AVALON, CATALINA ISLAND - Catalina Island Medical Center's employees and their families are better prepared in case of disaster, thanks to an innovative partnership between CIMC and Los Angeles County Deputy Sheriff Burt Lyon. Lyon is organizing a local Build A Bucket program, which provides a five-gallon bucket filled with enough emergency supplies for a family for three days. The bucket includes food, water, a basic first aid kit and a flash light, as well as other supplies. The bucket itself can be used for sanitary needs.

The purchase of those buckets is being subsidized for CIMC employees by the hospital.

"If our employees don't have to worry about their families during a disaster, they can focus on helping the community from the hospital," hospital CEO Bryan Ballard said. "Subsidizing disaster preparedness kits is an effective way to make sure our employees and their families are prepared."

According to Lyon, CIMC was the first local organization that saw the benefit to making the buckets available to their employees. "I'm absolutely thrilled that the hospital, along with other businesses in town, feels it's important to do this," Lyon said. "For an employee to be effective during a disaster they need to have the piece of mind that their family is taken care of and part of that piece of mind is knowing that their family has emergency supplies."

Catalina's Community Emergency Response Team will soon have the buckets available for the general public. For more information about the program, contact Lyon at (310) 510-2015.