Are there any preppers in Pennsylvania here?
We’re in SE PA. We’ve been gathering items that will be difficult to get later; med supplies, personal protection, dried foods, etc… We have our lists and plans in place and we hope we don’t have to execute any of them!
bump - hope we don’t lose you all if this thread gets closed…:(
Anyone here in Philadelphia? I’m looking for community groups that are doing anything in response to this looming threat, so I can tell our block what others are doing. I am the only person in all my circles even mentioning it at all. Whassup y’all? Anybody? Holla back.
Lorelle- I think the lesson we need to learn from Katrina is that we need to take responsibility for ourselves in time of crisis. Relying on local, state, federal govt is a mistake. Make a plan for you and your family. Share your ideas with others who will listen, most will not. I see no evidence of planning in my neighborhood in the Philly burbs, but I know all hell will break loose in the event there is a problem.
Lorelle- I think the lesson we need to learn from Katrina is that we need to take responsibility for ourselves in time of crisis. Relying on local, state, federal govt is a mistake. Make a plan for you and your family. Share your ideas with others who will listen, most will not. I see no evidence of planning in my neighborhood in the Philly burbs, but I know all hell will break loose in the event there is a problem.
I am in South Central PA, but with family just north of Pittsburgh as well. We’re trying to stay ready out here …
Salthouse, I’m in bucks county.
I am also in Bucks County and no one ever brings it up, and I am not going to, since the one or two times I have, people think you are nuts. No one at work ever talks about it except me and a co-worker I am trying to get to prep. He has a few cans of stuff and a very few bottles of water
I have a son, his wife and 3 grandaughters that I am trying to prep for as well as me and spouse, since they do not have time money, or inclination to do so. Still looking out for them even when they are out on their own. Hopefully we never have to use most of the preps. And this goes away. Can not get past the boy scout motto “Be Prepared”.
hi nj jeeper, I actually emailed someone in the bucks county government (health department, maybe?) a few months ago and they actually responded. they didn’t say much but they didn’t say i was crazy either - probably because anything in writing could come back to bite them! If you can find other people interested in raising community awareness I’d be glad to help. My husband works for a company in princeton and they actually mentioned it in the company newsletter. I’m in central bucks.
I think most large companies have been preparing for awhile. The large tech firm I work for has recently (and publicly) announced its support for worldwide BF planning. They also have internal plans for dealing with a long term situation. There seem to be alot of resources online to help prep in terms of food/supplies. In particular the Mormon community has a basic principle of being prepared for emergency situations that lends itself to BF prepping. I’m more curious about the social/political aspects of a crisis. Quite frankly that’s a little more concerning to me. We have plans to relocate to rural northern Maine in the event of a serious outbreak. The difficulty is determining when, and not being sure if quarantine conditions will allow us to leave. In the event we can’t leave, we are preparing to stay as well. BTW- we are in western Montgomery county. I’d be happy to share our lists, tipping points, etc… if anyone is interested.
We’re in a norhwest suburb in Montco right outside of Philly and as far as I can see, no one around us is prepping. We have a small police force (24) in the Township and can see problems down the road if the SHTF but we have no where to bug out to…so we’re doing all we can to be self sufficent. I just don’t see the Township leadership having the time, resources or the structure to do much of anything significant for the community…it’s going to come down to each and every individual being responsible for their own. Would love to know there are others around us prepping.
I’ve avoided making comments for many months, waiting for other preppers from the area to join in. Now it seems that time has arrived. For many months it was clear that raising the topic led to stares and people thinking that my wife and I had lost our minds. Gradually more friends are taking note. Our local community bordering Philadelphia is taking the subject seriously, but is awaiting the County plan which is not yet complete and has not been circulated for comment.
It would be helpful to create a local planning group asap to help ourselves and others who see that planning on the individual and local level will make the difference if our worst fears materialize.
Salthouse… if you could share your list and any tips, that would be great. I just started preparing and have a long way to go, so I’d like to see a “real” list that someone is actually using. I have a timeline for preparedness of the next three months… trying to spread out the cost. email if you’d like (and anyone else that would like to send theirs) gray52@comcast.net. We plan to ride it out here in Schuylkill County unless the SHTF, then we’ll drive about 3 hours to our cabin in Jefferson County. I’m just amazed at the number of people who aren’t even giving this a thought. The moment i start talking about it, they look at me like I’m a crazy… and I tell them that this is not Y2K, and they just laugh at me. Warning signs were there for 9/11 and they laughed. Warning signs were there for Katrina and they laughed. Hey… if i’m wrong on this, i’m out a few hundred bucks.
