Don't Panic, Prepare: 4 Things To Do Now For Your Family

Experts Suggest a New Emergency Plan for Reality Facing Coronavirus and Need to Stay at Home

QUINCY, Mass. - Californer -- Most emergency plans today cover how to protect your family if you need to evacuate from your home like in the times of fires or earthquakes. With Coronavirus, we face the opposite situation where we must all stay home.

Created by lawyers, former high-level government officials, and national eldercare experts, Gentreo helps users protect their families through online health and estate planning. Gentreo tips on preparing your family for the crisis we now face:

1. Assess your situation and prepare a plan – develop a routine
a. Educate yourself – for example, is the problem that there is no food, or that you might want to buy food differently, for instance through home delivery?

b. Plan for each family member's needs
i. Children are now being home schooled. How, where and when will you do this?
ii. Older adults may be at home alone, how will you check in on them?
iii. Pets matter too - make sure there is a plan if you can't care for your pet yourself.

c. Know who oversees what: from preparing food to pet care, make people responsible for activities and hold all accountable.

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d. Agree to "rules of the house" – Agree to what rules your family will live by, for example, everyone is expected to wash their hands when they come in from a walk or clean up after their own messes. If everyone agrees now to what is acceptable, you can avoid arguments in the future.

2. Find a way to connect with friends and loved ones – for your and their mental and health stability
a. We live in a digital world – take advantage of applications like Skype, Facebook or others so you can see people, talk or play games.

b. Pick up the phone – texting and phone calls are great too.

c. Set a schedule for connecting so you can check-in and make sure everyone is doing okay.

3. Work must go on – own it
a. Find a space in your home that you can dedicate to work.

b. Set a time to work with as little interference as possible.

c. If you manage others, make sure they do the same.

d. Set regular check-ins with the office to stay on track and make sure your team understands expectations and is working toward the same goal.

4. Unfortunately, emergencies will still happen – plan for them
a. Gather important information and make it usable. Take advantage of our digital world.

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b. Knowing who, what and where saves time and money in critical situations: Have an Emergency Card in place with doctors' names and numbers, emergency contacts and medication lists.

c. Don't wait for an emergency. Make sure you know how to access information and where documents are stored.

d. Share critical information and up-to-date documents with those you trust; make sure they have access to that information.

Prepare now so you and your family are protected in this new reality.

About Gentreo™:
Gentreo™ makes it simple for families to create their Health and Estate Family Plan so they can sleep at night. Not just a will, Gentreo is an affordable estate planning platform available to all. Through Gentreo, users can create state-specific documents, and securely store and share their documents with the Gentreo Family Vault. From designating a health care proxy or power of attorney (including pet power of attorney), to creating a will, the cost of services is a fraction of working with an attorney. Gentreo is not a law firm or a substitute for a law firm or attorney or an attorney's advice or recommendations. For more information, visit www.gentreo.com, or connect with Gentreo on Twitter (@gentreo), Facebook (Gentreo) and LinkedIn (Gentreo).

Visit www.gentreo.com/getprepared to learn more and make the plans you need to protect your family.