National Preparedness Month (NPM) is observed each September to promote disaster and emergency planning for families and communities. This year’s theme is Prepared, Not Scared. Each week of the month highlights a different topic of preparedness. Here are some suggestions from Ready.gov:

Week 1: Save Early for Disaster Costs

• Review your insurance coverage – most homeowner’s insurance does not cover flood damage
• Visit Floodsmart.gov
• Snap photos of important documents and personal belongings
• Download the Financial First Aid to see what documents you need in case of emergency (https://go.usa.gov/xypkQ)
• Plan financially for disaster
• Keep cash on hand in case of emergencies

Week 2: Make a Plan

• Make an emergency plan and practice it
• Sign up for alerts and warnings in your area
• Include your kids in your planning
• Learn how to turn off utilities in your home
• Have 72 hours of food, water, and meds available

Week 3: Youth Preparedness

• Teach kids what to do in an emergency
• Prepare kids to communicate via text messages, 911. emergency contacts
• Include children’s medication in your home emergency kit as will was stuffed animals, books or music

Week 4: Get Involved in Your Community’s Preparedness

• Learn about the hazards most likely to affect your community
• See what voluntary organizations are available in your area
• Take classes in skills such as CPR/AED and first aid
• If you have a disability, plan for accessible transportation
• Locate a disability contact in your city’s emergency management office

Resources:

• Be Prepared
• September is Preparedness Month

For more than 50 years, the National Training Program (NTP) has given attendees the very best in skill-building content, covering all aspects of instructor-led training. I am so excited to invite you to the 50th NTP program “Celebrating 50 Years of Training: Encourage, Empower and Elevate.” The NTP facilitate the mission of FEW through providing professional growth opportunities to attendees along with a multitude of self-development tools. It’s not too late to register and be a part of this premier training event in Philadelphia July 22 – 26, 2019.

If you have never been to an NTP, I encourage you not to miss this program. Rarely are we provided transformational opportunities in life to elevate ourselves with phenomenal training, but this is your opportunity. Warren Bennis said, ” The most dangerous leadership myth is that leaders are born-that there is a genetic factor to leadership. This myth asserts that people simply either have certain charismatic qualities or not. That’s nonsense; in fact, the opposite is true. Leaders are made rather than born.” This is your opportunity to get the training necessary to make a greater contribution to your teams. Training is not an option for Agencies to stay on top of trends, it’s mandatory.
At this NTP, we will have with us several enlightening speaker and special guest. The entire week will consist of dynamic keynote addresses including some from our most notable Agency leaders. In fact, you don’t want to miss our Opening Keynote, Ms. Barbara M. Littles, CEO of Purpose by Design Company who will invigorate your mind to become an insightful strategic negotiator in your career. Anything is possible. Our closing Diversity Luncheon keynotes are Mr. Bruce Stewart, the former Deputy Director Training, Compliance, and Strategic Initiatives in the Office of Diversity and Inclusion for the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and the Mr. Miguel J. Avilés-Pérez, Chief, Office of Diversity & Inclusion with the U.S. Coast Guard. They are strong advocate for our focus of Diversity as they are a wealth of knowledge and so passionate about creating diverse, inclusive working environments.

It will be an awesome week of training and awareness. In fact, for our special awareness initiative FEW will recognize heart disease. Millions of Americans live with heart disease, stroke or a cardiovascular condition. 1 in 3 women die of heart disease and stroke. But, it can be prevented. At the NTP, we will provide tips and inspiring stories of success. FEW declares Tuesday, July 23, 2019 a day to wear red in honor of heart disease. Join us in solidarity and support of this effort to prevent heart disease.

The NTP is where we encourage, empower and elevate your career and innate skills. Take this opportunity to build upon the greatness within you. Visit our webpage to get started and registered.

Karen M. Rainey
National President

May your holidays be filled with peace, joy, and love.
A very Happy New Year to everyone.

FEW – Working for the Advancement of Women in Government.

According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, hospital emergency rooms treated an estimated 251,700 toy-related injuries in 2010 throughout the United States. 72% were to people less than 15 years of age. Additionally, in 2007 alone, toymakers recalled over 19 million toys worldwide because of safety concerns such as lead paint and small magnets.

