Enter your baby in APHA’s Get Ready Tips from Tots Preparedness Photo Contest

Do you have a baby between the ages of newborn and 12 months? Is she or he completely, totally adorable? (Of course!) Snap a photo of your baby in a preparedness situation and be part of the Get Ready Tips from Tots Preparedness Photo Contest!

 
From now until May 23, send us photos of your child to enter the contest, which is using super-cute  babies as a fun way to promote preparedness. Winning babies will be featured in a Get Ready calendar!

Take a look at the topics covered by the Get Ready campaign - such as creating an emergency plan, stockpiling supplies or preparing for severe weather — and figure out how to illustrate them in a creative way with your baby. Check out our baby photo gallery for inspiration.
 
To enter, email us your photos or share them on Instagram with the #TipsfromTots hashtag. Check out our FAQs for submission details.
 
Sound like fun? Get snapping!

Congratulations to our photo contest winners!

Thank you to everyone who submitted photos for APHA’s 2013 Get Ready Pup-Preparedness Photo Contest! We received so many fantastic, adorable photos that it was hard to choose the winners.

Congratulations go out to our 16 winning photographers and their furry companions:

• Ashell Alston, photo of Brown
• Patricia Baltasar, photo of Buddy
• Patrick Benko and Jackie Benko, photo of Sadie
• Charlene Bright, photo of Kennedy
• Christopher Chadwick, photo of Gizmo
• Asher Grady, photo of Lucas
• Ann Hueber, photo of Calvin
• Katy Krings, photo of Trinity and Neo
• Dan and Vivian Liberti, photo of Ansel Wolfgang
• Christopher Mangal, photo of Argo
• Raed Mansour, photo of Chance
• Sarah Marikos, photo of Giacoma
• Lili McDonald, photo of Schwanson
• Nolan Patal, photo of Rani
• Susan Polan, photo of Tally
• Michelle Sanborn, photo of Cooper
• Christine Yamazaki, photo of Julian

We're working now to create a 2014 calendar featuring the winning photos, which we'll post on the Get Ready site in November. We’ll also pass out free hard copies at the Get Ready booth at APHA's 141st Annual Meeting and Exposition in Boston in November.

We'll showcase the winning photos and some of the other submissions on the Get Ready site in November, so check back then!

Enter APHA’s Get Ready Pup-Preparedness Photo Contest

Do you have a dog? Is she or he photogenic? (Need we ask?) Snap a photo of your dog and enter APHA’s Get Ready Pup-Preparedness Photo Contest! The contest is using dogs as a fun way to promote preparedness. The competition comes on the tails (pun intended!) of our successful 2012 cat photo contest.

From now until April 27, send us photos of your canine friends to enter the contest.

Take a look at the topics covered by the Get Ready campaign — such as having a plan or not, preparing for evacuation, or driving in a disaster— and figure out how to illustrate it with your dog. We will add witty captions and share your dog’s message about emergency preparedness with the world. The winning photos will go into our Get Ready calendar.

When you’re ready to send us your pics, visit the Get Ready website for FAQs, rules and other info on entering the contest.

And while you’re there, check out some of the cute doggie photos we’ve received so far!

Check out our new emergency preparedness cookbook, “Recipes for Disaster”

Did you know that March is National Nutrition Month?

We know what you’re thinking: “What’s nutrition got to do with emergency preparedness?” Actually, it’s really smart to think about nutrition when you’re preparing for emergencies, because food is an important part of any emergency stockpile.

Last year, we held our Emergency Stockpile Recipe Contest to get people thinking about what they’d cook if the power went out. We got a lot of great recipes, which we announced on the blog in April.

Now, we’ve taken those recipes, along with recipes from our own staff, and created a free cookbook called “Recipes for Disaster." The cookbook also includes tips for stockpiling food and water, advice on putting together an emergency kit on a budget and even checklists so that you know what to pack.

You can download “Recipes for Disaster” here. We hope it makes it a little easier — and tastier — to get prepared!

