Preparedness and its American Values

On April 3, 2023 I was reviewing previous proposals that I had submitted beginning in march of 2016 to facilities that provided services to women, men and families experiencing homelessness and domestic violence. The proposals were based in part on personal relationships I had developed with people who believed and lived in accordance with valuing personal emergency preparedness but also after participating in the development and presentation of an Emergency Preparedness and Prevention training for employees of the Administration of the City and County of San Francisco's Department of Public Health. A colleague of mine was in charge of coordinating training materials and I was requested to edit certain sections in a preparation for providing the training to all employees of the Administration of the City and County of San Francisco's Department of Public Health--Community Behavioral Health Centers. The first trainings began in 2013 formally. All employees were required to attend and it was to be policy thereafter that all new employees would have to participate and that a review was to be provided on a regularly scheduled basis thereafter.

Policy had been implemented during the Obama Administration that was a development in accordance with policies implemented during the Bush Administration -- including in consideration of changes to law after Sept. 11, 2001 -- the assure that all major municipalities within the United States had a city-wide Emergency Preparedness and Prevention training that also correlated with a strategy for managing the cities resources during a disaster event and to assure that emergency provisions were available in some quantity for a specific period thereafter. This also correlated with policy for and by the State of California, specific to earthquakes and the necessary emergency measures. Individuals were also encouraged to have their own home emergency preparedness kit, that was to include provisions for at least three and 10 days per person in the home. I was grateful to actually have to opportunity to live with roommate who had such a kit and it provided a model for me to consider in what to put in my own.

By the beginning of 2016, however, even after declaring my intent to run for congress in California, I had need of the services of a homeless and domestic violence shelter. Upon receiving a referral, I attempted to discuss with the staff my recommendation that homes and domestic violence shelters -- starting with the one I was in -- provide basic emergency preparedness training to the person who were temporarily housed in the shelters, that would also include providing them with the materials needs for their basic home emergency preparedness kit. I also discussed the possibility of providing CPR and/or First Aid training to persons at the shelter so that such skills were available in the event that we had need after we left the shelter -- and returned to our homes.

I have been and continue to be committed to this as a matter of principle, but also as a matter of practicality. In the summer of 2005, I was in Houston during the timeframe wherein Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. Soon thereafter, there was concern that another Hurricane was on its way to Texas, including Houston. At the time I worked for a nonprofit legal clinic and was in a position to provide support to those who assured the safety of the facility during the time. People in the City of Houston had to make decisions about whether to attempt to evacuate to another area or "weather the storm" in Houston. I and some others chose to remain, but a number of people chose to evacuate. That meant that, among other things, there needed to be people who did not evacuate who were onsite or available in the city to check on potential damage or to provide a report about what had transpired. I remember the timeframe during and following Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy very well. It still impacts me to this day -- and it also still impacts Texas. I cannot say the same for other places, but my experiences since returning to Texas in November of 2016 have shown this a number of times.

I continued to advocate for and support the process of Emergency Preparedness and Prevention training and readiness for organizations and individuals, including insofar as I intersected with the human and social services system specifically through homeless or domestic violence shelters. In the last few years, this has become more acute. The specific regarding "emergency preparedness" and the context around with the consider it have taken on a new dimension as pertains to other facts I have personally experienced as well as in consideration of what did NOT occur that should well have occurred by now.

Until this time I continue to address these matters relative to the material situation I am in, but also with a mind toward the political and social implications of a community and a nation at readiness. For this reason, I believe that such preparedness and prevention efforts should be accorded a high value, including meritorious, that also speaks to the credit and credibility of the community. Even in an emergency there can be standards, and the evaluation of how we uphold those standards and./or whatever sorts of emergency conditions may challenge successful application of and adherence to those standards should be a major policy and practical matter. I contend that if we evaluated preparedness efforts over a semi-long to long-term versus calls after the fact for Emergency Aid then we would find a significant difference in our understanding of what our value, debt or obligations is. The major question, however, is what prevent against preparedness?

Perhaps the second major question is what is to be both legally and legitimately considered "prevention?" I contend that refusing to report on the full extent of a situation -- or to inflate the severity -- is not "prevention" but am concerned there are others who believe it is. Insurance in the event of a disaster is important, but insurance is not enough. Insurance is not the same as condemnation, but an emergency situation can provide an opportunistic context in which to condemn private assets for expropriation by the state, or to undermine the state in manners that also undermine political rights. I contend there is no reason that the state should not be provided the means to assure individual preparedness measures are in place -- starting with the safety of their home.

9:49 am CST

April 4, 2023

Charity Colleen Crouse