hello and welcome to what's going on i'm jan ite and with us this morning is ross bon bon bon belmont firefighter who is here to talk with us about  emergency preparedness and the pile of life absolutely ok morning good morning and thank you so much for being here oh it's my pleasure my pleasure so where would you like to start well why don't we start with the file of life ok we here in belmont in the past have used the voluble of life which was a little pill bottle that came from a pharmacy that we would have you fill out some paperwork about your past medical history in the medications you take who would have you put it in that bottle and then put it in your refrigerator when we came to your house in an emergency we would look in there for that bottle so we could have that information  we have something new that seems to be working a bit better not just here in belmont but it also in massachusetts and across the country and it is the file of life that you can see that i've kind of blue one up that might be able to see a little bit better that's what it looks like the front of it it is just a poached clear plastic poach with a magnet on the back that you will stick on your refrigerator so i'm going to talk to you a little bit about this it's a multifaceted approach for us and all kind of go through the the beginning of it in how we get your house in all the reasons why we like to have this all right so first for us is coming to your house in an emergency it's all type of times of the day could be the middle of the night in for us is to be able to get there as quickly as we can everything for us is time sensitive we would like to get to your house as quickly as possible render care to who may be at need need need the care in also to get you to a hospital appropriate facility in a timely manner so it's not for us coming to your house in a fire truck in our ambulance which is rescue one and it's important that we can find your address so we do have some problems in town where there are houses that are not very well lit or they don't have numbers on their house and that becomes an issue for us so we like to make sure that people know that it's important to have your house numbered in the numbers be at least four inches in height lots of people ask us why we have a fire truck go to someone some medical emergency get down so in and just want to explain that to some people don't understand that for us it's a safety issue first and foremost we would like to be as safe as we can we do have residents that live on the second and third floor of houses in town doors are always locked windows are always locked of course everyone's trying to be safe in we may need to find a way to get into your house to help you if someone's incapacitated they can't get to their door to let us in we will have to find a way to get in and that's why we have the fire truck with us our engine or a ladder truck they'll go on the calls with the fire rescue and they will help us gain entry to the house so we can help the citizen in need x so so that's just the beginning part ok so now we  have we have got in and we're trying to help whoever needs help and we would like to have as much information as we can we'd like to know what that patient's past medical history is to they have a heart condition or diabetes is there something that truly ails them they have a chronic medical condition very important absolutely absolutely we would like to know what type of medications they're taking  and we also like to know what allergies they may have to medications that's just as important to us as it is the medication seems we are in belmont we're fortunate to have advanced life support advanced life support caregiver what advanced life support does for our community is give gives us the opportunity to administer any type of drugs that we may need for someone in a cardiac condition ok diabetic condition pain management if someone falls and breaks a leg we're able to give some sort of pain medicine to get them to the hospital so there is comfortable as possible so what we do in with the file a life it'll be a sheet of paper or something just like this you can see that this is something that you fill out in hopefully you fill it with your doctor it's important for you to know  well as your doctor and then us what the medications that you take in why you take them we we find a lot of citizens that don't understand the medicine they take or why in if they fill this out with a doctor they might get a better explanation of exactly why they're taking it and in how much of the universe and they do take unfortunately here in the united states we have one hundred twenty five thousand people a  from taking the wrong medication or the wrong amount that's about one every four minutes so it's definitely a systemic problem throughout the united states in i think the file life is just one way to combat that so the system themselves knows exactly what they're taking in home which to take in the proper times to take so this you do people have all the pertinent information of your name your address  emergency contact that the you may have whether it's a family member a friend loved one it will have a checklist of any type of past medical history may have they'll have be another part we can add if you don't see see that medical condition the you can add it list of you your medicines the frequency that you take your medicines and then on the back is a continuation in that also be a section for drug allergies so we can know even if it's food yet food allergy we want we want to know because when we bring you to the hospital we're going to try to transfer that information to the nurses and darling they want to know just as much so it's very very important to us that it's like a  collaborative effort we we want to we want to get your house if we want to get to you as safely as we can we want to get you out of the house as safely as you can and then get you to the appropriate facility so all very important to us that's wonderful yes that's a wonderful program it is you know how do we get that how do you get these how do you get pills ok so we will i have just ordered these they'll be coming in shortly hopefully and they'll be a few different avenues you can to get these you can go down to the senior center the senior center will have a whole bunch of these that will give them we'll have them at the firehouse and if you for some reason can't get to the firehouse or you're not as mobile you can certainly call the non emergency number for the town of belmar for the fire department or the police department or dispatchers in town take care of both the police department and fire department they will get in touch with us one way or another and if you have a problem gladly run one l t l it's not a problem at all so it's great it is it's a it's a wonderful program and like i say it's something that for us it just makes our people might not be thinking as clearly as they possibly can