Rhea County organization offers disaster plan workshop

photo Anna Johnson, agent with the UT Extension Agency in Rhea County, Tenn.

IF YOU GOWhat: "What Will You Do When a Disaster Strikes?" curriculumWhen: June 10 through June 14 from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m.Where: Rhea Richland Senior Center, 241 Alabama Ave., Dayton, TNAdmission: FreeInformation: To make a reservation, due to limited seating of 40, call Anna Johnson at 423-775-7807.

DAYTON, Tenn. - Rosie Penney, 85, had a safe place to seek shelter and a backpack with three days of supplies when devastating tornadoes struck parts of Rhea and Bledsoe counties in 2011.

"We were ready," Penney said about her fellow seniors and the organizers at Rhea Richland Senior Center, where she participates in activities.

The senior center hosts an annual workshop on helping seniors develop a disaster plan, which contains having a three-day supply of food and necessities to help sustain them.

Penney said the center's annual program is "a wonderful thing" to help educate senior residents in Rhea County, since many people might not know where to go or what the three-day sustainable essentials are.

This year, senior center Director Marilyn Monday and Anna Johnson, an agent with the University of Tennessee Extension Agency, will offer the first half of the curriculum to all adults, rather than to senior adults only.

Johnson said the program will feature four topics, including developing a communication plan about a safe place for shelter and a contact list of emergency workers and family members. She said each person should have a list of 10 phone numbers, in case of a power outage.

Another topic, she said, will feature the need for an emergency food kit for each household member. The backpack should include canned vegetables and fruits, crackers, cereal and trail mixes. An updated first-aid kit and batteries for flashlights in the prepared kits oftentimes are neglected, Johnson said.

"A lot of us think that we're in an area where it won't happen," she said of disasters, but this year's winter power outage and previous tornadoes show otherwise.

Penney said that she hopes that new senior residents or adults with elderly parents will attend and learn how to "be prepared."

Tennessee State University authors developed the emergency preparedness and food safety curriculum featured at the workshop.

Kimberly McMillian is based in Rhea County. Contact her at kdj424@bellsouth.net.

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