September is National Preparedness Month, otherwise known as Prep-tember! With back-to-school, fall equinox, hurricane season, and longer nights, it’s the perfect time to make sure you and your loved ones are protected, prepared, and have a plan, in case of an emergency.

Use GOES this Prep-tember

Outdoor health is where the outdoor environment and its impact on human life converges, and there’s a lot we can learn from it when it comes to embracing Prep-tember. Preparation and outdoor health know-how isn’t just for the outdoor enthusiast – a suburban or urban environment can still expose you to outdoor health risks, especially with increasing extreme weather events and natural disasters.

This is where GOES comes in. Keep reading to learn how you can use GOES to make the most of your Prep-tember.

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⛅ Plan Ahead

You can use GOES to plan ahead for these location-based health risks:

Extreme weather events: On the GOES home page, you can see up to 16 days of weather forecasts in your area, with location-specific notifications for any environmental risks, like extreme heat, tornado warnings, and wildfires.
Poor AQI: Wildfire smoke can travel hundreds to thousands of miles, affecting the air quality of areas where the fire itself may not be of concern. Depending on your location, you should be prepared for wildfires as well as effects of wildfire smoke and poor AQI.
High UV risk: Prepare for a day outside with the GOES hour-by-hour UV risk forecast. Perhaps you want to shift your plans by a few hours to stay out of the strongest sun. Or come prepared to best protect yourself in the sun. Either way, GOES can help you gather that insight and be prepared for your best day outside.

🔔 Turn on push notifications

Did you know?

GOES can deliver you in-the-moment alerts about emergency weather and environmental conditions. Beyond that, the app will connect the alert to important health insights and guidance, so you can do something about it. The information and tools in GOES can help you decide when to evacuate, when to seek shelter, what type of shelter to look for, and when to stay put.

Don’t get caught unaware or unprepared.

Make sure you enable GOES push notifications.

Check it out on the app

An array of screenshots of the GOES Health App

📖 Learn

Use the GOES Library tab to scroll through possible outdoor health risks. All 60+ topics are available offline, ready for you to use in an emergency. But in the spirit of Preptember, you can tap on the Learn button to dive deeper into the science, risk factors, preparation tips, common symptoms, and approach to care.

Think of GOES as a study-guide to prepare for your next outdoor excursion, or to prepare for any natural disasters that could come to you – from hurricanes and floods, to injuries head to toe.

🗒️ Know your plan

Your safety plan can look different depending on the type of natural disaster, which depends on where you live.

Earthquakes and tornadoes don’t give much warning, so find a safe place indoors to pass the quake or storm. Make sure everyone in the household knows where to go and where they can find emergency supplies.

Hurricanes, floods, and wildfires can be better forecasted, giving you more notice time to react. Depending on the recommendations of local authorities, you may be advised to evacuate the area.

If you are under evacuation orders, it’s best to follow them. Pay attention to any guidelines of the evacuation routes. Jumping fires, floods, or downed trees and power lines may make some roads impassable.
If you’re unable to evacuate or decide to hunker down at home, make sure you have a good “home” plan and that everyone in the household knows what to do.

🎒 Pack a Go-Bag

The term “go-bag” is a reference to the idea that if you need to get up and go in an emergency, this bag has all your essentials you might need to survive. But it can also be a stash of emergency supplies if you’re stranded at home.

Most natural disasters can often leave you without power, water, or gas, and you don’t know if they’ll be back online in hours, days, or weeks. So think about what you might need in such a situation. This can look different for each household, but here are some basic items to consider:

Clean water* (replace plastic water bottles every 6 months)
Shelf-stable food that does not require heating* (if canned, make sure you have a can opener)

*at least 3 days of supplies for your household

First aid kit
Prescription medications
Flashlights or candles (with extra batteries or matches)
Extra battery pack(s), charged
Blankets or sleeping bags for warmth

For other tips and best practices on how to prepare your home and supplies for natural disasters and emergencies, it’s all in the GOES app.

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After the storm

Weathering the storm is just half the battle. The dangers often come after the natural disaster has passed. Storms can take down power grids and utilities, make roads impassable for help to reach you, and destabilize the infrastructure around you, making for a hazardous landscape.

After Hurricane Beryl barreled through Houston, millions were left without power, which was especially fatal as a heatwave followed. Without the relief of air conditioning, eight people died from heat illness after the storm. Others were killed from fallen objects (such as trimming damaged trees), getting caught in a flood, or improperly running their generator.

Such disasters make it especially difficult for you to reach help and for help to reach you. It’s in these critical situations where GOES can help you be your own first responder – know how to effectively cool a person with heat illness, manage traumatic injuries, practice flood safety and CPR. All of this, and more, is in the app, when you need it most.

Preparation is the best prevention

As weather events become more extreme and hit closer to home, the conversation around emergency preparedness is becoming more relevant than ever. There are too many tragic headlines that could have been avoided if there was available information, proper preparation, and some humility.

Whether you’re in the outdoors, or the outdoors comes to you, the GOES app has the tools, resources, and insights you need to prepare for any emergency.

You don’t need to get ready, if you stay ready with GOES.