Are there any preppers here in New Hampshire?
Maybe I’m the only one?
Nope - I’m here too. Hi everyone!
This is my first post, but I’ve been visiting fluwiki and other sites regularly for quite a while. We live in the Monadnock region, and we began our preparations (which are now complete) a year and a half ago.
We mainly followed the guidelines on the Latter-Day Saints’ Website to stock up (we’re not Mormons). Now we have a year’s worth of food and supplies for three, and we are in “rotate” mode. It took a lot of planning and organization, but now it has become routine - the rotation is slick! It works well for us because my partner cooks mostly from scratch, and he gardens and preserves some of our food too. We bought our bulk wheat and other items from Walton Feed last June. I make bread once a week from our homeground wheat, and we have turned into bread snobs! Two years ago, I could only make “reservations.” :-P I’ve come a long way, thanks to the talented male chef in the house!
We also bought drugs (including Tamiflu - 2 courses for 3 people) and basic health care products per Dr. Woodson. We have a supply of cordwood, gas, and oil, and a generator. We do have guns and ammunition (for hunting). We’re pretty rural, so we don’t think we’ll have a big security problem.
We encourage close friends and family to stock up, and nobody knows exactly what we have. If people we care about (possibly an additional 9 family members) run out of food or otherwise need help in a pandemic, we will assist from a “social distance.” Unfortunately nine out of twelve (total) of us are in the high risk age group (only our parents are older) and we have meds (of questionable value anyway) for three. We keep the Tamiflu in the safe, and we hope we never have to decide who will get it and who will not.
If/when H5N1 goes H2H, our plan is simply to go home and stay there. My partner has his own business (and he will suspend operations), and I can work out of the house as long as my company does not close its doors. Our teenage son understands what we have done and why, and he knows that he will be schooled at home for the duration.
What could happen saddens me; I think it’s impossible to prepare emotionally. We do like our new lifestyle and the incredible peace of mind that goes with being physically prepared. Good luck to you all! And thanks for sharing; I learn a lot from you every day.
Hi Kate,
I just visted the LDS site. Thanks! It’s very helpful. My husband and I are in pretty good shape also. We’ve been preparing for weeks now and are on pretty much the same track as you and your family. FluWikie has been very informative and instructive for us. Please, let’s stay in touch and brief one another if new info is learned. Thanks for posting, and welcome!!!
Hi back Tink, It’s good to know someone else is out there and nearby (since our state isn’t that big). Let’s definitely stay in touch.
I attended a talk by DHHS State Epidemiologistý Jose Monteroý this winter. He spoke at a local hospital about the state pandemic plan (which is on the DHHS Website and maybe even on the wiki - I haven’t checked). It was a stormy night, and the crowd was small - mainly health care workers including school nurses and possibly first responders. A couple guys seemed to be poultry farmers (and distrustful of the gov’t), and the rest were interested members of the public.
I didn’t learn anything new. I was surprised that he spent a lot of time talking about the schools as focal points for disease, but then seemed rather vague on the trigger points for actually closing them and providing for alternative instruction (Web, whatever) in advance of a pandemic. Apparently concerns for keeping the economy going (i.e., parents at work) as long as possible are paramount, even up here. He did emphasize self reliance (health care at the community level, personal preparedness), and it seemed clear that the state would be able to provide only minimal assistance. There was a lot of hallway conversation afterward. I listened in, referred a couple very concerned people to the Barry book and Web resources, and maintained my low profile :-). I’ll post if anything new comes up.
Hi, I too live in NH. We have been preping for quite some time. Our town is starting to educate the public. Our schools have no plan to speak of. They will close when the first confirmed case is in our school. I am trying to educate them. I have been watching H5N1 for over a year now. Most people think I am nuts for being so concerned, but we all know I am not! Wish me luck!
I’m a New Hampster (as a lot of folks say) as well and live in the Nashua area. I’ve talked to some people and what I’m hearing is concern, but no preparing.
Hi Mirabelle and Prepper. My office has come up with a preparedness plan. I was quite pleased. I served on the committee that created it. However, I feel it has little significance if the majority of folks are in denial about the flu potential. My husband and I plan to hole up at home at the first sign if the flu hitting the NH boarders. We have been stocking up on essentials and feel like we are in pretty good shape. Have you heard that a mild strain of avian flu is in NJ? It was found in chickens in a processing plant. I believe it’s the H2 strain, so no one is worried. But I question why all of a sudden? Is this the beginning? I know I sound like I’m jumping the gun, but…
Ayah, anothah native :-) Also living in the southern reaches. I’ve been following flu wiki for a while, prepping for less, perhaps 4–5 months. It’s a slow process, especially with a skeptical (though supportive) family. Still… doing what I can in budget.
