The Importance of Being Prepared

an article by Audrey Saba

Audrey will be attending Boise State University in the spring of 2023. 

Quake Kits Cares Scholarship truly appreciates the strong efforts Audrey projected in writing her essay and producing her video. The content showed a great example of how she has incorporated emergency preparedness into her life in order to stay safe and offer comfort to others in distressed situations. We wish Audrey great success in “being prepared” for achieving her educational goals at BSU. 

Go Broncos!

Being Prepared is Peace of Mind

The single greatest benefit to being prepared is the peace of mind it brings knowing that whatever comes your way you will have what you need. I come from a family of planners, at home there has always been an attitude of being prepared for the unexpected. As my school's student body president it is crucial to be prepared at all times for both the planned and unplanned. I have learned through multiple experiences that having a back-up plan has helped things go smoothly because I was prepared in case something didn’t go as planned.

My family rides bikes on the Hiawatha Trail once a year, which is a 16 mile rail to trail path with many trellises and tunnels. Whenever we are preparing to ride we make sure we have supplies for any unforeseen events. Divided between our backpacks you will find a tire repair kit, extensive medical kit, notepad and a pen wrapped with some duct tape, spare batteries for our headlamps, bike chain repair kit, hand warmers, multi-tool, lunch with some extra food and water. We have prepared and ridden the trail many times without any problems for ourselves; however, we have been able to help many others through our preparedness efforts.

We have helped bikers stranded and injured because we had the means to help while others just rode past. I remember the first time we stopped to repair someone's flat tire. They were miles from the end of the trail and had been walking their bike for over an hour before we had stopped. They were so grateful because no one else had the supplies to help them. Every year we have fixed at least one flat tire for someone else. I didn’t think that we would ever use the chain repair kit but I guess on a trail full of bikes a broken chain is bound to happen. Well, it did and we were able to help the guy. One time a woman's light on the front of her bike had broken in the middle of a very long tunnel. It was essential to have a light to get through the tunnel and we were able to use the duct tape to affix it to her handlebars so she could get through the tunnel safely. Finally, I’m most grateful for our medical kit. A woman had crashed inside the Taft Tunnel which is 1.66 miles long, it is wet, cold, and extremely dark. We learned that there is not a rescue plan in place to extract someone from the tunnel that is injured. However, with our medical kit we were able to clean and dress the woman's wounds, wrap and support her injured leg so that with assistance she was able to walk the ¾ mile out the tunnel and get further medical assistance. 

I know from experience that being prepared not only blesses the persons who are prepared but it blesses others. I feel peace knowing that in my home, car or day pack I have the supplies I need to be prepared in any situation or emergency.