Ready Rating Program

How prepared is your business, school or organization for a disaster or emergency?

Hurricanes and other natural disasters are not the only emergencies that could affect your business or organization.  Water main breaks, medical emergencies, and power outages can also affect the daily routine in the work place.

The American Red Cross has developed the #Free Ready Rating Program to help businesses, schools and other organizations assess their readiness level and take steps now to better prepare for emergencies.

Ready Rating has a variety of tools including:

• An Emergency Response Plan Tool
• Program members can build a custom plan to help their employees know their roles in the first 24-71 hours of an emergency
• Next Steps Report
• Recommends specific actions members should take and the level of effort required to execute them
• A Resource Center
• Includes preparedness tools including activities and exercises, so businesses can better develop and practice preparedness plans
• A Ready Rating Store
• Emergency supplies

Ready Rating Program Members complete a confidential assessment of their current readiness level for emergencies and receive immediate, customized feedback with resources and tips to help them improve their level of readiness.

Be prepared before an emergency or disaster strikes!

Download the American Red Cross Emergency App to stay up to date during an emergency.

Drought Days

The State of South Carolina is currently in the yellow level on the drought scale.

A drought is a period of dry weather that lasts long enough to create an imbalance.

The Red Cross has tips to help you conserve water during a time of drought.

1. Never pour water down the drain when there maybe another use.

2. Make sure your home is leak free.

3. Don't overwater your lawn.

4. Use a shut-off nozzle on your hose that can be adjusted down to a fine spray, so that water flows only as needed.

5. If you have a well at home, check your pump periodically.

6. If you have a swimming pool, consider installing a new water-saving pool filter.

Remember to download the FREE Red Cross Emergency App to stay prepared during emergencies.

Adults: Get in the Swim

Love sunning poolside but can’t jump in because you never learned to swim?  Been thinking how much fun it would be to join the family in the surf one of these vacations?  There’s no better time than the present to learn how to move and stay safe in the water.

Here are four stats that might encourage you to get off the deck chair and into lessons before this year’s beach season:

1.     It’s easy to get out of your depth: about 10 people a day die from unintentional drownings.

2.     Adults don’t always know better: 80 percent of drownings are of people 14 years and older.

3.     You’re a role model:  if you don’t know how to swim, there is only a 13 percent chance your kids will learn.

4.     You’ve got company: an estimated 35% of adults can’t swim the length of a standard pool.

So if you are ready to get out of the shallow end, hone your vintage skills or kick it up a notch, consider one of the following all-new American Red Cross swim classes now on offer for adults:

• For absolute beginners, there is the Adult Swim—Learning the Basics class, which will help you overcome any fears of the water and teach you essential water competency skills.
• If you can already swim but want to improve or update your skills, try the Adult Swim—Improving Skills and Swimming Strokes class. With its emphasis on foundational skills and water comfort as well as proficiency in all strokes, this is a great class for parents who want to enjoy the water more safely with their children or who need a strong foundation for other activities such as SCUBA.
• For the aspiring triathletes and master swimmers out there, consider Adult Swim—Fitness Swimming, a class that will get you fit and stroke-ready for endurance and competitive swim sports.

Don’t miss the boat!  Go to your local pool this weekend and ask to sign up for Red Cross swim lessons. Check out local Red Cross classes here: www.redcross.org/takeaclass