Gray52… Check out the lists developed for the PA Plan as a starting place. There have also been many lists generated for earlier threads on the flu wiki. Look through the topic lists and you’ll find the direct references to them. if I can find one I’ll pass it on to you here. Also note the PA Regional meeting coming up in your area on June 19 or 22. We’re still waiting for a meeting in Southeastern PA.
http://www.pandemicflu.state.pa.us/pandemicflu/site/default.asp
lauro in pa, I am close to central bucks.
My company has made no mention other that they think it is not going to happen and it a bunch of histeria.
Now that is one person who said that, but pretty high up. But not the Prez, and he may come around once his wife who is a schoolteacher starts getting involved. She is pretty savy. Once they decide to move on this, I have lots of info from fluwiki and flutrackers etc, so we can move on the plan. It is somewhat mind boggling when I think about keeping the company going with 40% absent and all the disruptions possible in the supply chain. We will just deal with it.
In the meantime, just keepin’ on preppin.
But understand with the typical prepper paranoa, I am staying low key and being very quiet about my preps.
So, it sound like really nothing much is stirring up in PA communities. I know the city officials have heard something and say some words to sound like they’re ready for something, but I think they really don’t have a clue as to what the threat really is. The neighborhoods are so busy reacting to daily acts of violence that it is hard to plan ahead for anything. Our block association is stepping up our meetings and activities, but not in response to Bird Flu. It can’t hurt to polish up lines of communication though, then when word of something comes out it can spread.
Sorry, forgot to put my name in.
The Phila Inquirer had a recent story on the city’s BF plan. Here is the link http://tinyurl.com/j6lvy
I am in NE Pa. We have been prepping for a few months. A few of my friends have to. Two of us work in IT for some large companies and are concerned that neither is preparing. We are also concerned we would be expected to work and stay onsite for extended periods.
salthouse – at 23:01 Thanks for that article and link. I wrote in and gave them a piece of my worried mind.
I am in SW PA about a 45 minute drive south of Pittsburgh. I tried to spread the word to prepare. I wrote an editorial which was published in our local newspaper. I put together an avian flu/pandemic awareness and how to prepare seminar. Eighteen people attended. I tried to encourage people everywhere I go to stockpile. I found a few people who are secretly preparing. More or less not too many people take me seriously.
Interesting story for Lehigh Valley residents-http://www.mcall.com/news/local/all-a1_5pandemicjun05,0,3687381.story
Is there anyone from the Philadelphia area planning to attend the Avian Pandemic Conference sponsored by the National Academies and PAHO in Washington on September 19 and 20?
Brunetti - I am in S. Central PA and work for Dept of Health. I won’t be attending the conference but keep up on what new planning PA is putting in place. I know DOH is currently working on a “work from home” initiative for the agencey that will help keep the wheels turning.
Do you plan on attending the conference?
Scorsbee - Yes, I will be attending the conference. I am very curious to see what the professionals in the field have to say about the ethical and legal questions that we all will face when and if the day comes. The plans that I have seen skirt the issue when it comes to human and property rights. Truth be told, so few people will have given thought to the possibilities associated with a pandemic, that the plans when implemented will seem like total marshall law to many. The implications as attested too by many in the forum are far reaching.
It appears that many counties in PA have yet to adopt even preliminary plans. Time could be growing short and in the absent of local involvement in planning by law enforcement and the local service providers in the development of these plans will lead to a lack of ownership and general chaos. I hope your health department is involving the people who will have to implement the plan and the citizens who have been thinking about this problem for some time.
