ROYAL CITY - Readiness in case of emergencies, anything from a lengthy electrical outage to a bad snowstorm, will be the featured topic at the Health Care Expo from 4 to 8 p.m. Wednesday in the Red Rock Elementary School gym, 230 Wildflower St.

The expo is sponsored by the Grant County Hospital District No. 7, the Columbia Basin Herald and Confluence Health (Moses Lake Clinic).

Exhibitors will include Moses Lake Community Health, Grant County Integrated Services, American Red Cross representatives, local aging and adult care agencies, Grant County PUD, Mattawa Medical Clinic, MedStar, EMTs from Grant County Fire District No. 10 and the Grant County Health Department. Other vendors will have information on dental services, vision care, nutrition, exercise programs and chiropractic care, among others.

Presenters will give demonstrations and provide some screenings, including blood pressure and blood sugar levels. The PUD demonstration will illustrate the effects of touching live wires, Hospital District No. 7 chair Deb Murphy said.

Spanish-speaking volunteers from Royal High School will act as interpreters, Murphy said. Health organization employees will have information about the Affordable Care Act.

The idea, Murphy said, is to give people in the Royal City area information they might not have a way to get otherwise. "A lot of visuals," Murphy said. "Visual aids and hands-on."

Murphy said she suggested the focus on emergency preparedness, which is something she thinks is important but that people might overlook. "I'm a big advocate of preparedness."

Emergencies don't respect time or place, and people need to be ready, especially in sparsely populated areas. "What if your power goes out in January for three days. What will you do?" she said. "I want people to think about that. What would you do?"

Preparation makes it easier to deal with emergencies, Murphy said. She carries an emergency kit in her car, she said. She's got two of them, for the differing demands of winter and summer. She keeps about a week's supply of medications within easy access, she said, and she has prepared her house, just in case of that three-day power outage in January. "Everybody needs to plan for themselves," she said, and their unique circumstances.