August 24, 2011
Graphic: USGS
Something very unusual happened yesterday.
I was sitting at my desk office when the building began to shudder. My mind started racing to figure out what was going on: construction, a terrorist attack (after all, I do work in Washington, DC), an earthquake… An earthquake? In DC?
My husband also works in Washington so I immediately tried to call him to make sure he was all right, but cell phones weren’t connecting.
Thankfully, nothing too terrible happened, but it did make me think about what our family’s plan is in case of an emergency. Up until now my husband and I hadn’t thought much about it.
Isn’t that the way it usually works? It takes an emergency or disaster to make us re-evaluate our priorities and plans. Thankfully for us, we got a warning signal to move us to action. Not everyone does.
My husband and I now have a plan if disaster strikes and we will have the necessary documents in place — including a will — in case one of us gets hurt.
(Policymakers can turn to The Heritage Foundation for their disaster planning ideas. Just hours before the earthquake, Heritage experts presented their ideas to fix emergency preparedness.)
What is your plan in case of an emergency? Is your will up-to-date and in order? Please don’t wait until disaster strikes. Not everyone gets a warning or reminder like my husband and I did yesterday.
The Heritage Legacy Society can help Heritage members like you make and update their living will or trust. If we can be of assistance to you, please don’t hesitate to call us at (800) 409-2003. Or you can email us at legacy@heritage.org to request a free Wills Planner to help you through the process. Finally, you can always visit our planned giving website, MyHeritageLegacy.org, for unique ways to create your own plan and legacy for freedom.
Rich Albert - August 26, 2011
Great article, planning is especially important when kids are involved. In a disaster if kids know basic information about relatives including contact information it helps local officials. Our company requires that we carry a card for “ICE information” and we designate ice contacts on our cell phones, ICE stands for,” in case of emergency” it’s a code that EMS, fire and police recognize… I made one for each of our kidos so that if we are temporarily seperated we reduce the time it will take to re-unite, for us it’s all about family.