On the business side, we are slowly brainstorming on how to keep running (and keep at least some of our customers around) when/if the rest of the world shuts down. When you really start to think things through, the consequences of true pandemic are staggering. Plan and hope, help others where possible, look here for ideas and inspiration.
The folks in Nashua are doing a lot from what I have heard. We are all in regions now and you can google the nh regions for the avian flu and you should find it. My concern with this group is that they seem to be focussed on the vaccine aspect - didn’t they get the memo? No vacine for a while. I wish they would focus on personal preparedness.
Are any of your work places putting a preparedness plan together?
I will not say where I work but I work in the healthcare field in adminisration. My employer who should be on top of this has bought only 1 case of n95 masks. I think it is a rotten shame that our office has no emergency plan what so ever for this. I feel I am on my own and will not go to work if the pandemic arrives in New England. I have a lot to lose by doing this, many years and good money, but will not put my family in jeopardy. I also have issues with driving through certain areas if and when this hits. Do I want to put my life in danger and get car jacked by someone who is desperate and has not prepared, I think not. I think more people need to wake up and smell the bacon. This will devistate our lives but if there is no plan this will kill us.
My workplace does have a preparedness plan in place. We had a mandatory staff meeting with a Power Point presentation and very factual information as we know it. Reactions were all over the map from total buy-in to total denial and yelling. A few of us are monitoring the situation daily and are prepared to report to management when the virus mutates into H2H. I’m thinking it already has, but all is very hush hush and can’t prove it. I plan to hunker down also when it starts traveling. I feel very badly about those who have not even thought of preparing.
I am prepared but the lack of preparedness by my employer is sickening. Our town meeting was postponed due to the flood. People have contacted me about the reschedule date which is a good thing, now I am aware there are others who are taking this seriously in my city. I have prepared a powerpoint myself and it is on our local emergency page. We have brochures. I hope people start to take this seriously considering the latest developments. Tink, you say you are holing up when it hits the border, for your sake I hope you are far enough up. Once it hits the northeast will be my trigger. It is just a hop, skip and jump from Boston to Manchester.
hi Paradise. My sis lives in Manchester too. We grew up in Londonderry though. I thought you may have been my mom since now we live “in paradise” … literally… Paradise Island, on Paradise Blvd, in Paradise Towers! hahaha! I thought she may have found the site since I have been ranting about prepping for months! she is finally getting it! She actually went out… by herself… for the first time to buy a coleman propane stove!!! Usually she has just gotten a few things with me as I got them. I am so proud of her! She is visiting my sis next week up in Manchester and is goign to talk with her and her husband about prepping… at least for the grandkids’ sake. Hopefully she can get through to them. Nice to see that the New Hampshirites are getting onboard!
My husband and I are planning on hunkering down when we learn it has hit North America! We aren’t going to fool around and take any risks. If this stuff is as virulent as I’m learning it might be, it won’t take very long to travel throughout the US.
bump
Mike Leavitt spoke in NH today. I know someone who attended and they said Mike just said the country will have enough tamiflu to treat 25% of the pupulation in 2007. The are trying to watch things and put out the fire before it starts. we are on our own.
I also cruised the web and found that merrimack has an avian flu committee and a few towns have info on their web page.
how about a public campaign to get people to prepare? When the heck are they gonna do that?
Hi New Hampshire Preppers. I have been reading this forum for sometime and this is my first post. I live in the Lakes Region. I looked on our town web site and they had a category listed for Emergency Preparadness but nothing listed on it. I need to call and see what it up with that. On another web site, I read that some counties in PA are sending out flyers to their residents explaining the importance of stocking up. Have any of you heard of any place in New Hampshire that is doing that?
The CERT Team in my town has a website www.pelhamnhcert.org
Check it out. There is quite a bit of info under preparedness. The town was supposed to have a town hall meeting on the avian flu but it got cancelled cause of the flooding. They have 3000 flyers to pass out which are on the CERT Preparedness page. They also have flyers for businesses and health care workers. If you google NH Pandemic Plan Region (I think) you will find out who is in your region. Then google them or other towns in your region.
Definately call your town hall, health officer, or emergency management director and see what they have planned. They shoudl have a plan and it should be public information.
