Emergency Preparedness Brochure—

A Newtown Guide

For Disasters

By John Voket

At the height of the recovery process following a rogue October snowstorm that temporarily crippled Newtown, regional Health District Director Donna Culbert told The Newtown Bee that she wished there was a guide to advise local residents about when and how to seek assistance.

This week, the result of that idea began arriving in Newtown mailboxes in the form of a localized newsletter titled Be Ready Newtown. The easy-to-read, four-page publication attempts to identify the many types of emergency events Newtowners could face, as well as ways all residents can help make their homes and themselves better prepared.

“I wanted something that could access every resident’s home,” said Ms Culbert, whose district also encompasses Bridgewater and Roxbury, which issue a quarterly newsletter that goes out to every home in the community.

“I can’t help but like the fact that we could get this information into everybody’s house,” Ms Culbert said. “But the hard part is knowing whether everyone receiving it is reading and retaining the details.”

The Health District official said it is most important that individuals who are medically compromised or frail have a good backup plan in the event of the kind of storms that hit Newtown in late 2011.

“If they have a care provider, or work with service or a loved one who assists them, they should have a plan in place in the event of emergencies or long-term interruptions to their utilities,” Ms Culbert said. “But we’re also concerned and should know about those who don’t have those systems in place. We want to be sure nobody falls through the cracks.”

The challenge, which became clear particularly after the October snowstorm, is that nobody in town knows how many of those frail or compromised but independent people are in town.

“We’re very sensitive to the fact that some don’t want to surrender their independence,” Ms Culbert said. “And we don’t want people to think that by letting us know they are there, will in any way compromise their independence. Sometimes you just need a hand in a bad situation.”

Ms Culbert said that while the publication emphasizes safety for those who may be more vulnerable, there is still plenty of useful information in there for everybody in town, like a reminder about signing up all home and cell phones to the town’s Code Red emergency notification system.

Newtown’s Emergency Management Director William Halstead said that he has seen almost 250 new Code Red subscribers to the alert system in recent weeks. Mr Halstead, who is also the town fire marshal and chief of Sandy Hook Fire & Rescue, also helped contribute to the Be Ready Newtown publication, along with Deputy Emergency Management Director and Emergency Communications Director Maureen Will and First Selectman Pat Llodra.

Those officials along with Ms Culbert and a host of other town workers and officials spent countless hours in the local Emergency Operations Center attempting to identify and reach out to those who were either known to be somehow compromised, or those who were identified by neighbors and family members calling in to the police to conduct welfare checks on those individuals.

While the idea to create the preparedness brochure was floated after a late August tropical storm also caused extensive road closures and utility outages, the October situation cemented the need for such a localized publication in town officials’ minds.

“This was in the planning stages after Irene, but we learned a lot more from Alfred and incorporated our lessons into this document,” Ms Culbert said. “Probably the most important thing is to arm residents with knowledge of how they can help themselves and others.”

The document urges Newtowners to be prepared; to know how to ask for help; to sign up for Code Red if they are not already on it; to know who to call or where to go to; and to help each other.

“I ask residents to hold on to this document,” Ms Culbert said. “It contains important telephone numbers, websites, and information to refer to during an emergency.”

Among the points of information are articles about using generators, compiling an emergency supply kit, drinking water and food safety, how to seek shelter services, and wastewater concerns for those on both septic and sewer systems.

The health official said residents should consider posting their Be Ready Newtown newsletter somewhere safe where it will be remembered, and where residents can locate it when necessary.

“Put it on the refrigerator,” Ms Culbert suggested.