Winter Emergency Preparedness: Stocking Hygiene Essentials for Crisis Response

When the temperature dips below freezing, and emergency shelters are tripled to capacity, it’s interesting to note what occurs behind the scenes. Blankets and warm meals are expected; yet the people running these emergency efforts scramble for something else: hygiene supplies. No one wants to talk about soap and toothpaste when they’re cold and hungry, but when they’re huddled in close quarters under a temporary roof for 48 hours to weeks on end, the hygiene element is as crucial as food.

This is partly why winter emergencies are unique. Many crisis response plans fail to address all elements and challenges necessary. The hygiene element is the first thing that goes awry.

Why Winter Is Different for Crisis Response

There are fewer summer emergencies than winter ones. Winter specific emergencies are different than summer storms. People can’t stay outside, they have to go in to warming centers, shelters and emergency facilities that weren’t designed for peak populations. Temporary overnight options become weeks-long housing efforts when people aren’t able to acclimate to the cold.

This is the problem. The more people are crammed into one hot room with little circulation, the more illness runs rampant. Flu, norovirus and respiratory infections, and with hygiene supplies in short stock, a simple cold becomes an influenza-diagnosed shelter in 48 hours. Now a shelter crisis becomes a health crisis.

Many organizations learn this the hard way during their first major winter event of operation. They have planned enough beds and meals but are out of hand sanitizer, soap and toilet paper three days in. Unfortunately, this goes quick, the suppliers who stock retailers can’t send emergency shipments at a moment’s notice when snow is falling or ice is covering the streets and panic buying has cleared out local stores.

The Crisis Response Hygiene Supply List Is Longer Than You Think

Emergency hygiene stockpiling isn’t straightforward; everyone requires different supplies based on different situations. Organizations that regularly work with vulnerable populations find a level of balance. Wholesale toiletries from Bags in Bulk Canada have become an answer for Canadian relief organizations stocking their winter inventory especially for groups that require limited budgets yet need to stock up.

Essentials everyone needs are soap, shampoo, toothbrushes, toothpaste, deodorant. But winter requests are added. Lip balm is necessary because the heated air indoors and cold air outdoors wreak havoc on people’s mouths. Lotion is not a luxury when it’s cold, cracked hands bleed and create infection opportunities.

Feminine hygiene products are always needed and often not accounted for in emergencies. The red tide of biology doesn’t give people a break just because it’s an emergency. Same for adult incontinence products; many older adults or disabled persons need them but do not request them.

Then there are the things that make public bathrooms even somewhat efficient, like toilet paper (obviously), paper towel for hands and hand sanitizer where soap isn’t available. Garbage bags, cleaning supplies and disinfectant are not personal items, but when bathrooms are operating at or above capacity, they’re critically important for sanitary maintenance.

Proper Storage and Rotation Issues

Even if an organization has this level of supplies acquired, what good is it if they have no place to store it that makes sense? Temporary usage areas should be sanitized and available, items should not be expired but some items require climate control or specific rotation guidelines.

All soap expires. Some types of toothpaste freeze; some separate. Liquid soap gets weird if it’s frozen and thawed multiple times. Aerosols should not be kept in unheated areas. Organizations with no climate-controlled space, let’s face it; most community organizations, have to find a way to compromise between content and where it’s kept.

Even rotation matters. An item that’s been sitting around for two years without use during a crisis isn’t in good condition when it’s finally utilized after sitting on a shelf gathering dust.

Thus, the easiest route is to incorporate these stocks into regular programming efforts so nothing sits on a shelf too long; using these items ensures they’re rotated without wasting anything through overstocking.

Budget Realities Nobody Tells You About

This is where it gets expensive, the realities that even seasoned program managers forget. A single hygiene kit costs anywhere between $8-$15 for basic needs depending on quality and acquisition efforts. That doesn’t sound bad until multiplied by 150 people for week-long efforts.

Small organizations operating on thin budgets must make hard choices, do they attempt to stock up with quality items that last longer and feel better or do they stretch the budget but buy cheaper versions that just pass the time until they’re donated again? There’s no correct answer because both approaches have downsides, cheap versions end up in complaints or ineffective response abilities while higher-end options leave smaller quantities available for the same population.

Grant funding rarely adequately allocates consumables. Donors like to donate programs or projects, not bars of soap. This leaves organizations scrambling to cover holes in hygiene budgets from different minuscule funders or absorbing these costs through operational funding.

What Happens When Supplies Run Out Mid-Emergency Response

Running out of supplies mid-emergency response makes everyone miserable. Staff members have to run store to store hoping someone carries it (and often they’re closed); people sheltered in locations lose dignity over inability to maintain basic standards of living.

Health complications run rampant, increased illness response by subpar medications run rampant without adequate hands washing availability, toilet paper and feminine hygiene products lead to truly devastating situations while stress levels for both responders and receivers become compounded without basic necessities.

Some organizations have created mutual aid networks where they can borrow items from each other mid-crises, but it rarely works when everyone else is going through the same or other crises at the same time at a reduced rate.

A Sustainable Solution

Organizations that handle winter emergencies best are not the ones with the biggest budgets, but the ones who think systematically and connect with people before anything happens.

Smart stockpiling means maintaining constant inventory throughout the year but upping it when winter comes. It means connecting with suppliers who have excess inventory at their own discretion, so they’re not overwhelmed come January every year, and tracking use from previous years so estimations set concrete numbers instead of guesstimates.

Groups have pooled their purchasing power together, a cooperative buying option to enforce volume purchasing that’ll ensure supply value availability and recently many organizations have created corporate partnerships where companies promise certain supplies year-on-year to take that load off their plate.

The point is that this supply level should be taken as seriously as any other element of crisis response, it’s not an afterthought or something people don’t care about during crises, when they’re already facing housing instability, employment loss, family crisis, they shouldn’t feel dirty, they should be empowered by whatever dignity and health they can salvage to feel ready for their next step.

Don’t Count on Winter Emergencies to Be Just One Situation

There’s always something unexpected each winter, a polar vortex lasts three weeks instead of three days. A snowstorm wipes a block out of power instead of one sector for days. A building fire displaces dozens right before holiday time.

The groups that weathered these situations best did so with advanced preparation beyond what they ever thought would be most likely.

Stocking 25% more than expected, finding other suppliers, alternative products, and best yet, making sure all volunteers know what drives rationing that makes sense without losing anyone’s dignity, because in Canada, there’s always another situation on the forecast unless your population is prepared enough during this one to stay able until the next one hits.