Disaster Tip of the Week: Teach Your Kids How and When to Call 911

This weeks tip is not so much related to large scale disasters but more about home safety. Being a former 9-1-1 worker I know how important it is to teach your kids about calling 9-1-1.

We've all heard the stories in the news about a young boy or girl who dials 9-1-1 and saves the life of their parent. Unfortunately most of us think something like this will never happen to us, until it does.

The most important part of this is teaching your kids to call nine-one-one rather than nine-eleven, and teach them when they should call.

Here are some important tips when calling nine-one-one:

• Teach them to call from a house phone (land-line) not a cell phone, unless there is no house phone available.
• Teach them that once they call not to hang up
• Make sure the child knows how to give their name, address, and if possible their phone number.
• Teach them when they might need to call nine-one-one (especially if someone has health issues)
• Teach them they can get police, fire and or an ambulance when they call

If possible have your child practice by unplugging the phone and having the child dial the numbers and the parent acting as the 9-1-1 call operator.

You can also visit this kidshealth.org on How to Use 911