No and kudos to PA!! This is the best site I’ve found to help think about needed items to stock up to prepare for a pandemic. My husband and I went to Sam’s Club and bought items in bulk. We constantly are thinking about items and put them on a list. As far as towns, states,etc. being proactive about this, I have learned that for most, it’s easier to ignore and go on day to day as usual. This has been a real eye opener from a socialogical perspective. If I were you, I wouldn’t wait for the town to initiate a preparedness plan. Start here, make a list and start stocking up. It takes a while because it can be expensive. So the sooner the better.
AmIReady — If you have not done so, you might want to download the NH pandemic plan from the NH DHHS website. Last I knew, it was drafted last autumn and has not been updated. In retrospect, I would say it was/is a pretty lame attempt to put a plan in place, but there are some facts that are useful context knowledge, such as the surge capacity of state hospitals, number of ventilator units (not many), etc.. You will also see a lot of interagency responsibility laid out that makes me jittery: who’s on first? Congrats, Pelham, for getting going with community awareness-raising. You will need to be prepared when the Massachusetts license plates begin streaming north!
dinkers, thanks a lot! tell me why are these people coming to NH? I am just concerned about getting over the border myself if the shtf!
Tink, please explain “No and kudos to PA!!
LivinginParadise, sorry to be your little ray of sunshine, but many Bay Staters have second homes up here, which I would wager they see as safer than living in Back Bay or in the 495 burbs. Then there are those who are powerless but have a tank of gas; who would want to be stuck in an apartment in the city when TSHTF? Finding food will be a big issue; most markets carry only a few days stock bc they all shave margins with just-in-time stocking. In fact, with the tank of gas theory, we are in range of about 20 million people, counting NYC. NH’s population is only 1.3 million, and 800,000 of them live in SE NH with you. Plenty of room for more! And you are right about getting over the border in time; many state’s have said they will enforce quarantine at the border, and SB399 just passed in NH, conferring special powers to the governor and the DHHS. Carpe diem.
I suppose…..I didn’t really think it through why anyone would come here. But hey I am way ahead of the crowd. Most people here don’t think it will happen. I have plans to keep what is mine. Hopefully there will be enough sheeple for the parasites to feast on! I plan on staying put once it goes human to human over in asia and is a problem.
I hate to think it will be THAT bad, but worse case scenerio I guess. There are a few back roads that lead into the state and I am familiar with them so I am hoping I will beat the crowd. I am sure our local PD is not thinking about closing down the border. How can that happen we only have 22 cops!
No one in this quiet little town could fathom an influx from Mass to steal their food and stuff. If this happens, ok, when this happens, there are gonna be a heck of a lot of unbelievers! I could post that on our local message board but the guys with the white jackets would be showing up lol
I have already started prepping. Not as much as I want but fortunately we have 60 acres and a generator and a gentran because power outage means no water from the well. Still have things to get but working on it each trip to the store. I will call my town and see what is up with the plan. I know what you mean about the fleeing. It takes us twice as long to get home on Fridays as the Mass people are already practicing fleeing. We are self employed and usually don’t work a full day on Friday’s for that very reason. Closest BJ’s is in Portsmouth and the closest Sams are in Seabrook and Concord so have to take a day and check them out. Thanks for making me feel welcome.
Living in Paradise, I apologize for being vague. I was only responding to AMIREADY’s post about some counties in PA mailing out preparedness information. They are doing way more for folks there than I’ve heard about around here.
Yeah, my powdered eggs came today. I have been finding most of the food I want to store but couldn’t find any powdered eggs around here. Finally ordered some from Honeyville and they arrived in about a week. Now I can cross that off my list. My hubby is on board with this but my kids think I have gone over the edge. I will just try to get more for them. Sometimes I feel that if I can’t even get my kids to take this seriously, then what chance do we have getting friends and others we don’t know that well to start to prep.
Just posted on another thread - I haven’t been able to find canned roast beef. Replys from other states say they have it in the tuna isle. Has anyone in NH found any and if so where and brand name. Thanks much. Maybe I need to get my glasses changed.
I haven’t seen canned roast beef anywhere,nor can I say I’ve ever seen it. We are going to can many pounds of ground beef though.
I’m a luker and don’t post much, but I am also in the Nashua area and busy prepping. I’m limited in that I live in an apartment, but my goal is to have 6 months prep for a moderate shut-down in utilities (sporadic water/electric) by the end of the summer. I’m at 3 months now.