Let us know your favorite recipe in the comments.

Get Ready Scholarship: Apply now!

APHA is happy to announce that its Get Ready Scholarship is now open for submissions.

High school seniors as well as college undergraduates and graduate students are welcome to enter the contest. We will award two $500 scholarships for the best essays in each student category.

Sounds great, right? All you have to do is write a short essay answering one of three questions about preparedness. The contest is open until March 25 or until we receive 300 essays in each student category. That means one thing: Get your essays in now!

For more information, check out our Get Ready Scholarship page.

We’re looking forward to reading all of your great essays!

2013 Get Ready Scholarship opens Feb. 4!

Are you a high school, college or graduate student interested in emergency preparedness? Have we got a scholarship for you!

APHA’s Get Ready campaign is happy to announce that it is once again running its scholarship competition. Now in its fifth year, the essay contest will be open to high school seniors as well as full-time undergraduate and graduate college students.

Our essay questions this year focus on preparedness in schools, states and within the health work force. We start accepting entries on Monday, Feb. 4, but you can take a look at the essay topics now by visiting our scholarship page.

The scholarship contest will close on March 25, or when we receive 300 essays for each category. We receive hundreds of essays every year, which means that you should plan to write your essay early to be sure you get in.

The two best essays from each category will each win a $500 scholarship.

For complete rules, check the Get Ready Scholarship rules page.

To see a list of previous winners, and read parts of their essays, check out our Get Ready Scholarship past winners page.

We hope you’re ready to write, because we’re excited to read your creative essays!

Announcing the winners of our cat preparedness photo contest

When we announced APHA’s Get Ready Cat Preparedness Photo Contest in September, we hoped that people would have fun and think creatively about emergency preparedness messages. We didn’t know just how popular the contest would be!

The contest was featured on I Can Has Cheezburger? and written about on ScienceBlogs, where we were called “part of the new (and awesome) public health.” (Aww, shucks!)

Thanks to all of this attention, we received hundreds of great photos of your purr-fectly prepared kittens and cats. After lots of hard decisions — and many “awwwws” — we’ve picked our winners.

Twenty-three photos were selected for Get Ready 2013 Catastrophes Calendar. Check out the winning photos online and share them with your friends. Scroll to the bottom of the page to download and print your own copy of the calendar!

And because we thought every cat was cute, check out some of the other kitties who didn’t make it into the calendar.

If you are at APHA's 140th Annual Meeting in San Francisco Oct. 27–31, stop by the Get Ready expo booth, #2325, to pick up a free copy of the calendar.

Thanks to everyone who submitted photos to our contest!

Announcing APHA’s Get Ready Cat Preparedness Photo Contest

Do you love animals and emergency preparedness as much as we do? Then we’ve got a contest for you!

From now until Sept. 30, send us photos of your feline friends to enter APHA’s Get Ready Cat Preparedness Photo Contest. We’re looking for the best pictures of your cute kittens and trouble-making cats. We will add some funny captions and share your cat’s message about emergency preparedness with the world. The winning photos will go into our Get Ready calendar.

Check out our gallery of preparedness cat photos to get an idea of what we’re looking for. You can also read the frequently asked questions and the rules and regulations pages to find out more.

When you’re ready to send us your great pictures, you can enter the contest by following these directions.

We can’t wait to see what you and your cats come up with!

September is National Preparedness Month

September is a big month for us here at Get Ready, because it’s also National Preparedness Month — the time of year where we work really hard to spread the word about getting yourself, your family and your community ready for disasters.

We have lots of great things in store for you this month. Our big day is Tuesday, Sept. 18 — Get Ready Day. Get Ready Day was created in 2007 to help people join together to help make their homes, communities, schools and workplaces more prepared. We have a section on our website dedicated to Get Ready Day, with information and tools to help you hold your own Get Ready Day event and event ideas. Check it out and let us know how you are planning to celebrate!

The fun doesn’t stop there. All throughout the month on this blog and our Twitter account,  we’ll be sharing information to help you prepare for anything. Stay tuned for blog posts about back-to-school preparedness and other features.

