INSIDE

A bridge over troubled waters

By Meg Olson

The Point Roberts Emergency Prepared-ness Committee (PREP) is ready to unveil the Point’s own homegrown emergency response system, which will link neighbors in need with neighbors who can help.

“Disaster planning in our isolated community presented problems which needed unusual solutions,” said PREP member Ed Lester.
The solution the group came up with was to create a database of resources – from four-wheel-drive vehicles to help you get to the store in a snowstorm, to offers of shelter in the event of flooding or power outages. A newly established assistance line, 945-PREP, uses volunteer operators to match people who need assistance with the people who can help that live closest to them.

The fledgling database was started last summer, when PREP group members set up an informational booth at the International Marketplace and asked community members to fill out a questionnaire. Where do you live? Can you offer shelter ? Do you have 4-wheel drive? Do you have first aid training? Do you have special needs?

They received approximately 200 completed questionnaires and Lester said as more community members fill theirs in, the system will grow. “We’re inviting anyone who hasn’t filled one out to do it now,” he said. The PREP website, www.prep group.org, is currently being enhanced to allow community members to complete the survey online, in addition to being a resource for information on planning for an emergency. Meanwhile community members can call the PREP number or email info@prep group.org to get a copy of the questionnaire.

When volunteer operators at 945-PREP get a call for help they can match the caller’s number to their address, and access the PREP database. “They know from their number where they live and who lives next door who can offer help,” Lester said. The volunteer would then call the neighbor and ask them if they can help.

Lester said in case of a real emergency, people should still call 911. The new assistance line is not who to call when you fall off a ladder, it’s who to call when you need safe drinking water, or you don’t have heat. “Our volunteers will be trained to understand the difference between a 911 call and what we can do – take them to the store, deliver medicines, take them to the clinic,” he said.

While the system is growing, Lester said, they have divided Point Roberts into a number of zones, so they know they have people who can respond to calls for help in each area. “Point Roberts is so small this way we can be anywhere in a few minutes,” he said.

Lester added that the 945-PREP service was meant to provide assistance in a disaster or crisis situation and asked that people not overburden the system by calling to find someone to mow their lawn. “We don’t want people to use this on a routine basis,” he said.