When it comes to toys and gifts, the excitement and desire to get your children their favorite toys may cause shoppers to forget about safety factors associated with them. Before you make these purchases, it is critical to remember to consider the safety and age range of the toys.

Prevent Blindness America has declared December as Safe Toys and Gifts Awareness Month.  The group encourages everyone to consider if the toys they wish to give suits the age and individual skills and abilities of the individual child who will receive it, especially for infants and children under age three.

This holiday season (and beyond), please consider the following guidelines for choosing safe toys for all ages:

• Inspect all toys before purchasing. Avoid those that shoot or include parts that fly off. The toy should have no sharp edges or points and should be sturdy enough to withstand impact without breaking, being crushed, or being pulled apart easily.
• When purchasing toys for children with special needs try to:  Choose toys that may appeal to different senses such as sound, movement, and texture; consider interactive toys to allow the child to play with others; and think about the size of the toy and the position a child would need to be in to play with it. Consult the “AblePlay” website at http://www.ableplay.org/ for more information.
• Be diligent about inspecting toys your child has received. Check them for age, skill level, and developmental appropriateness before allowing them to be played with.
• Look for labels that assure you the toys have passed a safety inspection – “ATSM” means the toy has met the American Society for Testing and Materials standards.
• Gifts of sports equipment should always be accompanied by protective gear (give a helmet with the skateboard)
• Keep kids safe from lead in toys by:  Educating yourself about lead exposure from toys, symptoms of lead poisoning, and what kinds of toys have been recalled; being aware that old toys may be more likely to contain lead in the paint; having your children wash their hands frequently and calling your doctor if you suspect your child has been exposed to lead. Consult the last two websites listed below for more information.
• Do NOT give toys with small parts (including magnets and “button” batteries which can cause serious injury or death if ingested) to young children as they tend to put things in their mouths, increasing the risk of choking. If the piece can fit inside a toilet paper roll, it is not appropriate for kids under age three.
• Do NOT give toys with ropes and cords or heating elements
• Do NOT give crayons and markers unless they are labeled “nontoxic”.

For more information:

• Call Prevent Blindness America at (800)331-2020 or go to their website immediately below
• preventblindness.org/children/safetoys.html
• cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/category/toy.html
• http://kidshealth.org/parent/firstaid_safe/home/safe_toys.html
• cdc.gov/nceh/lead/faq/toys.html
• nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/002473.htm
• https://www.healthtradition.com/december-is-safe-toys-and-gifts-month/

In 1976, in an obscure scholarly article, Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, an American historian of early America and the history of women and a professor at Harvard University, wrote, “Well behaved women seldom make history.”

Ratified on August 18, 1920, the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution granted American women the right to vote–a right known as woman suffrage. At the time the U.S. was founded, its female citizens did not share the same rights as men, including the right to vote.  The legal right of women to vote was established over the course of several decades in the U.S. beginning in the 1800s.  In order to achieve the right of women to vote in the U.S., many brave (and yes, brazen) women were jailed, suffered, bled, and died before the “fairer sex” across the U.S. could have their own agency–distinct from that of their husbands, fathers and brothers.

These women were not well behaved.  They raised a fuss.  And, in doing so, these women liberated their daughters.  We are their daughters and heirs.  And, it’s up to us to carry on their evolution towards equality.

While in the last hundred years, women in the U.S. have made progress, women still have a long way to go to obtain equal rights.  I don’t need to list the statistics.  You already know them well.

Women still are paid less than men.

Women still face inequity in education, employment, and healthcare.

Women still operate in a body politic where we have to be devoid of human emotion to be taken seriously.

Women still function in a society where if we express normal emotion to even the remotest slight, we are described as being emotional, irrational, or hysterical.

Women still live in a society where our silence is deemed consent.  In other words, women in the U.S. still live in a patriarchy committed to “keeping us in our place.”

But, for we women, our mothers–those brave, brazen women of the past–told us that “our place” is anywhere we please.  That takes me back to The 19th Amendment: the right of women to vote.

I’ve read it in the newspapers.  I’ve heard it on the T.V.  They say 2018 is going to be “The Year of the Woman.”  Perhaps . . . but only if we make it so.  This year, more women (and men who support women’s rights) are running for office–at the local, state and national levels.  We are seeing women across the racial, ethnic, religious and political spectrum, out in the streets–raising a fuss, protesting, speaking real truth to power, and asserting their agency as a force to be reckoned with.