I’ve spoken with friends about prepping, but I’m the only one I know who is doing it. My family in other states think I’m nuts. I hope they are right! But everything I stock is stuff that will mostly be used, so I look at is as frugal :-).
Just a question - my doctor won’t prescribe Tamiflu at this point - are the internet sources reliable? Otherwise, I’m stocking up on vitamins, Occicillium (sp), and the like. I’m on the fence about Tamiflu as I believe that irresponsible use will definitely create resistance. I’m planning to SIP as soon as I hear of the first US cases, and will pull my kids from Pre-K and daycare accordingly, so I’m not sure if I will actually need it…
Glad to see there are at least some of us!
Welcome Suze35. My husband tells me that there was some discussion here on wiki about reliable sources on the internet. I’ll do some research and let you know which forum to go to to learn about it. My understanding is that docs don’t want to perscribe to the masses, they want to stockpile for healthcare workers, police, firefighters, etc. I haven’t asked my doc yet, but I’ll be she says no also. I’ll get back to you on the forum location.
Tink - I appreciate that - thanks!
Suze35, If you are in the Nashua area you can check out their website for info. Nashua is part of a region that includes about 6 or 8 other towns.
Suze35, if you go to the top of wiki’s web page, there is a search site box. I entered tamiflu prescription and a list of forum topics came up. I scrolled down to “Counterfeit Tamiflu” and a big thread naming various pharmaceutical companies were discussed. It looked like a useful thread for you. It’s a start anyway.
Living in Paradise - thanks - off to check that out now :-).
Tink - I appreciate you pointing me in the right direction. I’ll definitely do that search.
Has anyone found any town website with a comprehensive plan? How about informating the public, anyone having meetings? Our town is slower than molasses
Some of the southern towns are banding together (I’m not sure how to make the tiny urls):
http://www.eagletribune.com/nhnews/local_story_22316050ýý4ý Southern N.H. towns team up to plan for avian flu August 11, 2006ý ATKINSON, N.H. — Nine southern New Hampshire towns are working together to coordinate their ýresponse to a possible outbreak of avian flu.ý
and Merrimack, Newbury, and Plaistow have posted info on their town sites. My town site has it listed as a topic, but no link yet. I haven’t heard of meetings in southwestern NH. We keep a pretty low profile, though if our small town held a meeting, we would probably send a stealth family delegate :-)
Here’s the link to that story: http://tinyurl.com/gjord
(I decided to learn something new today!)
Here’s the link to that story: http://tinyurl.com/gjord
(I decided to learn something new today!)
It has been awhile since any New Hampshirites posted here. Does anyone have any new information, thoughts, suggestions, or updates they would like to share?
I monitor various avian flu sites, and know that this virus has mutated a lot since August when someone last posted here. I would be happy to start a dialogue or share what I’ve learned with folks here in NH if anyone is interested.
Hi Tink, I plan on moving to the Lakes Region of NH in December. I will know for sure on November 1st when the last contingency is met (or not met….). If all goes well, I’ll be there permanently on December 9th. What part of NH are you from? I haven’t looked at the State’s site for Emergency Prepardness. I know the Albany New York area, but haven’t investigated NH. Plan to SIP anyway.
Hi Commonground, I am in the Sunapee region. The state does have a plan, but I haven’t reviewed it lately to see if anything has changed. It’s a pretty basic plan.
I hope all goes well with your hopes and plans.
I’m here! Though I have to say winters seem to be getting milder every year. Soon it might be like Pennsylvania where I grew up. Hope not, but I guess there are certain advantages to a longer growing season, west nile virus and wood adelgid aside.
So ColdClimatePrepper, you have noticed that too. We say our winters will be like Virginia’s. With this year’s Spring rains affecting the growing season, we need the milder weather on the back end!
Hi Tink,
Sunapee is just west of us. I’m meeting in 2 weeks with a group to review our town’s new disaster plan with particular focus on PBF. We’ll miss Pandemic week but look to share the resources available here with town officials. Our goal is to expand the BF section in the town’s plan and to get more information printed in the local paper. Overall it feels like people are unaware or skeptical, but our kids did bring home a state flier on disaster preplanning from school that outlines the contents of a bugout bag and encourages people to plan for prolonged SIP. It only mentions ‘disasters’ and not BF by name.
Blackwater,
can you tell me are you a professional or citizen? I have tried to get our plans but have been told they are classified. We are also just doing an all hazards plan and no specific pandemic plan. I was told “we can’t pick our favorite pandemic”. All I have run into is brick walls. Any help you can provide me is appreciated.
