Many police departments, fire departments, local Red Crosses and community education centers across the country offer free and low-cost training and educational events in many useful areas such as CPR, first aid, fire safety, child car seat safety, emergency preparedness and so on.

Your police department or fire department might also offer free home security and fire safety checks. At your request, a uniformed officer will evaluate and provide security and safety recommendations.

Consider contacting these organizations in your area to find out more about classes or special events:

• Police department (call the nonemergency number, usually listed in your phone book)
• Fire department (again call the nonemergency number)
• Community education
• City hall
• Local Red Cross chapter
• Local churches
• Schools
• Libraries
• Hospitals (might offer first aid/CPR training)

By our guest blogger, Dr. Lou Dunn Diekemper, senior living expert and author of Let Us Share: A Conversation of Growing Older

Doctor visits are rarely an enjoyable experience and frequently the information we receive will not satisfy us unless we are prepared to ask the right questions. It has taken me years to learn effective ways to prepare for an appointment, and I think it is very important for all of us to learn how to be proactive with our physicians.

1. Choosing a Physician

First of all, choose a physician who shows interest in you. It is certainly all right for you to keep searching for a physician until you know you can relate to this very important partner in a constructive way. You need to feel confident about discussing your problem and treatment with someone who will look you in the eye and work with you in developing trust.

2. Bring a List of Medications and Questions

In my book, Let Us Share: A Conversation on Growing Older, I suggest that you go to each appointment with a list of current medications and supplements for the physician, as well as current results of any tests or readings you conduct at home. Also, I suggest you write down any questions you have for the doctor. Do this well in advance of your appointment and add to it as new questions appear in your mind. I sometimes present a copy to the doctor, so we can find answers together.

I have actually had physicians thank me for being organized. Coming prepared with written information helps the doctor know, at a glance, the purpose of your visit. Have a pen and paper handy to jot down information as your questions are discussed. It is quite helpful to have this information as a reference point for later.

3. Bring a Friend or A Loved One

You may wish to take someone with you to help you remember a diagnosis or help interpret avenues for treatment. I sometimes think I will remember everything and then realize later that some points have slipped my mind. Bringing a tape recorder can also be helpful. You can be concentrating so hard on what is being said you may overlook salient issues. Having the interview recorded will help you gain a better perspective after you’ve left the doctor’s office.

4. Be Patient

Next, cultivate a sense of humor. It often takes a lot of self-talk to make an appointment in the first place. Secretaries or receptionists are not always the most sympathetic people in scheduling a visit. Indeed, I have sometimes felt as if they totally control who gets to see the physician and who doesn’t. They seem to think they have done us a favor by letting us in. Try to consider that it may be a bad hair day for her or that he has had to deal with some unpleasant patients. Just make an effort to be pleasant and courteous.

Understanding and acceptance are good coping mechanisms when a lengthy wait ensues before you get to see the doctor. In fairness, we have to realize that earlier patients may take more time than expected and that emergencies do occur. By all means, carry your own reading material for the waiting and examining rooms. Reading materials offered in the world of health care are notoriously out of date and limited in scope. You will be a much calmer patient if you read something you find interesting to pass the time, instead of fretting about the wait.

5. At the Visit

Try to develop a rapport with your physician. You have already noticed the waiting room, now notice the office or examining room. See if the environment holds any personal items — such as photos, paintings and even degree certifications — you might bring up as a brief conversation item. If you are aware of any hobbies or interest he or she might have, you could mention them, too. It is really very important to do your part in creating a bonding spirit between you and your doctor, particularly if this is to be a long-term partnership of healing.

6. Listen to Yourself

Also, remember to listen to the healer within. I think we all need to realize we have a personal responsibility to maintain or seek the best possible health we can achieve. We need to become our own personal physicians by listening to our bodies and following what they tell us.

This process requires self-discipline and a real sense of commitment. It is also very encouraging to the physician to know a patient is serious about following a health program and willing to subscribe to his or her suggestions.