They are changing the national discourse.

But, those brave, brazen women need my help and your help.  VOTE.  Today’s suffragists have laid the groundwork for what truly could be something for the history books.  But all of their hard work means nothing if we don’t show up at the polls.

Susan B. Anthony was arrested for voting in the presidential election of 1872. The judge directed the jury to deliver a guilty verdict.  When he asked Anthony, who had not been permitted to speak during the trial, if she had anything to say, she responded with what one historian has called “the most famous speech in the history of the agitation for woman suffrage”.  She called “this high-handed outrage upon my citizen’s rights”, saying, “… you have trampled underfoot every vital principle of our government. My natural rights, my civil rights, my political rights, my judicial rights, are all alike ignored.”

Anthony was not a well behaved woman.  You and I don’t have to endure the indignity that Anthony did.  We are not called on to pay the price that she did.  But, we are called on to continue her fight so that one day our daughters, granddaughters, and every female U.S. citizen will achieve equality.

November 6th is Election Day.  VOTE.

Go out and make history.

The latest statistics from the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) show that if you have a reported fire in your home, you are more likely to die today than you were a few decades ago. This startling statistic is behind this year’s Fire Prevention Week theme: “Look. Listen. Learn. Be aware – fire can happen anywhere.™” Fire Prevention Week takes place October 7-13, 2018.

Through three simple calls-to-action, this year’s theme identifies basic but essential ways people can reduce their risk to fire and be prepared in the event of one:

• Look for places fire can start
• Listen for the sound of the smoke alarm
• Learn two ways out of each room

“People take safety for granted and are not aware of the risk of fire,” said Lorraine Carli, NFPA vice president of Outreach and Advocacy. “Paying attention to your surroundings, looking for available exits in the event of a fire or other emergency, and taking the smoke alarm seriously if it sounds can make a potentially life-saving difference in a fire or other emergency situation.”

This year’s Fire Prevention Week messages apply to virtually all locations. However, NFPA continues to focus on home fire safety, as the majority of U.S. fire deaths (four out of five) occur at home each year. In fact, the fire death rate (per 1000 home fires reported to the fire department) was 10 percent higher in 2016 than in 1980.

“While we’ve made significant progress in preventing home fires from happening, these statistics show that there’s still much more work to do when it comes to teaching people how to protect themselves in the event of one, and why advance planning is so critically important,” said Carli.

“Look. Listen. Learn. Be aware – fire can happen anywhere.” works to remind the public that fires can and do still happen – at home, as well as other locations – and that there are basic but vitally important steps people can take to remain safe.

As the official sponsor of Fire Prevention Week for more than 90 years, NFPA works with local fire departments throughout North America to promote the campaign in their communities and reaches out to the public directly to encourage everyone to take action to be safe.

Fire Facts

Home Fires

• U.S. fire departments respond to an average of one home fire every 86 seconds.
• Between 2011 and 2015, U.S. fire departments responded to an average of 358,500 home structure fires per year. These fires caused 12,300 civilian injuries, 2,510 civilian deaths, and $6.7 billion in direct damage.
• On average, seven people per day die in U.S. home fires.
• Cooking is the leading cause of home fires and home-fire injuries.
• For decades, smoking has been the leading cause of home-fire deaths.
• Heating equipment was involved in one in every five home-fire deaths.

Escape Planning

• According to an NFPA survey, only one in every three American households has actually developed and practiced a home fire-escape plan.
• While 71% of Americans have an escape plan in case of a fire, only 47% of them have practiced it.
• One-third of American households who made an estimate thought they would have at least six minutes before a fire in their home became threatening. The time available is often less. And only eight% said their first thought upon hearing a smoke alarm would be to get out.

Smoke Alarms

• Smoke alarms provide an early warning of a fire, giving people additional time to escape.
• Working smoke alarms cut the risk of dying in a reported home fire in half.
• Three in every five home-fire deaths result from fires in homes with no smoke alarms (38%) or no working smoke alarms (21%).
• When smoke alarms fail to operate, it is usually because batteries are missing, disconnected, or dead. Dead batteries caused one-quarter (24%)of the smoke alarm failures.
• Interconnected smoke alarms throughout the home increase safety. When one sounds, they all sound. It is especially important to have interconnected alarms if you sleep with the door closed.

