The Truth (about HIV Preparedness and Prevention in Light of the Indiana Outbreak)

Good afternoon, Charlotte!

This morning, while attempting to stay up-to-date on as much emergency preparedness-relevant material as I can, I ran across the rather concerning news from southern Indiana regarding the HIV outbreak declared by Governor Pence to be a public health emergency yesterday.

To read the Washington Post's article and catch some background on the information, click here. Essentially, Austin, Indiana has found itself becoming the epicenter of an HIV outbreak, spreading from its first confirmed case a mere three months ago to 72 confirmed cases as of Wednesday. While to some of you who find yourselves (as I do) more population statistically minded and living in a larger metropolis, this might not seem to be a huge number. However, note that Austin, Indiana has a population of only about 4,300, making this a public health emergency and a crisis emerging at an alarming rate.

In fact, Governor Pence has made a move to allow a pause for the state's ban on possession of syringes by anyone without a prescription in order to facilitate a needle exchange program by which residents can exchange previously used needles for clean syringes, regardless of the existence of a prescription, albeit in only Scott County, where Austin is located. The Governor, a Republican, had previously opposed any such policy allowing for needle exchanges, but it seems that drastic times are calling for drastic measures.

The declaration of a public health emergency in Indiana as the result of an HIV outbreak raises a lot of important points for emergency preparedness and readiness. Much of our work as Community Emergency Preparedness Corps members involves a focus on public health, and especially after going to college in DC and working in DuPont Circle for two years, a city and neighborhood hit especially hard by the AIDS crisis in the 1980's and the city with the highest prevalence of HIV in America, this is a concern that hits especially close to home.

First, there are the concerns about preventing the spread of HIV. If you are using intravenous drugs, please never utilize a previously used syringe. While I don't want to advocate for drug use, I understand that addiction is a very real and gripping concern, and I hope the needle exchange program put in place in Scott County, as well as in other parts of the country, is quick and effective. All it takes is one infected needle to contract the virus, so please take whatever steps are necessary to procure a clean syringe. When having sex, be safe. I cannot stress enough the availability of free condoms, and if you live in Charlotte you can visit either of two STD Control Clinics (addresses listed on this page) for free services, including free condoms and free screening for syphilis and HIV.

Further, if you are living with HIV, there are a number of concerns to be raised when preparing for disasters. Click this link to access the emergency preparedness page published by the US Department of Health and Human Services with specific relevance to those living with HIV. I am so happy that we are getting past the days of HIV/AIDS stigmatization and that treatment has progressed as far as it has over the past three decades, but there are some valid special considerations to think about. First, as with any prescription medication, always keep a two-week supply in stock. A tornado (or any other natural disaster) may cause you not to have access to your local pharmacy, whether by their closing or by your being stuck at home and unable to travel. Further, if the water supply is compromised during a disaster, infection can be easily spread through the water supply and HIV-positive status may make you more susceptible.

This outbreak of HIV in southern Indiana is a very real concern and a true public health emergency, but with a careful effort to prevent the spread of HIV, it is my hope that this contagion may soon be tamed. If you have any questions about what I've said in this article, or if you would like further resources on emergency preparedness relevant to living with HIV, feel free to e-mail me at rob@handsoncharlotte.org.

As always, stay safe, Charlotte, and after my visit to Asheville's Orange Peel for Dr. Dog's wonderful show last night, here's some great music for your damp afternoon!

Get Happy! (It's Good For Ya!)

Good afternoon, Charlotte!

In case you didn't know, it is the first day of Spring as well as International Happiness Day today! While I didn't need a badge and a soapbox to be authorized to tell you that happiness is more likely than not good for you, I am all about passing along the happiness inspiration, and this article from Yahoo! Health is a wonderful guide to different ways of finding happiness, whatever that may be.

Now I know there are probably some frown-faced sticklers out there who may be all too ready to say that happiness has absolutely nothing to do with emergency preparedness, but to you sad, sad sticklers, I say it has everything to do with helping you out in your time of need. Not only will living a happier life help you to live longer, but a sense of optimism and perhaps a little creativity may be just what you need after a disaster. Hurricane wipe out your town? Fire burn your house? Tornado literally turn your life upside down? It's not what happens that counts, but how we prepare and respond that really matters, and a great attitude can be key in a crunch.

What's my secret to happiness? Some days, caffeine, but the Yahoo! article suggests that food and drink laden with magnesium (coffee!) may actually be a mood enhancer. I know I've mentioned my wonderful desk neighbor/amateur photographer/soul sister Beth before, and she has some pretty awesome orchids that apparently have been overflowing our brains with happy chemicals without our even realizing it.

Beth's beautiful window orchid garden!