Plus, we’ve even started a cool new contest so that you can get your cats in on the emergency preparedness fun! (Yes, we said cats.)

Check back for more tips, tricks and useful information. And remember to sign up for our Get Ready Now! quarterly newsletter so you don’t miss a thing!

Announcing the winners of our 2012 Get Ready Scholarship

Six students at the high school, undergraduate and graduate level have been chosen to receive scholarships in APHA’s fourth annual Get Ready Scholarship competition.

The Get Ready Scholarship is designed to encourage high school and college students to focus on the importance of emergency preparedness. Students were asked to write essays on various topics related to public health and preparedness. Out of hundreds of essays, the following six were chosen as winners:

High school level:
• Craig Earley: Powder River County District High School, Broadus, Mont.
• Devika Patel: Montclair Kimberley Academy, Parsippany, N.J.

Undergraduate level:
• Kiyra A. L. Crooks: University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas
• Ryan Masterson: Hunter College, New Haven, Conn.

Graduate level:
• Kimberley Kurek: George Mason University, School of Nursing, Washington, D.C.
• Nicole Pristera: Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, Ohio

Each student will receive a $500 scholarship and a one-year APHA student membership. Read excerpts from the winning essays on the Get Ready website.

Congratulations to our winners, and thanks to every student who submitted an essay!

Announcing the winners of APHA’s Get Ready Emergency Stockpile Recipe Contest

Last week, during National Public Health Week, APHA’s Get Ready team prepared and tasted all of the entries into our Emergency Stockpile Recipe Contest. Announced in March, the contest challenged cooks to come up with a healthy, tasty recipe they could make from non-perishable foods that they would have in their emergency stockpile — no cooking or heating allowed.

Overall, judges were impressed by the creativity and taste of the recipes. We’re proud to say that our Get Ready Blog readers have definitely raised the bar on eating well during an emergency!

The votes are in, and we’re very pleased to announce our winners:

Easy Orange Curry Chickpeas
Submitted by Jess Apfe of  Berkeley, Calif.
Our staff was really impressed by this recipe — several people remarked that they would serve this dish “even if it wasn’t an emergency!” Aside from the great taste, we also liked that the recipe was high in fiber and protein and great for vegans or gluten-free eaters.

Black Bean Casserole
Submitted by Sandy Dulany of Springdale, Ark.
This was another popular dish. It was easy to prepare, and the addition of peanut butter added a nice touch of sweetness. As Dulany wrote with her submission, emergencies are more than just tornadoes, so it’s important to get ready for anything that comes your way. “Think snowstorms, power outages,” Dulany wrote. “Life happens — be prepared!”

Aloha Chicken Poppers
Submitted by Kadija Anna Bridgewater of Deerfield Beach, Fla.
Brigewater describes her Aloha Chicken Poppers this way: “An easy-to-prepare chicken salad with a sweet taste of Hawaii. It is served on crackers, and is sure to be a hit with the whole family!” It was definitely a hit with APHA’s Get Ready team!

Troubled Times Trifle
Submitted by Heather Anne Kennedy of Troy, Ohio
This dessert was popular with the Get Ready team, who liked the taste as much as its preparation. We loved that the directions included steps for kids to help out, as preparing food could be a fun way to distract children during an emergency. And we loved Kennedy’s story: “My grandfather always said that a good trifle recipe could settle disputes, reconcile friends and perhaps even stop a war — it’s perfect in good times and in times of crisis.”

All four of our top winners will receive a three-day emergency kit from the American Red Cross.

We had so many great recipes that we selected four runner-up recipes as well:

Emergency AAC Rolls
Submitted by Kellie Foglio of Salem, Wis.
We loved that Kellie included alfalfa seeds, which she turned into sprouts using water and a little sunlight. Fresh greens during an emergency!

Southern Style “Barbeque”
Submitted by Jennifer Short of Terra Alta, W.Va.
If you add BBQ sauce to a can of tuna, it tastes like barbeque chicken! Who knew?

