More Advice on Helping Your Community Be Prepared

I received two calls about the post “Helping Your Community Be Prepared.” The callers requested more details about preparing an open house or a seminar.

Today there is a tremendous amount of concern throughout the country about tornados, floods and hurricanes. As an HME provider you could take a major role to establish your company as the leader to protect your customers and your community.

Normally an “open house” would be held in your showroom on a Saturday morning. This is effective when demonstrating an item. For a seminar, which is what this will be, you will need a larger venue.

In many communities, a local college will make space available. A hotel usually has an adequate facility but there may be a fee. However, if you order coffee and sweet rolls, this might be waived. Normally, you hold these from 9:00 a.m. until noon. Once the date is determined, then finding the participants is easy.

For a seminar on how to protect your home and your family during a storm, you should first invite members from the local police, fire departments and EMT squads. If there is room, please designate a space for each to put up a display. Please request that they provide a speaker and for a 15 minute presentation.

Explain to the administrator at the local hospital what you are bringing to the community and they invariably will respond by sending you an ER physician and nurse to speak. These are the professionals everyone wants to hear.

Vendors with related products should all be delighted to participate, especially when you provide them space to distribute literature and show products.

The local newspapers and radio and TV stations can all help you spread the word.

Yes, this takes time and planning, but the rewards for your community will be well worth it.