7. Rate Your Appointments

Now, consider your appointments with physicians and care providers in the past. Note those that were helpful and those that left you feeling confused or frustrated. Try to analyze how you might have had more successful appointments by being a genuine participant in the process.

In the future, may you look forward to each doctor’s appointment ungrudgingly, as a time of discovery on your individual journey to health.

Thanks to Dr. Diekemper for her words of advice. Have a doctor visit tip or question? Post it in the Comments section below!

We’ve got our own channel on You Tube now so check us out!

Our first video demonstrates a simple escape plan you can practice with your whole family. Thanks to Fire Chief Marty Scheerer and the Crowley family for their help in the video.

• House Fire Escape Plan

We’d love to hear what you think - feel free to send us your comments, post them below or post them on the YouTube page. Remember to bookmark the page and share with others!

When was the last time you took note of your family’s medications, recent test results, and your family’s overall medical history?

Knowledge is power, especially in the world of medicine. Knowing about a genetic heart disease, for instance, can provide insight into possible treatments and perhaps even suggest some prevention measures.

The last moment you want to be pulling together all of this information is in an emergency situation or right before your next doctor’s appointment. So don’t delay it any longer! Here are few helpful tips and articles to get you started!

• Creating a Family Medical History - tips from doctors and experts
• Medical History and Vaccinations Sheet
• Prescriptions and Nonprescription Drugs - how keep track

It’s certainly important to be able to “reach out and touch someone” in an emergency situation. Take a moment and make a list of important contacts…just in case!

And don’t always rely on your cell phone - you might lose your phone or be in an area with limited access.

• Your Personal Contacts List (easy to print out and fill in!)

Keep a copy of the list at home and at work to have on hand, in case of emergency.

By Jacqueline Lloyd, our guest fire blogger and the author of The Thief of Sacred

A Story of Survival: Read this harrowing, first-person story as author Jacqueline Lloyd, her family and animals evacuated their home and ran for their lives from the Cedar Fires.

The Aftermath: Most people fled our town when the Cedar Fire raged, braving panicking drivers and gridlock on the winding mountain roads to get down to the city. But for me, leaving was not an option.

Since my family’s homes were all destroyed early on in the Cedar Fire fire, I had no idea where to go. My husband had his hands full with his elderly mother and his sister, who had both lost everything. I had my 20 month old daughter, five cats and two dogs in a car wedged full of our treasures- jewelry, pictures, home movies and a computer disk on which I had hastily saved the manuscript of my novel, The Thief Of Sacred, right before we evacuated.

I felt utterly lost. Homeless and scared. The only comfort was that my daughter was too young to really grasp the enormity of our situation: she was busy sticking her fingers into the cat carriers stacked around her car seat and chortling.

It was two-thirty in the morning. Out of sheer desperation, I called a friend who lived north of the fire. Fully expecting to wake her, I was surprised to hear her cheery voice. As it turned out, several other families had shown up on her doorstep earlier, and she threw us a lifeline as well.

My daughter and I bunked with her for two days, along with our cats and dogs and four other families and their pets. I already knew most of the other people, but because it was such a raw time we had really honest, heart to heart talks over wine while we watched the fire rage unchecked.

We all pitched in and helped each other with childcare, cooking, and animal care- keeping the house clean and stocked for each other and for our hosts. The atmosphere was part party, part commune, and part psyche ward. Way too many people and animals and stress in a small house- but lots of love and unconditional support too. Hours dragged by as we huddled around the radio and TV, and fielding phone calls from people elsewhere with tidbits of news and reports of whose house burned, where the fire had gone and where it had skipped.

None of us could really fathom the magnitude of this fire until later, since it was so massive and moved so quickly. Tensions and love ran equally hot. It was life-changing experience. We knew that at the time and it built a very deep bond between all of us.

During the last fire, the Witch Creek fire of October 2007, we hosted people at our house. We’ve learned a lot and we’re very well prepared.

By Lauren W., our College blogger

Two weeks before Thanksgiving my roommate told me she was going home for a few days…I have yet to hear from her. I was left with a room full of questions like where did she go? When is she getting her stuff? She still has a key…will she be barging in at any moment?

