One of the biggest challenges of citizen preparedness is getting the citizenry to actually focus on preparing. As I have mentioned on the blog, I favor establishing a specific day (possibly September 11th) as a National Preparedness Day.
Another idea was suggested to me a couple years ago by George Foresman, a former top U.S. preparedness official and one of the most knowledgeable and thoughtful people on this subject. Foresman pointed out to me that there is currently a day in the year when much of America is not only focused on ‘preparing’ their homes but are also in front of their televisions — Super Sunday.
Foresman thinks there is an opportunity for a public education effort tying viewer ‘preparations’ for the game and for an emergency, including some PSAs during the telecast. (Personally, I could envision a spot with 24’s Kiefer Sutherland/Jack Bauer talking about the value of having a family emergency plan in case of an emergency.)
I think Foresman’s Super Bowl preparedness idea is clever and worth trying.
3 responses so far ↓
1 Harry // Jan 31, 2009 at 3:17 pm
I love it!
And they can re-use the clip from I think it was two seasons ago where in the first episode he’s hiding and then somebody finds him, he pushes furniture out of the way, grabs his bag out of a hole in the wall and gets out of Dodge. Too late for this year, but definitely give Kiefer’s people a call.
2 Bruce Curley // Feb 1, 2009 at 8:13 pm
Agreed. When people practice a fire drill, they learn to leave a building calmly. So too, with emergency preparedness. As the Boy Scouts know, “Be prepared!” Practice is essential to preparedness. Sadly, is it often death, injury and destruction that leads to preparedness…ask the insurance companies.
3 You Have One Less Hour Today, But Do One More Thing // Mar 8, 2009 at 5:42 am
[...] their kits as well as their emergency plans and focus in general on the topic of preparedness. (Or, even if there was a high profile moment every year.)Â But in the meantime, it makes sense to piggyback onto a twice-a-year event that is already [...]
Leave a Comment