Birdie Kate, here are two websites, one the State of NH’s preparedness plan, and UNH’s plan. I did a Google search on “NH Avian Flu Preparedness Plan”. I hope this helps.
www.dhhs.state.nh.us/DHHS/CDCS/Avian+Flu/ www.unh.edu/emergency/avian-flu.html
Tink - thanks for the UNH link. I was unable to open the state.nh site.
Birdie K - Just a citizen here. I’ve been told by the town manager and separately by a member of the disaster planning committee that I can have a copy of our town’s recently updated disaster plan later this next week. I’m on a committee in town the works to have different groups collaborate with each other and I want the committee to see the guts of this disaster plan and also deliver to them some of the reources available here. I’m hoping to build on what I’ve heard is already in the report. I’ll keep you posted.
Blackwater,
thanks for the info. I too am a citizen. Have tried till I am blue in the face to get information. I think they feel I am asking to many questions. Saw the old ESF8 (medical response to major problems) and suggested some things that wern’t included. Was told “ we have given you everything you asked for and you are not satisified” Direct quote from EM. I have pushed to hard and now can get no where. Town will be having a public health meeting next week and I am planning on attending with my list of questions - Am hoping I am not kicked out of meeting LOL. Southern NH here. I belonged to local CERT and created flyers, hoping they are not planning on using them as I left on a bad note (their end, not mine). I have told them not to use my work.
We have an all hazards plan, can’t plan for everything EM said. Can’t pick our favorite pandemic he said. I volunteered to do some work, have researched tons, have list of all medical personnel which I gave them. I am sure they are using what I gave them. Not that I want credit mind you, but they are not keeping me in the loop what so ever. Guess thats what happens when you buck the political system.
I might file to have the plan released under the freedom of information act. They had meetings and they did not announce them. Told me I couldn’t have the minutes or attend due to RSA91 (I think). I could only find that they can’t release information discussing “deliverate acts”. When I told the EM that he said he is not a lawyer and is only doing what he is told.
To say I am not happy is an understatement.
Birdie Kate, I’m in NH and find this all very interesting. Have you considered contacting the local paper about this? If you can get a meeting with an editor and can present this info calmly, coherently, and convincingly (which I have no doubt you can) you could really stir the kettle. Not that that’s the ultimate goal, but newspaper people enjoy a good FIA cause.
Edna,
I don’t know what I want to do at this point. We are having our town meeting next week and I plan on asking them questions I know they won’t have answers to. I don’t want to push too much more since I have to live here. I have a few emails out to find out an answer about this. You can email me at pelhamresilience@yahoo.com if you want to chat more.
kate
Birdie, Edna, Blackwater, Commonground, et al: Glad there is some life again on the NH post! I wrote a pandemic preparedness plan for my workplace, 45 staff and 10 tenants, about a year ago. I based it on the state’s trigger points, but now wonder if and how that ought to be updated since things seem to be bubbling and H5N1 could arrive on a flight into Logan just as easily as LA X. In other words, the best laid plan with incremental and worsening steps can just be short cut to the endpoint in a matter of hours or days, and we won’t have much or any warning. FYI, the NH state plan is adopted straight from the Dartmouth/Mary Hitchcock Hospital plan, which makes me wonder if that institution has updated any time recently.
Tink and I are an item (hi Edna!!), and have talked about trying to get the selectmen to listen to an update of the current H5N1 situation, esp the way Tom DVM looks at it evolving over the last year. However, they three are dumb as a posts in the field, and the only thing on their radar has been EEE and West Nile; one of them spoke of EEE as this year’s 800 pound gorilla at town meeting, but as we know it did not amount to a small monkey. We wonder conversationally what these local town governors will or can do when tshtf; we suspicion that the local govt really is the local vol firemen, most of whom are vets, and I figure will form a posse commitatus “to keep order”.
I once asked my physician at the local hospital whether the hospital had a pandemic preparedness plan. Blank look. Well, what is the surge capacity of this neat little hospital? Golly, I don’t have any idea…
So, you see, the consensus trance prevails, and the parade goes on. Only one other family in town is prepping, that we know of, and in steps due to budget constraints. I cannot imagine how bad it is going to be. In the 1998 ice storm, I remember local squires loading fifty gallons of bottled water into the back of the Lexus “so we can flush the toilets”. It’s going to be bad.
Anyone who wants to pool knowledge and tips on prepping in NH, please join in. Going back on eBay now to buy more long underwear!
