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Emergency and unexpected-event planning

Storms, power outages, and sudden hospital trips test every household. For a person who uses oxygen, a powered bed, or daily medicine that must stay cold, an outage is not an annoyance — it is a danger. A written plan, made on a calm day, is what carries a household through the bad one.

The guides here build your plan piece by piece: a contact sheet that works when phones die, a go-bag with medicine and papers, backup power for medical devices, and a named person who checks in. You will also find how to plan for a hospital discharge on short notice and what to tell 911 dispatchers about your home in advance where programs allow it.

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Free local help

Three national programs connect you to help in your own community, at no cost:

Eldercare LocatorFind your local Area Agency on Aging and aging services near you.BenefitsCheckUpA benefits check from the National Council on Aging.State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP)Free, unbiased help with Medicare questions from trained local counselors.

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