pages: CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-12-14.pdf, 7
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CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities | 2016-12-14 | 7 | Arnold Brillinger: It boils down to each individual making sure that they have it for their family or for their neighbors or whatever. I was just going to ask the question, because they change this number all the time. In Alameda, how long do you think that it could possibly be that a person could be waiting to see first responders? Sharon Oliver: We do a thing called 'triage' when we have a big disaster. Day to day when you call 911, they dispatch somebody right away. If every one of our units is out in Alameda, they send somebody from Oakland or Piedmont or Berkeley. They just keep reaching out, and it takes more time to drive, but they're dispatching somebody immediately from throughout Alameda County, and beyond if they need to. In a regional disaster when every city around us is impacted as well, that's when we run into trouble. So then we have to go to a situation where we're looking at the calls as they come in, and we're having to sort of make a choice about what's the worst call and where can we go next? It's sort of in the queue. So it could take a while, it really could! That's why we really encourage citizens to have a plan on their own, have a network, be able to help one another so that our resources can go to the most critical situations. The most critically injured, the fires. Sharon Oliver: If you look at our city, some of our houses are built inches apart, so we don't want a fire to burn all the way across town, so for us fire could be very, very important because it could burn right across town, which would then take away from some of our abilities to get right to a medical call. If we have a big regional disaster, it's going to be a big challenge for us, but if we plan appropriately and we have our network set up, there's other avenues, there's other folks who could help and get you to the hospital. Not to lie, it could really be a wait, and that's why we want to plan ahead. Arnold Brillinger: I was thinking in the regional disaster. Sharon Oliver: That's the one that's going to hurt us, yes. Arnold Brillinger: Yes, because there are certain people that are going to get the response right away, but they usually tell you to have enough food and water for how many days, what's the minimum? Sharon Oliver: We look at a minimum of three days, because we believe we can start getting food and water into the city. We should be able to get some bottled water from our stores and things, and water coming in within, we hope, 24 hours, but it takes a while. When everybody is asking, it's a lot. It's not like it's not coming, but it doesn't come really quickly, and we are at the end of the line for the water supply, so if the water breaks up stream, then it's going to not be here. They have a great plan, but if they have a lot of breaks, it's going to just physically take some time to bridge those gaps. Water is very, very important to store, and we will be looking at bringing water in just as quickly as we can, and food. Sharon Oliver: When we do that, we set up what are called commodity PODS', points of distribution, and they're often a drive-thru so you come with your car, you tell how many people, they put flats of water and ice in your vehicle and whatever food we have, and then you drive on. If you can't get there, or if you can't get a friend or something, those are going to be the kind of things where you're going to have to reach out as best we can, and that's part of the planning. That's why we tried to set up the registry, how does somebody with a functional need say, "No, I'm not just anybody, I'm really in distress here, and please get to us." That's one of the things we need to look at in our planning. Susan Deutsch: I also have a question, because you talked about somebody getting stuck in a room, where the buildings are very old, and I'm thinking what the plan would be for somebody in a wheelchair who gets stuck in an apartment that might be on the second floor, and the elevator could be out. In a small disaster, the fire department could probably come in and help that person out. | CommissiononPersonswithDisabilities/2016-12-14.pdf |