Are you prepared? Lake Villa wants you to be

From tornadoes to terrorists, officials in Lake Villa want residents to be prepared for any and all emergency situations.

The first-ever Emergency Preparedness Expo is set for this Saturday.

Representatives from the Lake County Health Department, the American Red Cross, the Lake Villa Rescue Squad and other agencies will be giving tips on how to survive a host of threats.

The event will be held at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 315 McKinley Ave. in Lake Villa. The church is hosting, but organizers said the expo is a community event and not a church function. Doors open at 8:30 a.m. It ends at noon.

The expo will feature Lake County Emergency Coordinator Kent McKenzie as the keynote speaker. There will be at least a dozen booths with folks explaining everything from first aid to food storage.

There will be four breakout sessions running throughout the morning.

"Dollar Sense" will teach folks how to prepare financially for a disruption. "Got Food" is about long-term food storage in the event of an extended power outage. "Waiting for the Ambulance" gives tips on what to do while waiting for the paramedics to arrive. And "Are You Ready" is a session that gives tips from the Federal Emergency Management Association's handbook.

Lake Villa Emergency Management Coordinator Bud Osmond said the event dovetails nicely with the recent activation of the village's emergency call system. The warning service went live last week.

"Now if people receive a call from the alert system, they will know what to do in the event of an emergency situation," he said.

Residents can sign up for the "Connect-CTY" service from a link on the village Web site, at lake-villa.org. Important messages warning of tornadoes, floods, power outages and more are sent via telephone, e-mail and cell phone.