Other suggestions include volunteering. Feel free to check out the Hands On Charlotte calendar via this link if you're in the Charlotte area and are looking for a way to give back that fits in your schedule! Even more suggestions include things like having more sex (don't worry, we won't post any pictures of that on this page) and simply getting more sleep. As someone who works in an office and a restaurant and doesn't always get home until later at night, I can vouch for the need for sleep until the end of my days. At any rate, please do check out the article, crack a smile, and feel free to share what makes you happy with us so we might be able to integrate even more happiness into our own lives.

Click here to read the Yahoo! Health article with 30 different suggestions for improving your mood!

As always, stay safe, Charlotte! Share a smile with someone new today, and we promise to do the same! And because Molly and I are the two biggest diva hams I know, here's some Judy for your day.

Be True To Your School!

Good afternoon, Charlotte!

So as you may have noticed, Molly and I are pretty convinced that we live the best life ever, and I promise you we will not be slowing down with these awesome events any time soon. After the National Guard exercises last week, I wasn't sure if everything we did could hold up to such high standards, but I have to admit we had one amazing morning handing out information for Hands On Charlotte and the American Red Cross this morning at the Charlotte Fire Department's Life Safety Bowl! Essentially, we took an example of a go-bag someone might have packed in his or her closet, or near one's bed, so that if one wakes up to a house fire, one can grab the bag quickly and get out as safely as possible. 

What would you like to have in your go-bag? We took essentials like shampoo, soap, water and snacks, but we also had items we would enjoy and would be comforting during a tragedy. A book and a deck of cards were a couple of my favorites.

This kid wins my award for best dressed. Everyone had awesome tee shirts though!

If you had anything to do with the Life Safety Bowl, thank you so much for being part of such an awesome event. Molly and I had the time of our life, and it seemed like the kids were having a great time while learning all about preparedness and safety, topics which can be pretty dull if presented in the wrong light. Amazing job by all partners, and thank you a million times over to everyone who allowed us to be a part of it!

The best team ever, with items from our ready go-bag!

Now, while the education and conversations we were able to have with hundreds of CMS students were mind-blowingly wonderful, inspirational, and the main cause of our great time, we did also get to have some fun in the parking lot on our way out. Charlotte Fire brought our their pink firetruck (in support of breast cancer awareness), and we found Gus the Bus! If you haven't had the pleasure of meeting Gus (before today, I hadn't), he is a safety bus who tours Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, and we met the driver and educator who has been riding around town with Gus for the past 31 years! Amazing day!

I swear I work with a rockstar.

Because our life is a high school musical.

Molly with Gus' partner in education!

As always, stay safe, Charlotte, and if you have any questions about joining us in future emergency preparedness events, feel free to e-mail me at rob@handsoncharlotte.org!

And, because there is a video with John Stamos and trust me, he has jokes, here's a classic for your cloudy afternoon:

Breeze-(Felt So Nice While We Were Posting Flyers Around the)-Blocks

Good afternoon, Charlotte!

If you are one of our closest neighbors to the office, you may notice some brand new advertisements all around Plaza Midwood and NoDa for our home canning workshop next weekend, Yes We CAN! If you would like to purchase a ticket, you can click here and join us in the fun! However, regardless of your ability to attend, we would love for you to join in our fun and take selfies with our posters when you find them out and about, and please post them on Twitter and Instagram! Feel free to tag me (Twitter: @HOCDisasterPrep; Instagram: @robcoy715), Hands On Charlotte (Twitter: @HandsOnCLT; Instagram: @handsoncharlotte), or just come up with a slew of fun hashtags. We know we posted these flyers in some pretty nocturnally active neighborhoods as well, so we're excited to see what you creative spirits out there can come up with for a wacky picture to help us spread the word!

One of many posters up near the Common Market Plaza-Midwood!

Our poster in the heart of NoDa!

We hope to see many of you at our course, and we hope to see just as many if not more pictures out there in the Insta/Twitter-sphere. As always, we hope this finds you well, and if my reach of a title wasn't enough to let you know I've had a recent alt-J obsession, here's some funky waves for your day.

Stay safe, y'all!

Do the Can Can!

Good morning, Charlotte!

I really can't emphasize enough the importance of a 72-hour emergency food and water supply. In the event of an unexpected disaster and with the possibility of having to shelter in one's home, you really may not have time or the ability to go out and stock up on supplies before it is too late. And for any of you who have lived here for an extended period of time, you understand how quickly your neighborhood grocery store will run out of bread and milk, a phenomenon I may never understand.

