are getting higher, and the plants are getting bigger! For many of us, springtime brings sports, hiking, picnics, gardening, and just generally getting outside more often.

Being outside can also mean sports injuries, insect bites, allergies, sun exposure, storms. HealthLinkBC has a great page full of resources to help you be prepared as you venture out to enjoy spring, including:

  • Common Sports Injuries and First Aid (bruises, elbow injuries, hand/finger/wrist injuries, leg injuries, head injuries)
  • Insect Bites and Stings (allergies and toxic reactions to bites, home remedies, insect vs spider bites, insect repellant and DEET, tick bites)
  • Plants and Wildlife (rodents, moths, wilderness and wildlife risks, poison ivy, oak, sumac)
  • Seasonal Allergies (allergy triggers, allergy shots, medications, hay fever)
  • Sun Safety (heat protection, ultraviolet radiation, sun safety)

Most importantly, the website can help you learn about the benefits of physical activity, how to add more physical activity to your life, how to set physical activity goals, and how to stay safe while being physically active.

So let’s get out there and enjoy springtime – safely!

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