I grew up in the deep south, in a city that was 90 miles southwest of the Georgia coastline and about 25 miles north of a nuclear power plant. Preparing for things like hurricanes was pretty normal and planning evacuations in the event it came down to that seemed rather simple for us - we’d be given enough time to head to higher ground if the need was there. When it comes to the nuclear power plant - that was an entirely different ballgame because you may only have a second to process what has happened and put your plan into action.

My family always had a plan though, in the event we actually needed one. We always had an emergency kit, which had things like - a first aid kit, non-perishable foods, bottles of water, blankets, clothing and various other things. When it came to dealing with the weather from hurricanes, we also made arrangements in the event our house suffered any damage - we made a video, which detailed every room in our home, noting personal belongings and what have you.

We also had a plan for things like house fires. Our house was two stories, so my father had ropes in my bedroom, as well as my sister’s. In the event we had a fire, we could let ourselves down through one of our windows and meet my parents in the front yard (our designated “meeting” spot).

I recently found out about AxcessPoints, which is a wonderful disaster planning resource and realized that even though we have made plans, we are not fully prepared. For instance - our families may not know how to access our emergency plan and critical personal, financial information and other important documents. I decided to join because it’s free for the first 30 days and signing up was very easy. Now I can create an emergency plan, be it for an earthquake, hurricane, tornado, flood or even fire. AxcessPoints.comprovides a unique emergency toolkit that will calculate the correct amount of supplies and other items that are necessary during an emergency by factoring in - gender, age, animals and even disabilities. You can even take thie quiz to see if you really are prepared for an emergency.

One of the great things about their disaster planning tools, is that members can share sections of their plan with other family members or those that they trust, if they choose to. With my husband and I being over 3,000 miles away from our families, this is wonderful. In the event something happened here, our families would have access to our information and our emergency plan.

Having an emergency plan is important because an emergency can occur at any time, with little to no warning. AxcessPoints.com provides you with the tools to plan and prepare, while also giving you the ability to share your emergency plan with your relatives or anyone else who may need to know that information.