From - Tue Jan 1 10:50:37 2002 Return-Path: Received: from peakpeak.com (tz0090.peakpeak.com [207.174.69.90]) by gash2.peakpeak.com (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id KAA25654; Tue, 1 Jan 2002 10:20:20 -0700 Sender: snowbear@gash2.peakpeak.com Message-ID: <3C31F1BD.E138C3D7@peakpeak.com> Date: Tue, 01 Jan 2002 10:28:29 -0700 From: Pam North X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.61 [en] (X11; U; Linux 2.2.12-20 i586) X-Accept-Language: en MIME-Version: 1.0 To: "Douglas, Laura" , "Green, Guerin" , "North, Pam" Subject: Article Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Status: X-Mozilla-Status: 8001 X-Mozilla-Status2: 00000000 X-UIDL: 391deae70000238c ALIVE AND WELL IN GILPIN COUNTY - HOW TO STAY THAT WAY by Pam North County residents are by now familiar with the survey, dated last October 23rd, that was sent out by the Gilpin County Emergency Services. Of the 2900 surveys mailed out, 627 responses were returned, and of those 620 were filled out and 7 were returned blank. The blank ones were possibly a statement by their senders that they may have viewed the questions on the survey as an invasion of their privacy. The questions asked for information related to: the number of people living in that household; number of pets; if a business was operated in the home, with related hazardous chemicals or propane storage; if any oxygen tanks, firearms or ammunition were stored in the home; if anyone in the home would need special assistance in an emergency situation. Responses to the questions were to be regarded as generally confidential, with the County committed to honor that, but that stipulation apparently did not convince everyone in the county to answer the questions and return the survey in the handy postage-paid envelope provided. While the County regards those 620 answered questionaires as a favorable outcome, obviously a sizable number of county residents were either uncomfortable about it or thought it wasn't important enough to fill out. In either case that's unfortunate, as the survey was sent with the goal of updating the 911 database, to further develop an Emergency Services plan, and to serve our community better, not to have any "Big Brother is watching you" overtones or consequences. The County distributed it for two above-board reasons: to involve the public once yearly in the planning of emergency services, and to satisfy the requirements of the SARA Title III division of FEMA. The latter has important ramifications, as unless the SARA Title III stipulations are met properly, Gilpin County would be unable to receive federal funding in the event of a major emergency. While the survey was not in itself a requirement, the County chose this method as a tool to accumulate data that would better address specific needs of local residents in the response to an emergency situation. Still another purpose of the survey was to gather volunteers who could be recruited to pitch in to help in time of an emergency. In this regard, the survey was very successful, as many residents declared their desire to provide assistance in such circumstances. Duties such as answering phones, helping in shelters, and directing traffic are ways in which volunteers would be urgently needed in an emergency, and now a contact list of people is in place for such assistance. Also, two public meetings have been held, on November 8th and 29th, to allow Emergency Services personnel to meet with local citizens to share knowledge and to brainstorm for more ideas on how to better protect the public. Many new and valuable viewpoints were offered at these meetings, and more such meetings are being planned for the future. Gilpin residents should be relieved to know that even more effort has been expended to address our safety since the September 11th terrorist attacks and the subsequent anthrax scares. The state continues to disperse information to the County, and additional education courses specific to such concerns has been made available to the relevant county personnel needing that information, ensuring that they be up-to-date on what best to do in such situations. The County also has updated and rewritten an emergency preparedness manual, which will be printed at the latter part of January, and subsequently distributed to county residents. This publication will cover various topics such as: what generally to have on hand in case of a future emergency; what to take if evacuation is necessary; where notices are posted to assist people in such a situation; what routes to follow; what radio and television stations would be broadcasting emergency information. Because of the changing situations of its residents, the County will require a regular update of the data it has collected. How that will be undertaken has not been decided as yet, but if in the future you get another survey similar to this last one, think again before failing to complete and return it. Your safety and well-being is the issue here, and anything you can do to improve the odds on staying alive and healthy deserves your serious consideration. Despite the return date of December 14th specified on the survey recently sent out, you can still fill it out and send it in to the County. For any who would like to be added to the list of volunteers in an emergency, you may do that by either including that information on the front page of the survey, or by calling the non-emergency number for dispatch at (303) 582-5500. Have a little more trust in your County; it's trying to look out for you.