# 1655
As long-time speaker of the House, Thomas `Tip' O'Neill once declared, "All politics is local".
The same could be said for community pandemic preparedness.
Most communities, however, seem content to let their state, or the Federal government, deal with pandemic issues. Few local officials, and only a handful of citizens, seem to `get it'.
If a pandemic occurs (still an `if'), then it will be local communities that must find ways to deal with it. The State and Federal governments will have their hands full. As Michael Leavitt, Secretary of HHS has warned us many times:
Any community that fails to prepare with the expectation that the federal or state government will rescue them will be tragically mistaken.
Luckily for the residents of Monson, MA - they have an advantage- courtesy of Catherine `Jackie' Mitchell (aka Standingfirm).
Jackie has created a superb information portal for the residents of her town, one that serves not only as a model for other communities to follow, but is also a good stop for anyone interested in pandemic flu and preparedness.
The site is called Prepared Citizens, and it is chock full of valuable information for citizens, and community leaders, looking to prepare for a disaster. Here you'll find links to videos, blogs, news articles, and other preparedness groups like the Readymom's and Get Pandemic Ready.
This is not a static website. News and commentary are added several times a week, making this a site worth revisiting again and again.
Each of us in the Flu community have our own private reasons for doing what we do. I asked Jackie what inspired her, and here is her reply:
This one liner has been blazing through my mind lately.
"We are only as strong as those who are least prepared".At first I started preparing because of my family...I wanted to keep them as safe as I can. Now that I have accomplished that to the best of my ability, I simply cannot stop. When I see parents with children I want to know that the parents know to prepare.
I do what I do because regret is one of the worst things to experience in life. "If I had only put food and water by, my child would be alive today", "If I had only..." cuts to the core. When I talk to people who are not aware I cannot simply walk away, sure enough later on my regret is "if I had only said something".
Now, I say something....
This may be the toughest struggle yet for this generation. Each generation has its defining moments. Twenty five years from now I do not want to remember what I could have done and failed to do.Also, I prepare for a pandemic because the world does not seem to be getting any safer. We need to be a "prepared people" who has developed a culture of preparedness.
Prepared Citizens is a good example of what can (and arguably should) be done on the local level around the country and the world. By linking the site to the local community, it makes it easier for the residents of Monson to identify with the issue.
Every community should be so lucky.
I've included a link to Prepared Citizens on my sidebar under Preparedness Websites, and plan to visit often.
I hope you do too.
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