Brain storming Ideas:

As a group we have brainstormed many ideas for a possible emergency preparedness kit for our client. Our main topics of concern were the accessibility and contents of the kit. After visiting Eric’s home we have thought of a few places where the kit can be placed and could be easily accessible. As for the contents inside the kit, we have come up with many items which are a necessity in case of an emergency. These items are: water, flashlight, blanket, whistle, glow stick, first aid kit, dust mask, and granola bars.

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We have brainstormed many different ideas for the accessibility and content of the kit. Some of these ideas have been great while others have been implausible. The technique our team has used to rule out some of these implausible ideas are by taking a vote amongst the team and doing some research online on things we weren’t sure about. For instance one group member suggested we needed six liters of water in the kit. As none of us was sure how much water a human needs to survive, one of our group members did research and discovered it is more probable to have two liters of water in the kit.

We have recently just finalized many aspects of our kit and its contents. It was not easy to finalize some of the items in the kit since our group had came up with many great ideas but we still needed to keep within our budget so some decisions had to be made. Ultimately we decided to take out some of the less necessary things for survival. As for the kit itself, we decided to go with a soft kit instead of a hard kit as it would be more easily accessible to our client and also it wouldn’t break if it fell on the ground. We have also chosen to go with bottled water with a squeeze cap as our client is only able with one arm and cannot open a twisting cap. For the location of the kit in Eric’s home we have narrowed it down to somewhere in his kitchen or bedroom. This would be an ideal place to put the kit because this is where he will be mostly at his house. Another choice we have made is to keep the kit some place of arms length away so he can easily access it. We immediately ruled out putting it somewhere on the ground as it word be hard for him to access it during an emergency.

Overview:

On Feb 1, our group met with Eric, our client. Some of the important highlights from the meeting were:

**The budget for the kit is 50-100$

**Soft cover kits are more preferable

**Eric take only multi-vitamins and cold-fx

**The kit is better not to be attached to Eric’s chair

Next, we researched on some of the contents and convenient sizes for the emergency kit. An appropriate size bag was found that could fit in all the necessary contents. After finding the kit,3 important issues were reviewed:

The amount and type of water placed in the kit so that it will fit and also not go bad, the amount of food for three days after an emergency which has to be non-perishable so that it can stay in the kit for some time like granola bars, and the content for our first aid kit, if the content should be hand picked and placed or not.

After 2 weeks on brain storming on Feb 8 we finally agreed on some primary contents for the bag. Thereafter, we had to consider the cost of each item so that it would be in our budget. Although the cost of each item has been considered through out the project decisions, on Feb 15, a rough estimate was made for us to work on. This phase is by far the hardest since it limits us from adding more content if it were needed and also finding the contents so that it would exceed our budget.

Organization Description:

 The Tetra Society founded in 1987 in Vancouver, British Columbia by Sam Sullivan. Sam was a quadriplegic, and so he could not easily do many daily tasks, such as showering on his own. Later, he worked with the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of BC. By installing sample devices in his apartment, there is a great improvement in accessibility. The collaboration did not stop; they continued to work together to help other people with disability.

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Currently, the Tetra Society has 45 chapters and 300 plus professional volunteers throughout North America, and their services are customary for each client. Their clients range from infants to seniors, and they can have any level of disability. Tetra’s goal is to provide the best custom service to individual clients, and to reduce their societal and environmental barriers. Tetra’s assistive devices help their clients increase the access within the households (Kitchens, bedroom and bathroom) and other environments (vehicles, public places), to improve the quality of their life.

Project Scope:

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The scope of this project is mainly to design and implement a post disaster emergency kit for a client with cerebral palsy,   it is also important to make sure our client understand the kit in order to make effective use of its contents.  The goal for this project is to exercise our capacity to help others with our engineering knowledge, and to ultimately increase the survivability of our client Eric in the case of an unforeseen disaster.

Project Constraints:

 Because of the unique physical situation of our client, his limited range of motion creates some constraints for the design of our emergency kit.

 **Some non-negotiable constraints include:

– The kit must be within reaching distance at all times

– The client must be able to open the kit easily

**Some negotiable constraints include:

– Contents within the kit

– The location of the kit

Strategies To Reach Our Goal:

In order for us to successfully complete this project, it is important to maintain a constant line of communications with our mentor and our client. This way we ensure that everybody is on the same page with regards to the progress of this project. Also, we would put emphasis on researching about the composition of our emergency kit, including its content and location, to maximize its value to our client. We would also test and modify our designs of the kit on a regular basis to improve its functionality to the best of our abilities.