pages: CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-12-14.pdf, 4
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CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities | 2016-12-14 | 4 | community wasn't interested in giving out information like that. It was a scary thought to give information even to the city to do welfare checks because there was a trust issue, I believe. We never conquered that hurdle. Sharon Oliver: But it's very important to be able to network in a way that the community feels safe, your community feels safe and there's somebody to check on folks that need to be checked on. Welfare checks are important, having a plan for moving if you can't stay in your location, and that can mean a lot of different things. That might actually require paired transit or some other vehicle that's specialized and relocating. Having a plan to be able to stay in your home as best you can, having a welfare check, having some supplies of food, water, medicine, anything you need to keep you going, and then having a back-up plan where you might go if you cannot stay in your home. Sharon Oliver: What can you guys do? Well, you can be partners with the city in our planning effort. So you can attend trainings to learn personal preparedness, that would be great. You can make plans ahead, whatever that looks like for you. You can assemble a kit that you have in your home or your car. Water's super important. We can go a long time without food, but water's essential, SO having some in your vehicle, at your home, whatever you can keep, even a little is better than none. And then having your contact phone numbers at hand so that you can network. Networking, we encourage it in the general community and this community in particular. We know that if you have a mobility issue, you could get stuck in a room just because some books fell off the shelf. You're fine, you're not hurt, but you can't get out of that room and if you don't have a phone or something, you could literally be stuck in your own house for days and days. Some of these things, taking some preparedness efforts to make sure you're safe, and then having a network that says, "Hey, are you okay?" Call each other each day. Especially after a big event like an earthquake, then, it's simple to pick up books in a book shelf. We can get people to do that. But to have you stuck in one room because a few books fell off the shelf and jammed the door would be a horrible thing if nobody knew you were there. Sharon Oliver: So when I talk about assisting with a planning effort, we are going to be developing or refreshing our Emergency Operation Plan, and it would be great to have a task force for this community to help us address some of our challenges, for example having older buildings. We identify shelters that are already up to code, but we can't be 100% guaranteed that they withstand in a large disaster, so we may have to look at others. We have some equipment we're going to need, and some signage. We just identified needing something that can print braille signs. Somebody who could actually tell us if they're printed properly, because most of us cannot read it. That partnership from your group would be really amazing. We will ask you to participate and we hope that you do. Sharon Oliver: Helping us identify who are needy citizens. If we can't actually keep a database, which has proven to be challenging at least three times over the past, close to 20 years, we've tried several times. We recently tried, just about three-and-a-half years ago, we tried again, and again it didn't fly. Your suggestions on how we know who we need to check on in a disaster would be very helpful. And then education and outreach into your community. We have a great resource in Eaton Information and Referral Center, it's the 211 system. Are you familiar with 211? Yes? You've heard of it? We have a person that's been hired there and they used to work for CARD which was Collaborating Agencies Responding to Disasters, and they're no longer there. But this gentleman is available to give presentations. They've done a lot of presentations for various functional needs group, and they're phenomenal. Their motto is, "Fear-free disaster planning.' Sharon Oliver: It's just very creative, it's fun and they really make it nice. We would love to host a gathering with that individual. And I already asked him before I came, I said I'm going to speak with the commission and I hope that they'll set up a time to do that. It's kind of hard to read but all you need to remember is www.ready.gov and that's a FEMA site, and it has information. Tonight I printed a few copies, and we're going to upload this all for you, I was a little late in getting it and I apologize | CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-12-14.pdf |