September, National Preparedness Month, is an opportunity for local health departments and Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) units to raise awareness about the importance of preparing for disasters and emergencies that could happen at any time. Building on the theme of “Prepare to Protect. Preparing for disasters is protecting everyone you love.”, Ready.gov will offer a variety of resources that local health departments and MRC units can share widely throughout the community to promote year-round community vigilance and strengthen collective resilience.

For the first-time ever, National Preparedness Month will include a series of Hispanic public service advertisements (PSAs), which will be released (in English and Spanish) mid-month, near the start of Hispanic Heritage Month. The PSAs will air during the peak of the hurricane and wildfire seasons.

NACCHO encourages LHDs and MRC units to take advantage of Preparedness Month to engage families, communities, businesses, and other regional partners in preparedness activities. This year’s weekly focus points are listed below:

• Week 1, September 1-4: Make A Plan
• Week 2, September 5-11: Build A Kit
  
• Week 3, September 12-18: Low-Cost, No-Cost Preparedness
• Week 4, September 19-25: Teach Youth About Preparedness

If your health department is planning activities to promote preparedness, we would love to feature your work through NACCHO publications. Please let Communications Specialist Beth Hess ([email protected]) know if you have activities planned.