because it's an emergency it's if you're not used to it it's we're used to emergencies so we try to stay pretty calm but for most people it's it can be very chaotic so us asking you a million questions about you know your medical history and what medicines you take and why you take the medicines is probably about the last thing rolling around in your in your head right then right yeah so the easier it is for you these areas for us in the quicker and safer it is for everyone ok that's there's just such a wonderful program it is and would you be able to have for instance one of these per person grabs hold absolutely  we would love to have one for each person is it whether you're two years old or you're eighty two years old everyone has a medical history maybe taking medicines for one one reason or another and it's just something that saves time  and makes it safe you know we do when i say this is a multifaceted approaches there's so many different things that can come up with seven in emergency and so we do have a decent amount of the population that either cannot relate properly has a walker or a wheelchair some people are bedridden some of those may have some capabilities that they're not able to function properly and need help and there is also a sheet of paper that you can get at the police station a suspect center and it's a nine one one disability indicator ok and it's simply a form  fill out and it states you know where you live what your medical condition that doesn't allow you to maybe get up in be able to answer a door or maybe you're deaf or  legally blind whatever the condition really be what this does is it it gives it to our nine one dispatchers and it's very confidential it stays in a file under your address with your phone number and address come up on a nine one one call it will state to them that this person so and so to a polo road is blind in me have a difficult time getting to the door or this person is bed ridden in you're going to have we're going to have to get in one way or another ok so that that leads us up to when i was stating about the the numbers the lighted numbers and make sure that we can find your your house right and emergency it would also go for if you're unable to emulate and get to a door and your doors are locked is that there is a key somewhere or a pass code to a lock on your door that we were able to get into your house to help you we do find that a lot that maybe there is some citizens that you know can't get around or they're in capacity of maybe the fell in the you know bang their head in their knocked unconscious or they're just getting around from being unconscious and they are able to dial nine one one but they can't really walk we need to get into your house and if if this any any type of issue that would prohibit you from being able to answer the door or get around quickly enough then this is an option is to have a hide a key or a combo lock and this piece of paper will give that to our dispatchers and they will be able to tell us in a very secure manner that yes this person this household has a combo lock in this is the combination so when we get there we can just simply get in as quickly as possible to help you so we're not having to try to maybe grab a ladder and get in through a window when if the windows lock now we have to try to unlock it or jimmy it or the same thing with the door last the last thing that we want to do is do any damage to anyone's house in order to get in to help them but we are going to get in to help them one way or another right so yeah that's why this is all a very multifaceted approach for us it's it might seem fairly simple but there are so many different avenues that that's what we want to do it program please don't hesitate to get in touch with us at the firehouse and get in touch with me you can ask for me specifically and i will gladly call anyone back or e mail anyone back at any appropriate information or files out to them or whatever it may be will gladly get it in their hands so thank you for that absolutely absolutely so we are we're also  starting a program for our older adults that may have difficulties with their smoke detectors we smoke detectors are paramount to us of importan want to make sure that all of our citizens have the appropriate smoke detectors in car monoxide detectors in their house to keep them safe we do know that we need to test our smoke detectors and come in actually detectors every month once a month we like to tell from kindergarten it's all the way up to our older adults we teach them about smoke detector safety and test them once a month to make sure they're working we change the batteries in them twice a year during daylight savings time once in the fall once in the spring change your clocks we change the batteries and i smoke detectors and detectors we want to make sure they're working if they're not going to help us if they're not working right so but we also were able to get a grant through the state through a senior safe program safe program is the student awareness of fire education we teach specific program to children kindergarten through fourth grade  myself in a couple of other fellow firefighters we go in and teach this program a different program to each grade kindergarden first second third and fourth it's all very specific to fire safety but we touch on smoke detectors every single year it's that important to us so this new program that we've got through our senior safe grant through the state is allowed us to purchase a number of smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors in we have these for our older citizens that may not be able to change their batteries or change smoke detectors smoke detectors are good for about ten years before you have to replace them a common oxides anywhere between six and eight years is both to life expectancy so we'd like to change those so we will have these on hand and be able to  give them to our citizens if they are unable to acquire them on their own or if they need help putting them up we are going to go out and help our citizens by putting them in their homes for them  so this program will start through we're going to do something through the senior center as well as our website and in town the the fire department website and we will come out investigate what you need and try to help the best we can  that's wonderful yeah it's a great program it's very very important to us that you see smoke detectors save lives it's it's so important that we mention it every year to two all so  we want to keep everyone safe in town thank you and i have been wobbling up at the top of the ladder you know it is in placing a smoke detector and it's a little scary if you happen to be there alone it is it absolutely we don't want you up on a lot of by yourself and you know a lot of people have the cathedral ceilings now where they're thirteen fourteen fifteen feet up in the air and it can be difficult so we want to make sure that we're there to