West Lane Emergency Preparedness and Communications Survey

The West Lane Emergency Preparedness and

Communications Survey Has Closed. 

Thank you to the community members who participated! We were thrilled to receive feedback from 150+ individuals from all over west Lane County regarding how prepared they feel as both individuals and a collective, and suggestions to improve and enhance public outreach and education efforts. We wanted to share some of these insights with you all. Community preparedness is only as effective as its public involvement, and we will need all of your help to continue building our communal resiliency.

Highlights from the Survey

• Demographic takeaways:
  • 26% of respondents live alone.
    • We encourage you to make communication and care plans with your neighbors, particularly those living alone. Find out ways you can support each other in the event of a disaster, such as sharing resources, exchanging knowledge/expertise, and checking in with each other.
  • Most common vulnerabilities in our community:
    • Require daily medication (72%)
    • 70+ years old (37%)
    • Physical Disability or Mobility Impaired (17%)
    • Low Income (8%)
    • Deaf or Hard of Hearing (8%)

Note – Most people struggle to self-identify as vulnerable or disabled in some way. 45% of responders self-identified as NOT being a part of a vulnerable community, though this may not accurately reflect them needing certain accommodations in the event of a disaster, particularly for those who are hard of hearing or have slight mobile impairments.

• • 50% of participants have a go bag prepped and accessible, but 52% of participants have no household evacuation or communication plan.
    • Having emergency supplies is only the first step in your personal preparedness plan. A household evacuation and communication plan will help you act thoughtfully and swiftly in the event of a disaster. Find evacuation and communication plan outlines on FEMA’s www.ready.gov website.
• We desire to reinvigorate our local Community Emergency Response Team (CERT)
  • CERTs are volunteer led and operated emergency management groups. They support community mobilization and preparedness efforts. In the event of a disaster, they are deployed as local responders by Incident Command.  In Florence, the CERT is overseen by the Western Lane Fire and EMS Authority (WLFEA).
  • The Florence CERT became inactive during the pandemic and needs more volunteers. To learn more about volunteering with our local CERT, visit www.wlfea.org/cert/ or email info@WLFEA.org
• Suggestion to utilize local HOAs to increase scope of public outreach
  • If you’re a local HOA board member, you can send resource requests to emily.embleton@ci.florence.or.us.

So, what’s next? WLEOG is using your responses to…

• Plan and schedule monthly preparedness workshops and presentations.
  •  The schedule will go live during the summer of 2024.
• Rewrite and add to the PSAs in the Siuslaw News and KCST Coast Radio.
  • PSA outreach expanded to include KXCR Oregon Central Coast Community Radio.
• Administratively reinvigorate our local CERT.
• Inform the content, function, and layout of WLEOG’s new website.
  • Website relaunch date during the summer of 2024.
• Create consistent public messaging across all members/partners to clarify best practices and procedures before, during, and after a disaster.
• Diversify available public educational resources to increase scope and impact of preparedness information and provide different avenues to learn about preparing beyond online content.

If you have any questions or comments about the WLEOG survey or our next steps, please email Emily Embleton at emily.embleton@ci.florence.or.us.

Thank you for the time and effort you all have put into improving our communal resiliency.