Black Bean and Corn Salad
Submitted by Judy Wu of Evanston, Ill.
This black bean salad was tasty, easy and vegan-friendly.

Curried Chicken and Artichoke Salad
Submitted by Mary Marlowe Leverette of Columbia, S. C.
Thanks to this recipe, the Get Ready team was convinced that we need to add canned artichokes and curry powder to our emergency stockpiles!       

Our four runners-up will take home a Get Ready apron to wear during their next emergency (or any day) cooking session.


Don’t these recipes sound delicious? Head over to our new recipe page to get the full details and get some great ideas to improve your emergency culinary skills.                    

Announcing the Get Ready Emergency Stockpile Recipe Contest

Imagine this: There’s been a natural disaster in your area. The utilities are out, and you’ve been informed that conditions outside are unsafe; you must shelter in place for 72 hours. When it’s time for your first meal, you break open your emergency stockpile of non-perishable foods, and you make… what?

In celebration of National Nutrition Month, we want to know how you would eat healthily, even in an emergency, so we’re holding our first Get Ready Emergency Stockpile Recipe Contest. Using non-perishable items that you have in your emergency stockpile or shelter-in-place kit, we want you to get creative in your kitchen and come up with a recipe that tastes good — and is good for you.

Sounds easy? Not so fast. Remember, the gas is off and the electricity is out, so you can’t use your oven, stove or microwave. In fact, no cooking or heating allowed at all – most grills and stoves are not safe for use indoors. You won’t be able to use any appliances that require electricity, so make sure you have that manual can opener handy. You’ll also want to conserve water, because you’re only limited to the bottled water you’ve already stockpiled (PDF). Finally, to keep it healthy, watch out for the high sodium content of many canned goods and prepackaged food, and keep in mind any dietary restrictions that you or your loved ones may have.

To learn more, read our fact sheets about sheltering in place and preparing for a power outage (PDFs). Then, find out all you need to know about preparing an emergency stockpile, including a basic shopping list and information about stockpiling on a budget. Once you understand the challenges you’re up against, it’s time to get creative. Read our official rules and find out how to submit a recipe on our Rules and Regulations page.

If you need more inspiration, take a look at some of the recipes we’ve already created (PDF) here at Get Ready headquarters.

We’ll accept recipes from now until March 28, and then the Get Ready team will recreate the recipes and pick our five favorites. We’ll judge the recipes on taste, creativity and ease of preparation. Winners will receive an emergency preparedness kit from the American Red Cross!

We’ll announce the winners and post the recipes here on the Get Ready Blog on April 2 — the first day of National Public Health Week.

Good luck!

APHA congratulates winners of Get Ready Day event contest

Last month, APHA announced the winners of its Get Ready Day event contest for school-based health centers. APHA, in partnership with the National Assembly on School-Based Health Care asked school-based health centers to hold an event during National Preparedness Month, which takes place every September.

Participants were encouraged to be creative when planning events that would raise awareness about preparedness in their schools and communities. Three school-based health centers were selected to win cash prizes for their events. The winners are:

First place: North Shore-Long Island Jewish Student Health Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., where students created posters raising awareness about the flu and held a hand-washing dance party (to the tune of “Party Rock Anthem” by LMFAO!).


Second place: The Metro Community Provider Network’s school-based clinic at Stein Elementary in Lakewood, Colo., which held a scavenger hunt and then used the items to teach students how to create an emergency stockpile.

Third place: Youth Empowered Solutions in Raleigh, N.C., where students held a Get Ready “tweet-a-thon” using Twitter to raise awareness about the importance of getting a flu shot.

Congratulations to the winners, and to everyone that held Get Ready Day events. And don’t forget to mark your calendar for our next Get Ready Day, which will take place Sept. 18, 2012!

Photos courtesy North Shore-Long Island Jewish Student Health Center; Metro Community Provider Network clinic at Stein Elementary School; Youth Empowered Solutions.