To help make this process of stock-piling your three (or more!) day supply a little bit easier and a whole lot more fun, Molly and I will be hosting a home canning class on Saturday, March 28, from 10 AM - 1 PM at Friendship Trays. The class will include an overview of the processes involved in canning your own produce and food, a walk-through of canning a few fun and easy recipes, a delicious lunch provided by Friendship Trays, and all the corny jokes and wacky dance moves Molly and I can muster. I promise quite the good time, and it's our way of making emergency preparedness a little bit weirder and a lot more fun.

To learn more about the event and to purchase a ticket, click here!

To learn more about many of the benefits of home canning even beyond our always glamourous cause of emergency preparedness, click here to read a nifty article from Preparedness Mama!

And because Molly and I can't make it through a day without singing Moulin Rouge tunes across the office, enjoy the infamous can can scene from one of our favorite movies. And as always, stay safe, y'all!

(How We Told the National Guard That) We're Not Gonna Take It!

Good morning, Charlotte!

This weekend, Molly and I had the immense pleasure of helping out the National Guard with their Vigilant Guard exercises. If you happened to be driving down Brookshire Boulevard this weekend and saw crazy protestors in bright vests screaming outside the water treatment plant, it was us. We were so happy to include our Charlotte-Mecklenburg Volunteer Emergency Support Team in our efforts as well, and I believe everyone had quite the wild and wonderful experience. If you've ever wanted an excuse to make a ruckus and yell at your Armed Forces and pretend to get arrested and fight against riot gear, let me know; I'll include you in our plans next time.

It was a beautiful weekend to volunteer in Charlotte!

Zondra, Molly, Tara, and Shannon walked into a day of shenanigans on Saturday!

We also had volunteers helping out in the Emergency Operations Center at a different site. There, representatives from all sorts of government and non-government organizations had to practice their reaction given actions by the crazy protestors at the water treatment plant and different scenarios at other sites across town.

Here, Shannon, Zondra, Molly and I told the National Guard that we could lay down forever until we were able to speak with the appropriate personnel about chemicals in the water. Shannon even braided Molly's hair for a while as we laid in the streets!

Zondra berated the guards at the back fence for close to an hour, even throwing her legs under the fence as she tried to sneak through that way!

We didn't just protest, though. There were all sorts of crazy hijinks we were able to pull. At one point, Zondra faked a heart attack to initiate the medical team's response from another location, and Tara had an asthma attack, couldn't breathe, and a National Guard soldier had to initiate CPR. Thanks for taking one for the team, y'all!

Tara helping the National Guard walk through whatever steps necessary to save a life whenever needed, and I think she enjoyed every minute of it!

On Sunday, we brought in a whole new crew of protesting volunteers. Crystal, Kaitlin, Zach, and Chris joined us to fight against soldiers in riot gear, and we had some more nontraditional methods (like laying down in front of the riot gear and rolling toward them). I was even able to find a spot to break in after some good hassling, and I was immediately arrested.

It happens to the best of us!

All in all, it was really quite the exciting weekend and reminder that AmeriCorps' Community Emergency Preparedness Corps really can provide the time of your life. If you have any questions about what Molly and I do, or if you would like to become involved with our volunteer emergency support team and attend an upcoming training to join our ranks, please do not hesitate to e-mail me at rob@handsoncharlotte.org. It was certainly a weekend I will remember forever, and I am glad to have been able to share that experience with our volunteers.

The organizations involved at our site included both Army and Air Force National Guard, CM-VEST, Charlotte Fire Department, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Sheriff's Office, and staff from the water treatment plant. There were many, many more back at the Emergency Operations Center!

And, because a good protest isn't complete without some good Twisted Sister (Have any of you seen Rock of Ages??), enjoy this for your day, and please, join us next time and sing with us at our next faux protest. It's the time of your life, I promise. Stay safe, y'all!

(How To Help When There's) Fire on the Mountain!

Good afternoon, Charlotte!

I hope this finds you well on this dreary and wet day. One day every week, Molly and I have the immense pleasure of working out of the Charlotte American Red Cross office. One of our recent endeavors in our time here is helping out with their Disaster Action Team.

If you don't already know, the Red Cross will sometimes send out volunteers from their office to see how best to address the needs of individuals and familied affected by house fires. These volunteers will actually show up to the fire scene, assess what the individual or family's immediate needs are, and connect them with solutions to assist them in getting through the immediate aftermath.

So happy that I get to work with this girl every week!

As fate would have it, the Red Cross is actually looking to expand this program. Should you read this blog and happen to get your blood boiling in all the right ways when you think about helping people out in times of disaster, please do not hesitate to send me an e-mail at rob@handsoncharlotte.org. I am really quite excited to be joining in on this venture, and would love to give back with some of you as well. I don't know if you've noticed, but Molly and I really don't know how not to make everything we do into a positive experience and have a great time while helping others.