Dinkers,
Well I think this whole “regional approcah” will be a major problem. We are relying on other towns. SO my tiny town of 14,000 is relying on a bigger town of 85,000. Does that make sense? No, no one in the big town is going to help the little town. We are also planing for a POD for the vaccines. Seems to be the hot topic now.
The NH Dept of Health and Human services had all towns sign an memo of agreement. Google it. It says participation from citizens! So far our plan is a closely guarded secret.
Also there will be influx to cities from other cities, especially if you live in a border town. Have you seen the numbers of gang members, never mind regular criminals. This is going to be a major problem and I don’t think anyone is thinking of that. The city “boys” will all go out to the country for some “rich folk” stuff. Not trying to be condensating but you get my drift.
I have questions for our meeting and will post them at the 9th hour as I am not sure who reads here and don’t want to give anyone a heads up for them to get the “correct” answers just to appease me.
I hate to say it but all these towns are making a serious mistake if they don’t take the volunteers like us who have volunteered. I only say that because we have so much info that they have not thought of.
We don’t have a “pandemic plan” just all hazards cause we can’t pick and choose. Now why on God’s green earth would someone turn down the chance to have a volunteer write up a pandemic plan? I am going to change my name to “Frustrated”!
If you want I can start a yahoo group by subsription that we can all share our ideas on with a bit more security. Let me know.
Dinkers,
Well I think this whole “regional approcah” will be a major problem. We are relying on other towns. SO my tiny town of 14,000 is relying on a bigger town of 85,000. Does that make sense? No, no one in the big town is going to help the little town. We are also planing for a POD for the vaccines. Seems to be the hot topic now.
The NH Dept of Health and Human services had all towns sign an memo of agreement. Google it. It says participation from citizens! So far our plan is a closely guarded secret.
Also there will be influx to cities from other cities, especially if you live in a border town. Have you seen the numbers of gang members, never mind regular criminals. This is going to be a major problem and I don’t think anyone is thinking of that. The city “boys” will all go out to the country for some “rich folk” stuff. Not trying to be condensating but you get my drift.
I have questions for our meeting and will post them at the 9th hour as I am not sure who reads here and don’t want to give anyone a heads up for them to get the “correct” answers just to appease me.
I hate to say it but all these towns are making a serious mistake if they don’t take the volunteers like us who have volunteered. I only say that because we have so much info that they have not thought of.
We don’t have a “pandemic plan” just all hazards cause we can’t pick and choose. Now why on God’s green earth would someone turn down the chance to have a volunteer write up a pandemic plan? I am going to change my name to “Frustrated”!
If you want I can start a yahoo group by subsription that we can all share our ideas on with a bit more security. Let me know.
Hello Dinkers! ;) Tink and Dink, eh? I thought that was you guys. Mr. Mode says, “Howdy!”
For those outside this inside joke, Tink, Dinkers, me, and Mr. Mode (who has yet to post even once to the best of my knowledge) are prep buddies. We met via Effect Measure of all places! (Yup. It’s the Match.com for pandemic preppers!)
But seriously, I have given up on trying to effect change through official channels. I don’t have the energy. Working inside the box is not me. I work better independently. So now, I have a confession to make, which I am nervous to do…
I hit the wall dealing with the NH bureaucracy a few weeks back. Like you, BirdieKate, I have been offering my help free of charge to school district, town, regional, and state officials and departments to help coordinate some messaging to get people prepping. The responses have been patronizing and stupid and I was ready to pull my hair out.
After struggling for months with how to help people while maintaining my privacy, I finally began putting together a pandemic prep site just for NH residents (a bit before the 2006 PFAW effort started). I’m doing it anonymously as Mr. Mode does not want the world to know we are preparing. I am including resources and links to help people expedite their pandemic prep research and so they can plan their own preps. I’m also making myself available by e-mail to answer prep questions, etc. for those who don’t want to use the Wiki. I am adding stuff daily and started running ads this week. Am going to do mailings to churches, town offices, neighbors, etc. Doing press releases next week and trying to get blurbs placed in nonprofit newsletters. Putting flyers up in public places. Sending out postcards. I’m also going to put up PDFs on the site so others can download mailers and postcards to send to friends/neighbors.
I have probably put 200+ hours into developing the messaging and functionality on the site. It is done in long form, which is a tried and true convention for copywriters, even though it defies the conventional wisdom that people have short attention spans.