Hi thre! I’m also from PA … Central PA …and began meeting with our ESA office regarding Pandemic Flu Planning/Awareness in this area. I am learning that there is so much more to the ‘pre-planning’ before actual implementation starts. For one, apparently the structure of our PA gov’t does not always follow the same guidelines as the rest of the states since we are a ‘commonwealth’. I didn’t realize that in regards to what the Homeland Security has put in place for national guidelines. I’m still fuzzy on all the particulars, so don’t ask me to explaine … I’m new at this, as a volunteer! Also, our county does NOT have a county Health Department … so where do the folks go who want more information? Esp. the ones who do not have access to the internet? Called and spoke with the PA Dept. of Health and their only answer (after a MONTH!) was that folks are going to have to call the 1–877 PA HEALTH # for info and be directed to websites or Healthcare workers! No formal BF hotline. Just who ever is available to answer the phone telling folk the next place to look/call. Frustrating! We’re ready to organize to start community awareness through organized info. gatherings,public media and in print, but need help with the resulting inquiries from the public other than calling the ESA office, where resources are limited. That’s probably why PA counties are behind the 8 ball in preparing. Also, the last of the state summits was held in Valley Forge early Summer, so the counties are probably just starting to get their planning into concrete actions. (I’m assuming and hoping that’s why they are so behind!) I attended that meeting (one of 6 PA summits) and there were well over 600 people in attendance. But there was not a lot of specific direction given to them on just where to start and what to do in getting their public awareness started in their communities. I was disappointed in the lack of more specific direction. Anyway … any suggestions/resources would be helpful. I’ll be volunteering with our ESA office as a citizen, but a VERY WELL PREPARED and INFORMED citizen regarding individual household preparations. -k
Thanks CAPmom for the update on your experiences. There surely is a great deal of elements to the pre-planning before the final plans are implemented. I’m glad to hear that 600 + people attended the Valley Forge summit, but sad to hear that it lacked specificity to help planning. It makes one feel that every community may be reinventing the wheel in this process.
Could you please post info about your public awareness meetings so that maybe we can compare notes and possibly improve means of getting more people involved?
CAPmom - Great job on getting involved in our area! What is “ESA Office”? You probably read that I work for the PA Dept of Health above. Below is the link to the PA Pandemic awareness website.
You are correct that it is still not easy for non-internet users to access information.
Is the funding for the public awareness being supplied to your group?
Hi PA preppers! I am from SW PA, near the Pittsburgh International Airport. I’ve been prepping since spring 2006 and frequent another BF site---but I really like this one too! I am getting better at navigating the fluwikie. We have a college kid in Collegeville, PA----that worries me if/when the doo-doo hits the fan.
Does anyone know of any Avian Influenza workshops or seminars in PA for the near future? I’d be interested in going.
I proposed a “small rural community pandemic plan” for my rural township in June---absolutely no response from township supervisors---disheartening.
Take Care.
My son who’s in high school got sick and had to wait in the nurse’s office until I picked him up. He started up a conversation with her about the potential for a pandemic and the nurse responded that they’ve been going to training for a bit now. The plan is for the schools to close. She said some areas of the school that are unused are being used now as storage for community needs. (She didn’t specify what those needs were.) They are encouraging families to get flu shots. My son said that the nurse pretty much repeated everything he’s heard in our house abt SIP, infrastructure breakdown, etc. She did say that the local fire department could probably tell him more since they are in charge of taking care of the needs of the town…I thought that was an unusual comment but…
Topping this off is the recent offer at ACME markets for Preparedness Month - they are selling prepackaged bags of goods to feed a family of 2 (I believe) for $27, just basics. The brochure also reminds them to add gallons of water to the bags.
Two small signs that something finally kicking into gear in his suburb of Philly. Anyone else seen anything near you?
Jackson at 3:54 - The efforts of the Acme in marketing the prepackaged food packages are in coordination with the Montco. Health Dept. Beyond that effort I haven’t seen much taking place in the past few weeks. I hope that some us might be willing to distribute panflu fliers next weekend at events like the Cheltenham Harvest Festival (October 14) or at the Tyler State Park Craft Fair (Oct. 20–22). The fliers could be given out anywhere, especially at public events, etc. The ones developed by Inky are excellent. See the panflu fliers - http://mindspinner.net/docs/panfluflyerfinal.pdf
Actually I head into the city every Saturday to take my daughter to the University of the Arts and thought of handing some out there in addition to in my township, which is having our Harvest Fest next week as well. Thanks for the link for the flyers - I’ll use those!
JWS,
You are in SW PA? Me too! Is there any way to private message on this forum?