Here’s to an even more prepared 2024
Published 1:30 am Thursday, January 4, 2024
We raise a glass — your choice, sparkling wine or ginger ale — to all of you who get it. You understand that preparedness means safety and comfort when bad things happen, which they inevitably do. For this issue, in keeping with the new year, we asked members of our team to share a few of their resolutions for 2024.
Michael Meyer
Auxiliary Communications Service (ACS, Ham Radio) Team Lead
I hope island families take time in 2024 to think about how they will stay in touch during an emergency that damages internet and cell service.
Make a family emergency communications plan. Agree on short text messages that could be passed within your family to share location and welfare. Designate an out-of-state contact that all family members agree to pass messages through if local communications infrastructure isn’t working. Set up the emergency contacts on your cell phone, and learn about the emergency messaging capabilities that might already be part of your phone.
A little planning can keep everyone in contact when it matters the most.
Jan Milligan
Manager, Community Emergency Response Team (CERT)
For 2024, we are eager to get back to our pre-pandemic hands-on training program. I hope we get a great turnout for our upcoming basic household preparedness course, which will be followed by multiple sessions of our full CERT training program for community emergency response. The basic household preparedness course will meet on Saturday, January 13th, and requires registration.
Sign up by emailing CERT@VashonBePrepared.org or by calling or texting me, CERT Manager Jan Milligan: (206) 949-1184.
Marijke van Heeswijk
Emergency Operations Center, Mass Care Section Chief
We are working to build up the Mass Care Team in the Emergency Operations Center so we’re ready to provide the community with safe water, food, and shelter following a disaster. That includes recruiting new volunteers interested in helping with emergency preparedness and response. On the home front, I will focus on keeping brush and other combustibles away from my house to lessen the chance it will ignite in case of a wildfire.
John Galus
Auxiliary Communications Service (ACS, Ham Radio) Team Member
As 2024 draws near, I am pretty comfortable with my preparations for snowstorms, windstorms, earthquakes and the like. One thing I am not ready for is a wildfire on the Island. 2023 was a very dry year and this winter looks to be the same. I live on a heavily wooded lot, which means the windstorms are always breaking off branches. Some parts of my property have 20 years of accumulation of windfalls.
My goal in 2024 is to clean up these fallen branches and dead brush before June, following the recommendations of the King Conservation district. We’ve also prepared a grab-and-go bag with important documents and supplies in case we have to evacuate.
Michael Sperazza
Emergency Operations Center, Situation Section Chief
At the onset of the pandemic, news images from around the county were showing empty grocery shelves. Yet on Vashon, we did not experience a big run on the markets. A large percentage of our population has listened to advice to store food and water for an emergency just like COVID. But we can resolve to do better. The current recommendation is to have at least two weeks of food and water — three is even better on islands like Vashon (and don’t forget pets).
This most basic of human needs must be an island-wide goal. We rely on importing our food and fuel from the mainland, and who knows what could happen to that supply chain in a big disaster.
Vicky de Monterey Richoux
President, VashonBePrepared
Emergency Operations Center, Deputy Manager, Logistics Section Chief
I dream of doing a proper emergency food inventory. I’ll note categories (entree, side, snack, treat), and the dates when each item should be used/replaced. Do I have too much canned corn? Is there enough soup for post-quake winter evenings? I know there’s too much tuna. Is there anything my grandson will eat?
We’ll test the food cache by cooking some meals al fresco on camp stoves on the deck, discover that we forgot oven mitts and enough serving utensils, and find out which foods no one wants to test (or eat). Does everything really taste better outdoors? Here’s hoping.
Jinna Risdal
Medical Reserve Corps, Community Care Team Lead
When setting resolutions I hope people will not focus on a life overhaul. Instead, prioritize your health and wellness and embrace attainable goals. Make room for new routines and habits that make you feel good! For example, volunteer regularly. Pitching in leads to less stress and lower blood pressure. There are many organizations to choose from on the island, including all the groups in the VashonBePrepared coalition!
Michelle Bates
Emergency Operations Center, Website Producer, Situation Section Team Member
I’m hoping to get my new neighborhood’s NERO together. NEROs (Neighborhood Emergency Response Organization) are neighborhood groups that come together to share information that helps us be there for one another when things go wrong or disaster strikes.
I’ve met many of my neighbors and they are already a strong community, but I’m hoping that the tools that the NERO program provides can help us all feel more secure in advance of a disaster, and more prepared when things do happen.
Rick Wallace
Vice President, VashonBePrepared
Manager, Vashon Emergency Operations Center
I have joined Islanders for Ferry Action (IFA) because our ferry problems have turned into a daily crisis that affects every part of our lives on Vashon. We all need to pull together to get short-term relief because it will take years before new boats and newly trained captains, mates, and engineers will be in place to improve ferry service. Our island economy, quality of life, health, and more are at stake.
Thank you to Vashon Island Chamber of Commerce for being a VashonBePrepared coalition member and for launching Islanders for Ferry Action.
