Brevard Medical Equipment is continuing this month’s theme of National Preparedness Month by discussing what to do in case of a natural disaster, such as a hurricane, would come through and what should you do to prepare.

Some hurricanes don’t cause any damage but others can get very strong and may force you to prepare and evacuate sooner.  People who use home medical equipment should keep extra items available like wheelchair batteries, oxygen canisters, medications and prescriptions, food for service animals and any information about model numbers to your home medical equipment.

If the hurricane is strong enough, you should never ignore an evacuation order. Obviously, you can’t take everything with you from your home so take only the things you truly need such as:

• Clothes
• Home Medical Equipment, if applicable
• Living will
• Personal information
• Medications
• Some food
• First Aid kit
• Cellular Phone

Hopefully, the hurricane doesn’t do much damage to your home when you return.  Things to do before evacuating would be to:

• Turn off utilities like gas, water and electricity
• Disconnect appliances
• Make sure your vehicle is ready to go with a full tank of fuel and other fluid levels topped off

When you are ready to evacuate, make sure your vehicle is packed up, family or friends are ready to go and your home medical equipment is with you. Follow the designated evacuation routes your city has planned out. Don’t rush traffic as it will take time to get where you’re going since everybody else will be leaving too.

If you have nowhere else to go, consider finding a public shelter and take your essentials, as listed above, with you in case you need them until the storm passes over.

Brevard Medical Equipment can help you make sure your current medical equipment is in working order and we can also set up travel equipment as well.  Contact us today if you need help with service or set up traveling equipment.