Cooking

• Between 2011 and 2015, U.S. fire departments responded to a per year average of 170,200 home structure fires that involved cooking equipment. These fires caused a per year average of 510 civilian deaths, 5470 civilian injuries, and $1.2 billion in direct property damage.
• From 2011 to 2015, U.S. fire departments responded to an average of 466 home cooking fires per day.
• Cooking is tied for the second leading cause of home fire deaths.
• Unattended cooking is the leading factor contributing to these fires. Frying poses the greatest risk of fire.
• Ranges, or cooktops, accounted for the majority (62%) of home cooking-fire incidents. Ovens accounted for 13%.
• More than half of all cooking-fire injuries occurred when people tried to fight the fire themselves.
• Thanksgiving is the peak day for home cooking fires, followed by the day before Thanksgiving, Christmas Day, Easter, and Christmas.

Heating

• From 2009 to 2013, U.S. fire departments responded to 56,000 home structure fires that involved heating equipment. These fires caused 470 civilian fire deaths, 1,490 civilian injuries, and $1 billion in direct property damage.
• The leading factor contributing to home-heating fires (30%) was a failure to clean. This usually involved creosote buildup- in chimneys.
• Most home-heating fire deaths (84%) involved stationary or portable space heaters.
• Nearly half (49%) of all home-heating fires occurred in December, January, and February.

Home Fire Sprinklers

• Fire sprinklers reduce the risk of dying in a home fire by 80% and reduce the risk of property loss by 70%.
• Fire sprinkler installation in new homes is cost effective, averaging 1-2% of a home’s total construction cost.
• Only the sprinkler closest to the fire activates, preventing the spread of deadly toxic smoke and fire.
• Home fire sprinklers protect lives by keeping fires small. Sprinklers can reduce the heat, flames, and smoke produced in a fire, allowing people more time to escape.
• Home fire sprinklers activate on an individual basis. Only the sprinkler closest to the fire will activate, spraying water on the fire and not the rest of the home.
• A home fire sprinkler can control or put out a fire with a fraction of the water that would be used by fire department hoses.
• Accidental sprinkler discharges are rare.
• Home fire sprinklers can be installed in new or existing homes. If you are remodeling or building your home, install home fire sprinklers.
• Home fire sprinklers work along with smoke alarms to save lives.

Sources:

National Fire Protection Association Announces Theme for Fire Prevention Week October 7-13, 2018

Fire Prevention Week Fire Facts

October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month and all members are encouraged to participate in the observance.  The 2018 theme is, “America’s Workforce: Empowering All.”

Workplaces welcoming the talents of all people, including people with disabilities, are a critical part of our efforts to build an inclusive community and strong economy. In this spirit, Federally Employed Women (FEW) recognizes National Disability Employment Awareness Month this October to raise awareness about disability employment issues and celebrate the many and varied contributions of people with disabilities.  Activities during this month will reinforce the value and talent people with disabilities add to our workplaces and communities and affirm FEW’s commitment to an inclusive organization.

The purpose of National Disability Employment Awareness Month is to educate about disability employment issues and celebrate the many and varied contributions of America’s workers with disabilities.  National Disability Employment Awareness Month began in 1945, when Congress declared the first week in October each year “National Employ the Physically Handicapped Week.”  In 1962, the word “physically” was dropped to acknowledge individuals with all types of disabilities.  Then in 1988, Congress expanded the week to a month and changed the name to National Disability Employment Awareness Month. Held annually, National Disability Employment Awareness Month is led by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy, but its true spirit lies in the many observances held at the grassroots level across the nation every year.

For specific ideas about how FEW members can support National Disability Employment Awareness Month, you can visit www.dol.gov/ndeam or email the FEW Special Assistant for People with Disabilities at disbilities@few.org.  Suggestions range from simple, such as putting up a poster, to comprehensive, such as implementing a disability education program.  Regardless, all play an important part in fostering a more inclusive workforce, one where every person is recognized for his or her abilities — every day of every month.

Karen Rainey, President