Skip to content
Your Friendly Neighbor

Medical and medication continuity

This is a packing and paperwork list, not medical advice, and your clinician and pharmacist decide doses and storage.

Written for a household in St. Johns County and northeast Florida. This is a planning aid. Orders, zones, and shelter instructions come from the county and the state.

All guides · One-page card

Before

  • The American Red Cross survival-kit page is the source for a 7-day medication supply on this site’s calculator. The Red Cross hurricane page also describes a 1-month supply of medication. Ask your pharmacist what you are allowed to keep on hand.
  • Print a list: drug names, doses, allergies, and clinicians. Ready.gov lists prescriptions, glasses, and a written record in a kit.
  • Ready.gov power-outage page: ask your clinician how long a refrigerated medicine can stay warm, and how you will run a device that needs power.
  • Florida Division of Emergency Management describes a special needs registry for people who need electricity for medical equipment, transportation help to evacuate, or help getting medicine. Confirm the current county signup on the county emergency management page.
  • Keep a cooler, ice, and a thermometer if a medicine must stay cold. Do not guess a temperature the label does not give.
  • Copy insurance and Medicare or Medicaid cards. Ready.gov’s older-adult page includes those copies in the plan.

During

  • Take the printed list and the medicine bag if you leave. Keep daily doses in something you can carry.
  • If power fails, start the cooler plan for refrigerated medicine and follow the label.
  • Ready.gov: if power is out more than a day, discard refrigerated medicine unless the label says otherwise, and contact a clinician or pharmacist for a replacement.
  • For a powered device, use the backup power you arranged. A generator still stays outdoors, at least 20 feet from doors and windows.
  • Call 911 for a medical emergency. This site does not replace that.

After

  • Refill anything you used. Pharmacies may reopen on different days. The printed list helps a new pharmacy.
  • If a medicine got warm or wet, ask a pharmacist before you take it. Do not use a rule of thumb.
  • Update the special needs registry information if your equipment or phone number changed. Use the county’s current process.
  • Restock the cooler ice packs and check alarm batteries.

Checklist

  • Printed medicine and allergy list
  • At least the Red Cross 7-day supply, or what your pharmacist allows
  • Cooler plan for anything that must stay cold
  • Backup power plan for a medical device
  • Insurance card copies
  • County registry checked if you need power or a ride

Sources

Official pages only. Open them for the full instructions.