VashonBePrepared

Mission

VashonBePrepared helps our island community prepare for any major emergency. Vashon is a ferry-only island with no bridge, no hospital and no city government, so we aim to increase island self-reliance. We achieve our mission by: motivating, educating, and forming partnerships with citizens, households, and businesses; developing and maintaining disaster plans and procedures in close cooperation with Vashon Island Fire & Rescue (VIFR); and recruiting, organizing and training the Vashon Emergency Operations Center (EOC) team. VashonBePrepared is also the fiscal sponsor for Islanders for Ferry Action, a program of the Vashon Island Chamber of Commerce.

Description

Since the end of the pandemic disaster declaration, VashonBePrepared volunteers have returned to steady-state activities, such as recruiting and training volunteers in critical emergency response skills, honing emergency response plans, reviewing and updating supplies, meeting with neighborhood groups, and collaborating with partner organizations around the community. Teams continue to work on supporting a resilient communications backbone, practicing how to reach isolated neighborhoods by water, expanding medical and psychological support capabilities, publishing a weekly preparedness newsletter to thousands of households in the community, and coordinating closely with Vashon Island Fire and Rescue (VIFR) personnel to support emergency responders after a disaster strikes.