help this so emergency preparedness if we want to talk about some general ones that kind of go along with the file of life ok so when we encounter any type of birds the weather it's a power outage maybe someone's hosts get flooded by broken pipes during the wintertime there are numerous reasons why someone may need to leave their house for a day or two or three who knows what's going to happen right especially after great questions from our older adults there talking about what they need and what they should have and we try to discuss everything for our all the community whether it's fall prevention audience they come up with great questions so this is what we're going to try to do every other month so what i just talk to them about on this winter emergency is having something by their bedside and i call it an emergency to go back something that you can hang on your bedroom door or your closet door that's near you that's your bedside at bedside it would be great to have like maybe a mini flashlight so if you have to get up in the middle of the night and it's dark you have a way to get where you need to get out to the bathroom or you need to go downstairs to the kitchen no whatever it may be the have a lighted way to go so you can get to that light switch right or if there  is a power outage and there are no lights you how something so you can get around safely in your house we don't want anyone to trip and fall down and hurt themselves and that's just one of the little ways maybe a period glasses an extra pair of glasses have on your bedside and can have in that emergency bag along with a flashlight you know here a few days worth of your medications have in the little pill cases that have like the seventy yes maybe having one of those filled in keep it in the bag or on your night stand so if there is an emergency that's right there right next to you can grab it with you as you go ok so you know when you can put anything in that bag you want anything that you think you will need that's important to you your every day living have it there whether it's your medication list your meds like i say the glasses a little flash slate maybe it's a book maybe a read every day just something to make your life is a year in if you do need to leave your house  those are things that we try to stress and keep for emergencies to go along with that we don't often think about that but there are some certain situations where it's an emergency in have to  d makes sense to have a bag right there ready to go if that's the case it is it's no one wants to have an emergency and then else no one thinks they're going to have an emergency the house so the better you are prepared the easier it is in the safer it is for you we're in the fight of whether it's the fire department and police department we have plans for everything you know we have to we have to be planned out because it's someone else's emergency and where coming to help and we want to make sure we do it as professionally and as we can so it pays to be planned ahead you're doing a good job of it than you and i right i really appreciate you sharing time is of the essence for us you know there's a reason why we try to get you to your house as quickly as possible that's why we have the lights and sirens on our fighter x because it's important to you it's an emergency happening to you we want to get there is quickly as we can we want to help us quickly as you can that's most important is getting the help to you as quickly as possible and i  i also would feel so much better knowing that you would have a list of contacts emergency contact people absolutely because that's important to i mean you know when you might my children don't live with me anymore right but they would certainly need to be notified straight away absolutely it's and that it is definitely important to have that because we get that ass all the time we'll have someone that's on a stretcher that we're putting in the back of our rescue  to go to the hospital like can call so and so can you call my daughter can call my son in to let them know i'm going to the hospital and it is it's very important to have that information is much is it is important to have that information on the sheet it's also important to keep keep it up to date because most people's medications change and phone numbers change whatever it may be so it's often as you need to make copies of this or change it we ask that everyone does and i have a question also i find that there are times when i am making a particularly long drive alone and and i was thinking that would be so good to have in the car with me  even the file of life yeah right there on the dashboard or someplace where it could be rightfully found absolutely no that's just such a wonderful thing so you plan ahead already y that would be good would be good yeah and i think you know having that for every buddy in the household is a good thing to it now absolutely not just the seniors but everybody who in the household and have now we just take it with me when i go up i'm going out on drive some place where you go that's it for you even if you know you keep in multiple copies right on the refrigerator you can have one in here yeah you can also have some copies just you know kitchen table or hang on the kitchen table and so you can keep that information right there you can just take one of these and give it to us and so here you go and the original copies right there in the file yes of would it whatever works for you is  have so many great ideas or no i just i think the i think this is a wonderful program it is and we're going to hope to get it out to as many people as we can can say were we've got them on the water and hopefully they'll be in soon and they'll have them down the senior center we'll have them at the fire department of course excellent and not to forget about the nine one one or something that we can yes be able to gain entry to your house without having a break in so this is a good goal to set for the first of the year if not before even better even better  know start the new year out feeling really confident that you got all these things in place and you taking responsibility for making sure that it is available absolutely absolutely you know we try to build in make things safer for our community every year in we've done from the past right up to now where like i say the advanced life support here in town is wonderful we have a great great group of guys and girls are paramedics and firefighters that just do a great job so as a member of this community i can tell you i'm very grateful to know that thank you very much it is thank you very much appreciated we try to stay on the forefront of of everything if we can we try to be one of the first ones in the state if there's something new when better out there we try to jump right on it and be there oh well i think we've covered all the things that we are that we had that we wanted to make sure to mention today and i thank you