What is Home Continuity?
What Does It Do for My Household?

By Linda Murphy

How are you keeping up with the critical information you have on paper or in important emails such as user ids and passwords? Where are you keeping this information? Are you wasting time trying to find your information when you need it? Our world revolves around information. During an emergency the last thing you want to do is have to spend precious time finding the contact information, documents, PIN numbers, passwords or other items that you need. From a lost wallet, burst water pipes, medical emergencies to an evacuation, a little preparation now, can give you the resources you need to be ready to cope with life’s problems. People need to know who to call, what to do, how to do it and maybe the priority to do it.

Businesses establish procedures to ensure they can continue operations during and after a disruption. This process is called business continuity.

Our households need the same advanced planning. Why? With dual careers, elder care, extended families and the type of emergency and disruptive news we hear about everyday, we have to ensure that everyone has the information they need to respond to and recover from an emergency.  Recent events in this changing world have shown us that we must all be self sufficient. We have to rely on our plans, precautions and preparations first.

How do you start this project?

The four steps to succeeding in creating your home continuity planning are:

1. Identify the information that you need.
2. Find it.
3. Document it.
4. Share it.

Like any other project, break it down into manageable steps. Have you ever been frustrated to find that you cannot get a project or even a simple task done because you don’t have what you need? Follow a step by step approach to succeed.

Identify the information that you need

There are five categories of information. Interestingly enough, by working on and completing one category at a time, you will have succeeded in creating information that can be used as you go on to the next category.

The five categories are:

1. Emergency Contact Information

Do you have the phone numbers for first responders, hotlines and other emergency numbers, family members and other important people, healthcare providers, household service providers and utilities?

2. Emergency Procedures

Document your evacuation and communication plans, how to secure your household if a storm is approaching, your emergency supply list, how to shut off utilities.  

3. Personal Identification

For each household member, obtain information that can be used to identify them, and in case of loss of their records, provide the basic information so that their personal records can be recreated.

4. Medical Information

Create your lists of healthcare providers, healthcare insurance companies and pharmacies and medical supply stores. For each household member, you will identify their medical profile, needs, preferences and conditions. Information in this category is also very useful when you have to fill out medical forms.

Every household and member is a different situation. This step is not meant to be a complete medical history. Ask yourself, what would I need to tell a new physician immediately?

5. Financial and Asset Information

Record the information needed to continuing processing household bills and sources of income. Assets should be inventoried along with their insurance contact and policy information. Important documents should be listed along with their location.

Find the Information You Need

• Talk to family members and find out what is already known.
• For a month, use mail as a source of company names, addresses, and phone numbers.
• Use the Internet to find company information, locate information from lost user manuals, look up first aid and other emergency procedures and advice, check your local emergency preparedness website for evacuation and other local information.
• Check the first few pages of your phone book for contact numbers and local maps.
• Review emails and records for user ids, passwords, PINS, etc. that you will need to access 401K’s, even your email access codes.

Document the Information

• Make copies or scan important papers.
• Create a separate document for each type of information that you are collecting so you can combine the same information for different purposes, for example, a babysitter manual, a contact list to carry with you, a medical preferences document to be labeled I.C.E. (In case of emergency) and kept in a prominent location. Think in terms of creating a manual of information about your household appliances and utility shut offs.
• Consider using software to automate the process of documenting and updating your information
• Save information in a file that can be available on CD, DVD or a flash drive.

Share the Information

• Make sure that the information is easily available and everyone who needs to, knows where to find it.
• Review the information relevant to household members, caretakers, service providers.

Bottom line: You can do this by taking it a step at a time. Many small successes will result in the peace of mind that your household is better prepared. No one will take better care of your family than you will. Start your home continuity planning today by taking these steps.

About the Author

Linda Murphy is the founding partner in Home Continuity Solutions, LLC.  HCS's mission is to give families the information and tools they need to prepare for emergencies big and small. Home Continuity Manager software is a step by step guide to capture vital information and deliver it in one secure file that can be printed or saved to CD, DVD or flash drive. Contact her at lmurphy@homecontinuity.com , 800-497-5129 or visit www.homecontinuity.com