In my opinion, one of the biggest blocks to people prepping is time and intimidation. People barely have time to make dinner, let alone educate themselves about pandemic preps. For this reason, in addition to the links to all the resources people can use to plan their own preps, I am offering via the site to do the planning for them for a modest fee (considering the technical knowledge and time that will go into the report preparation and the fact that I am offering to answer any and all questions by e-mail for as long as they need after receiving the plan). If I were doing this type of report for a commercial client, I’d charge six or seven times the fee I have posted on the site.
I struggled with whether I am being an opportunist by offering this service. Frankly, I don’t expect to get many takers, but I figure if one family takes advantage of it, that’s one family I’ve helped that may not have been helped otherwise. I have already done reports for many individuals and families for free. I feel conflicted about charging, but I can’t keep helping everyone prep at the expense of my paying freelance work (which is basically what I’ve been doing since spring; don’t tell Mr. Mode!)--and helping people prep is really what I want to be doing, so I am employing the, “Do what you love, the money will follow,” philosophy. I am a researcher, writer, editor, and event planner by profession. These are the tools that people who don’t have the time or inclination to plan their preps need, so I’m giving it a go.
The other reason I am doing this (offering reports for a fee) is because, frankly, I don’t think people have the luxury of seven or eight months to get up to speed and then begin laying in their preps. I may be wrong. I hope I am. But in the event I’m not, to know that I helped someone get organized and on the road to prepping weeks or even months sooner than they would have otherwise would please me.
Here’s the site if you want to look at it: www.nhpandemicplanner.com
I’m afraid to ask, but please tell me if you think it is absolutely morally reprehensible to charge. And please tell me if you think there’s a snowball’s chance in hell of this helping anyone.
Edna, I fell across your site a few days ago while research nh pandemic or something along those lines on google. I had bookmarked it for future reading so haven’t checked it out yet.
I don’t know about the charging people for a plan issue. I have thought the same thing and do have a web page for my town that is almost ready to go up.
I watched our budget meeting last night and they talked about emergency management. They specifically said they wanted volunteers. Ok I have volunteered numerous times. I am emailing one more time to the person who seems to be in charge and see what he says. If he says no, which I believe there will be a 50% or more chance that he will, I am planning on bringing that up at our forum. I am going to say, you asked for volunteers, I volunteered and yet you said no.
Go NH, go! (And I hope y’all haven’t pulled all your hair out yet!)
(Maybe they want obedient volunteers; that will do what they are told and no more, and no questions about how details will work in real life? Those aren’t the kinds one needs looking at this end of an H5N1 pandemic.)
Welcome any new NH readers,
(Maybe they want obedient volunteers; that will do what they are told and no more, and no questions about how details will work in real life? Those aren’t the kinds one needs looking at this end of an H5N1 pandemic)
You hit the nail on the head. They don’t want people who call them on their plan. I found out the hard way and alienated a few people but am slowly working my way back in (I hope). We will see, our meeting is coming up and I have my 14 questions. I think they (TPTB) might stop my questions as there are “too many”. But hey I will give it a shot.
Look, look! a Pandemic Planning Coordinating Committee
Minutes from Sept 2006 meeting: http://tinyurl.com/yk634e http://www.dhhs.state.nh.us/DHHS/CDCS/ppcc.htm
Sounds like some of them would appreciate your awareness! Do the members know about The Flu Wiki?
Yeah. Pandemic Planning Coordinating Committee that hasn’t met since last spring. Woohoo.
Sorry to be so negative. I have been in e-mail contact and telephone contact with many people on this committee, including the DHHS commissioner. Most responses are patronizing and glib.
If you look at the info on the state’s official avian flu home page, it still, despite assurances given to me in September that the Web site would be updated “soon,” does not mention human-to-human transfer as a transmission method.
(R-r-r-!…. ‘’re-dons squint-eyed garoyle mask, and resumes lurching along, swinging dead duck and dragging Mortuary Reserve Corps shovels, in search of the living dead officials who refuse to prepare the public; I hope they have nightmares”…)
(Guess I better cut back on the left-over Halloween candy. Sorry, back to you, NH…at least the name says “Pandemic” -our local one doesn’t)
OK. I stand corrected. Those committee minutes are well worth the read. This committee is a different committee than the one I thought you had linked to (although they share many of the same members).
Any NH preppers should read the minutes, not just September but all of them going back to March. There is a lot of red tape speak, but there is also a sense of urgency that surprised me on the part of DHHS Cmsr. Stephen and several members on the committee.