I was left wondering these questions for the rest of the semester and the whole of our winter break. I never heard anything from my university’s residence life about where I was standing with a roommate. Although my roommate was hard to live with, it was almost harder to live without any knowledge about what I would be returning to after break. I was fully expecting to return to my room empty with only crumbs on the ground.

If the residence life had taken a bigger role, I would not have been left feeling so uncomfortable about my living situation. Random roommates are always a gamble and if something happens to you it is important to talk to the resident assistants and the resident directors.

I returned from my month long break to not be able to get in my room. After calling resident life pretty persistently during my month break, they finally took notice. I returned in January to find my roommate had emptied her things but she never turned her key in. Resident life saw this as a big red glad and thankfully made sure my lock was changed.

The only hassle for me was not being able to get into my room right away, but knowing that my stuff would not be stolen and the crazy roommate could not burst in was worth it. If I could have done anything different I think communication between myself, my roommate, and resident life is key. If something like this happens to you please make sure to take action right away so you are not left in the dark like I was.

Other roommate living resources with tips from past college students:

• Roommates: The College Experience Everyone Has
• My Mom “Facebooked” You
• Top 10 Tips for Living With Roommates

Thanks Lauren! Have a question or tip on college living? Post it in the Comments section below!!

One of our neighborhood bars burnt to the ground this morning, causing us all to realize how suddenly fires can happen - even on one of the coldest days of the year!

Fires don’t just happen at home. Practice these top fire safety techniques when your out to dinner, at work, at the movies or even the gym:

1. Start noticing fire safety features. Make it a mental memory game or an “I Spy” activity - look for the nearest fire extinguisher, smoke alarm, fire hose, or fire hydrant. These are usually kept near entrances and exits and in hallways.
2. Locate the nearest exit. Just like you’re in an airplane, look for the nearest way out of the building. Hint: It may not be a door! Look for windows and other ways to get out in a hurry.

3. If a fire alarm sounds, don’t ignore it. Get out as soon as possible and don’t use the elevator!

Want more? Read our Get Ready - At Work! emergency preparedness article - a lot of those tips can be applied to any building, not just your place of employment.

Conveniently, after writing yesterday’s blog entry on Stolen Mail, I arrived home to find a friendly letter from our Postmaster General, John E. Potter. I’m sure many of you have received a similar letter.

Mr. Potter wrote to alert us all to the possibility of mail theft: “While I’m pleased that in a recent Federal Trade Commission (FTC) survey only 2% of all victims reported that the theft of their identity was connected to the mail, that’s still too many. We will keep working to make the mail even more secure and strive to reduce that percentage to zero.”

Glad to hear it! They also included a brochure with these helpful tips:

Detect ID Theft

Be alert to signs that require immediate attention:

• Bills that don’t show up as expected
• Unexpected credit card or account statements
• Denials of credit for no apparent reason
• Calls or letters about purchases that you didn’t make

Common Ways ID Theft Happens

1. Dumpster Diving. Thieves sort through trash looking for piece of paper with personal and/or financial information (use your shredder!!)

2. Skimming. Thieves steal credit/debit card numbers by using a special storage device when processing your card.

3. Phishing. Thieves pretend to be financial institutions or other companies via spam to your email accounts.

4. Changing Your Address. Thieves divert your billing statements to another location by completing a “change of address” form.

5. “Old-Fashioned” Stealing. Thieves steal wallets; mail; checks; tax information; personal records and so on.

• Thanks to USPS and FTC for this helpful information! Learn more on how to keep your identity safe…

One of my favorite bloggers, J.D. over at Get Rich Slowly, had some of his mail stolen last week.

His top tip? Tell your mail carrier - they can help you with the recovery steps you’ll need to take.

Thinking about doing your taxes? Remember tax season is prime time for identity thieves. Instead mail your forms at the post office, or check to see if your connection’s secure when sending your tax info online!

• Top Tax Time Safety Tips
• New and Old Tax Documents: Keep ‘Em Safe