As always, stay safe, y'all, and enjoy some tunes (and coffee, if you're like me) to make it through this rainy afternoon!

Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (And How We Need To Plan To Do the Same)!

Good afternoon, Charlotte!

As you may have noticed, we try to find some interesting and engaging material regarding emergency preparedness outside of the more typical hurricane/tornado/earthquake/fire safety tips. While those are all certainly important and applicable and I'm going to tell you to have a 72-hour emergency supply in your home until the cows come home, I would also like to raise a valid point I found in an article on Forbes this morning: the importance of cybersecurity emergency preparedness.

Many of you are probably familiar with the recent cybersecurity breach surrounding Sony's release of The Interview (now available on Netflix, may I note), as well as the release of credit card information in breaches at Target and other stores.

While many places focus on being ready in the case of a loss of power or hardware, or for the equally real threat of a fire or earthquake, Ray Rothrock points out in this article published on Forbes.com that many places do not have much-needed plans for how to deal with breaches of cybersecurity. In his piece, Rothrock points out many of the parallels between traditional natural disaster emergency preparedness and what is really needed in a quickly evolving world with perpetually growing electronic capabilities, and by that same token, perpetually growing threats to the cybersecurity of any organization with confidential information.

Even with something as simple as credit card and password information you have stored on your home computer, it can be important to have files backed up on an external hard drive in case of a future hack into your information. However, this risk goes all the way from the home personal computer to retail stores like Target, and banks like the ones on which this beautiful city has such a substantial foundation. It made for a great read this morning, and I definitely recommend it if you have a few minutes to spare some thought.

Please click here to access the article on Forbes.com!

And since you all know how I feel about getting a little weird, please enjoy some Flaming Lips with your afternoon coffee (or whatever it is you're into around this time of day). After all, it would be quite tragic were the evil robots to win.

Stay safe, y'all!

Takin' It to the Streets!

Good evening, Charlotte!

This morning, Molly and I had the immense pleasure of joining Charlotte's American Red Cross chapter, the Charlotte Fire Department, and Piedmont Natural Gas to distribute information about fire and natural gas safety, as well as to offer free smoke alarms, to residents in south Charlotte. If you would like a free smoke alarm, or need batteries for the smoke alarm you currently have and you live in a single-family home in Charlotte, please do not hesitate to e-mail either me at rob@handsoncharlotte.org, or Molly at molly@handsoncharlotte.org, and we will be sure to put you in contact with the appropriate person within the Charlotte Fire Department! No time like the present to make sure you have a functional smoke alarm in your home!

Here, the Red Cross, CFD, and PNG told Channel 3 to check your smoke alarms every Daylight Savings Day! It's an easy way to remember to check your alarms every six months. If you're like me, write it in your planner every Daylight Savings Day to make it even easier to remember!

It was great to see people from so many organizations coming together to keep Charlotteans safe!

Again, please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions about getting a free smoke alarm, and feel free to contact us so we can keep you in the loop if you would like to join future smoke alarm canvassing events! It was a great time, and we met a lot of wonderful people.

As always, stay safe, Charlotte, and enjoy some Doobie Brothers on this chilly night!

(How To Be Ready When We Need To Shelter in Our) Little Boxes!

Good afternoon, Charlotte!

In case you haven't signed up already to have the monthly updates sent to your e-mail from the Do1Thing campaign, I would love to take this chance to share with you their March release, which is centered around sheltering.

Many times, emergencies and disasters can be predicted. For example, hurricanes take a while to reach land after forming over water, and snow storms that might require an evacuation to friends' or relatives' houses in lesser affected regions are predicted at least a couple days out as well. However, there are some cases in which one might not have ample time to plan an evacuation, like a tornado that can pop up and allow a very short amount of time to find a safe place.

It is in cases like these that we all need to be prepared to shelter in place, and this month, Do1Thing published a visual fact sheet, which you can read by clicking this link, detailing some guidelines for what to do when sudden and immediate shelter is needed. For example, if a tornado is headed your way, take shelter in the lowest most central area of the structure you're in, and be sure to avoid windows. Further, while if you are in your home you want to be sure you can be comfortable with your family for at least 45 minutes, one should also avoid large rooms, a fact I didn't know until I saw my e-mail this morning!

You can find the full March release from Do1Thing here, complete with some additional facts, the visual fact sheet I mentioned earlier, and a video about the need for sheltering plans. Further, if you'd like to join me in receiving Do1Thing's e-mails every month, please click here and enter your information. It's free, and can be a really great way to prepare yourself gradually over the course of a year.

And as always, stay safe, Charlotte, and enjoy this beautiful warm weather if you have the chance today!