Check it out and post reactions here. I’d like to see if others agree or disagree.
Also, big thanks to crfullmoon for posting the original link. I’ve been to that site many times and never seen the info on the committee. I think this info is newly posted.
Hi All - Haven’t posted in a long time. My big concern with the NH plan is that they are not doing enough to get individuals to prep. As far as I can tell, they have held one meeting in each town. I would like to see brochures in every library and town hall. Also, mailings to each household or sent home with school children would be a good idea. Human nature shows you must repeatedly ‘hit people over the head’ with an idea before it finally registers. The more we are prepared the less the state will have to worry about. It will free them up to concentrate on infrastructure problems. My DH and I are still plugging along with our preps. I don’t know anyone in our town that is prepping. Matter of fact, of all the people we know, only one couple has done anything. I’m kind of at the point now that since so few are ready, I don’t want to advertise that we are.
AMIREADY,
I take it you have contacted your town reps and asked what they are doing?
What ablout inquiring about a medical reserve corp for your town?
I hear what you say about alerting others to your preps, unfortunately that is a necessary evil.
Can you make some flyers and drop them off a few places around town?
If you need one let me know and i can send you a couple I made up.
(Just noting; too many places seem happy to collect Medical Reserve Corps names for “any community emergency” without
explaining to volunteers what a pandemic influenza year is, nor what the current cfr with current hospitals are, no vaccines for 6 to 9 months even if volunteers may have slight priority if any vax shows up, and not telling volunteers to prep for supply chain disruptions nor that educating the public now would cut down their future caseload, and closing schools and sending kids into protective distancing would reduce their caseload of the ages currently dying of H5N1.
Getting people to sign up and not doing a full disclosure is unethical, and looks better on paper now, than will have any practical value in a pandemic, without supplies and community education first.)
Sorry, “choir”. ;-)
So any news in NH? We are having a flu clinic and drill. the drill is to test how fast we can get people done. There are volunteers and so far I have only come up with 3 myself.
Don’t really know how far the “all hazards plans” are coming along since I am not privy to that.
Hi Birdie Kate,
Have been looking into the All Hazards Plans in NH; there are 19 regions, I believe, which tend to be defined by groups of towns around an urban center such as Concord or Newport or Keene. The DHHS website does have some updated info on this initiative, however, the rollout is very uneven around the state, and in rural areas it has been difficult to get anyone in the towns to attend meetings and get moving. Concord are AHP is well organized, and several months into their planned build up. They have nice brochures printed to be distributed soon via the schools, and are working to fill in volunteers in various skills areas to backstop HCW when it begins. Two things disappointed me there: the brochures bury PF as just one of many kinds of hazards, and the planning basis is for a relatively low attack rate and case fatality rate…far too low in my estimate…so surge capacity is probably underestimated and the recommendations for only a couple weeks prep are underwhelming…but the PTB do not feel they can go too far without instilling confusion or panic. BUT, that regions is moving, which is good.
Hi Dinkers, I will be moving into the Lakes Region 2 weeks from tomorrow. What is AHP?
“all-hazards plan”?
And failing to adjust those (for illustrative, discussion purposes only) attack and cfr CDC spreadsheet %s by now to current H5N1 examples is just plain wrong, and will cost lives.
Thanks crfullmoom. I agree.
Down here on the “border” we have had our avian flu meeting. Only 4 attendees but boradcast on local cable. Working to recruit volunteers. Having flu clinic drill in December.
No public education to speak of. No school flyers, no town flyers.
Starting MRC, but lack of acceptance by local people in general.
Still trying to get the word out. Either people ignore or say they have heard and that is it.
Local emergency management seem to be on the ball.
I think after the flu clinic they might just concentrate more on planning. Will have to see.
We are part of the Nashua region.
I agree small towns are probably having issues. Was told one town in our region said they are just planning for themselves cause “ain’t no one gonna help them”
Commonground, welcome to the Granite State! Hope you get into your new home before the snow flies. We live in the Sunapee area, which is still pretty, rural, and can be self-sufficient to a great extent if need be. When you get settled, you might want to look into the All-Hazards planning in your region. I can recommend a good contact in the Concord area AHP region, and have been provided various links to help with local plan building, and business continuity plan. Would also be happy to make recommendations for various prep supplies and suppliers if you like. Would prefer to do that off-wiki, so will watch for your signal here on this thread.
Another Welcome Commonground. We live in the Lakes Region, southern end. Also hope you get settled in before the snow.