Health and Senior Services (DHSS) Commissioner Fred M. Jacobs, M.D., J.D., is reminding residents and their families of the need to continue to prepare for any type of health emergency, whether it is natural, manmade or a new infectious disease.

“The events of Hurricane Katrina, as well as September 11, 2001 and the following anthrax attacks are a stark reminder that every New Jersey family should prepare at home for any and all types of health emergencies,” said Commissioner Jacobs. “While we should never forget these incidents, we must always continue to stay prepared.”

Commissioner Jacobs encourages residents to make an emergency plan, practice that plan and know where to find information and updates, should an emergency occur. All that information can be found in the Department’s Citizen Guide to Public Health Emergency Planning, Ready Together New Jersey.

Ready Together New Jersey also contains information that can help people assemble an emergency kit and create a personalized action plan. The guide includes telephone numbers and web addresses for agencies that would provide information during an emergency. With Ready Together New Jersey, residents can record key personal information on a tear-out wallet card they can carry at all times.

Over the past two years, DHSS distributed more than two million copies of the Ready Together New Jersey English version and more than 75,000 of the Spanish version of the brochure called Todos Listos Nueva Jersey.

Individuals or organizations interested in receiving a copy of Ready Together New Jersey can call their local health department. To download a copy, or to get more information on New Jersey’s preparedness efforts, visit the DHSS website at www.nj.gov/health/er.

“Ready Together New Jersey offers a wealth of information and resources,” said Commissioner Jacobs. “Every individual and family in New Jersey should have a copy and use it to prepare their respective emergency kits and action plans.”

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