Departments | Emergency Management Agency | In the News | Emergency management group seeks special needs information
Article written by Bob Link and used with permission from the Globe Gazette, published on Friday, May 10, 2007.
MASON CITY - Emergency responders are looking for special needs information in Cerro Gordo and Franklin counties.
In situations requiring evacuations, the two-county Emergency Management office will offer assistance such as transportation, shelter, medical supplies and care.
"To properly plan evacuations and more specifically shelters, we need to know what peoples' needs are," said Steve O'Neil, EMS coordinator for Cerro Gordo and Franklin counties.
O'Neil's office has developed a registration form (pdf) to help develop a database which will be used when emergency evacuations are conducted.
"In some communities health care providers and city governments are helping us," he said. "We want to stress the importance of completing the forms and getting them back to our office."
In Thornton and Sheffield, the city councils have agreed to help distribute the forms.
Technology at the EMS offices will allow officials to look at a specific area where an emergency threatens or has occurred. The database will allow them to identify who lives in the area.
The registration form is a one-page (front and back) document, including basic information such as name, age and address.
It goes on to address transportation, medical and individual disaster plan preferences.
"It is strictly a volunteer program," O'Neil said. "And we want to assure people we will not share information with anyone; it will be held and considered confidential."
"The only people that will see it are the people helping them," he said.
