While all items in the kit are important, this week’s addition might be critical for those who rely on medicine to maintain their ability to function. Fortunately for our family, at least right now, we are not in that situation. If we were, I would need to have a conversation with our doctor to see what our options would be. For example, if we required a medicine that needed refrigeration, I would need to ask if there were other options I could use for a short time period since we may lose power and not be able to keep items cold.
The Ready.gov site recommends keeping a list of prescriptions in your kit. It also suggests asking your insurance company if you can arrange to have extra supplies on hand for an emergency.
The CDC website offers additional recommendations including staying up to date on vaccinations. The site also has information and a link to the Emergency Prescription Assistance Program (EPAP),  a program for people who have no health insurance and who live in an area with a federally declared disaster. EPAP allows those who are eligible to receive “prescription drugs, vaccinations, medical supplies, and equipment that they need” as long as the program is active. You can find out the status of EPAP in areas with active disaster declarations by checking here: EPAP Active Status.
As for glasses, a few of our family members definitely need them, but we have older pairs that we can just put in the kit. The Parkhurst Nuvision website has some good preparedness tips for vision needs which reminded me I also need to put a copy of our eye glass prescriptions in the kit.
As a side note, throughout this series of posts about getting prepared, I may mention certain products, services, agencies, etc. At no time is it my intention to promote a specific product or service or agency. Each is mentioned only for informational purposes. Of course as a government employee, I do receive a salary from the government for the time I work on my job which by the way is not affiliated with this site, but I don’t receive any compensation from any commercial entities I mention or include in these posts.
