Hurricane Prep List for Nurses

• A Florida-based nurse shares her hurricane prep list to help fellow practitioners ensure they are equipped when the next storm hits. 
• Food, water, shelter, and medical supplies are among the highest priorities. 
• Overall, the two most important preps a person can have are health and education.  

In the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, all was quiet on the western front. Of Florida, that is. 

Wait — no, that’s not right. Another storm was on the way, and it was headed straight for where I live, outside of Tampa, Florida. Stupid Milton. 

I am a nurse in a free clinic, where 96% of our staff are volunteers. The day before hurricane closures, almost nobody showed up. Can you blame them? A storm was brewing, and we needed to bring in our giant PVC pool chairs. Those things will fly, I’ll tell you what.  

It was a stressful day on telephone triage. In between the outgoing calls to assist our limited staff with cancelling patients for the coming days, everyone and their mother was calling in, with everything from scratchy throats to panicked prescription refills. Our pharmacy was, of course, also understaffed. 

The whole experience got me thinking: I’ve been a Floridian for more than a decade, and I’ve got a pretty good handle on emergency preparedness. I know what to do at the first whisper that a named storm is headed our way. But there is a difference between preparing as a Floridian, and preparing as a nurse.  

Hurricane Prep: Medical Checklist 

Food, water, and shelter are still the first and most important preps, but medical supplies immediately follow. A standard, pre-packaged first aid kit is a good start, but here’s what I keep on hand:

1. A stethoscope. And if you’re not accustomed to using one in noisy environments, practice.  
2. Bandaging supplies. Start with gauze pads, gauze rolls, and antibiotic ointment, and build from there. Notice I recommended gauze rolls and not tape. It’s just not going to be helpful in active rain. Learn to tie a gauze roll bandage around a limb. Quick and easy new skill! Also make sure you have a good, sharp pair of trauma shears. 
3. Cheap and useful over-the-counter medications. My favorite two are chewable glucose tabs and aspirin. Between the two of them, they’re the cure for what ails ya. After that, I love a couple of painkillers, and my favorite remains Tylenol. If you’re stressed and your tummy is already churning, the last thing you want to swallow is an ibuprofen or naproxen. Gentle Tylenol for the win again. 
4. Gloves. Gloves, gloves, gloves. Yuck. Masks, too, not just for coughs and sneezes, but because the dust that gets kicked up can contain all kinds of spores, both mold and bacterial. My (also Floridian) microbiology instructor would get almost giddy teaching us about what can survive in dust, just to get breathed in after a hurricane and nestled into your sweet, warm, moist lung tissue. 

What’s a ‘Hurricane Party?’

And you’re done! Kidding, of course. Ask a Floridian what they mean by “hurricane party,” and you’ll get an interesting insight to the importance of community in disaster scenarios. For the un-inducted, hurricane parties are typically a response to the power going out.  

People will fire up their grills and cook up any and all meat from the fridge that would go bad otherwise, and share it with their neighbors. They are a popular enough endeavor, that as a storm approaches you will see queues at the liquor store as people are anticipating party possibilities. Understand I am not advocating drinking, my point is that in addition to prepping physical items for a disaster, it is a great idea to get to know your neighbors. 

As a nurse, I have considered it a priority to let my neighbors know that I am a resource to them. A double-edged sword, as I am not particularly interested in hearing about every case of pink eye on my block when there’s no hurricane in sight, but I’ll take the good with the bad! 

The Bottom Line

I often tell people that the two most important hurricane season preps a person can have are health and education. They cannot be taken away from you, and they are often obtainable for cheap to free.  

Before the next storm comes, take some time to work on your own health. Get that weekly cardio in to increase your endurance, and don’t neglect strength training. There will always be fallen branches to move, and sometimes significantly more than that.  

Likewise increase your knowledge and skills, especially related to emergency care of yourself and your neighbors. The internet overfloweth with cheap-and-free content, and with the nursing background you’ve already worked so hard to achieve, it will be easy to pick up a few more logical skills for emergency scenarios. You’ve got this. Start with a nice quick video on tying a gauze bandage. 

Read More