By Deborah Bier, co-Chair of Concord's Neighborhood Network and a member of the CNN Emergency Management Committee. You can reach CNN at 978 318-3443, or email cnn@ConcordMA.com.
If you had to get an important message to all your neighbors, how would you do it? Would you phone them? Send a card? Email? Knock on doors? Shout from horseback? Do you even know all their names to look them up in the phone book?
Except for some really close-knit streets, many of the rest of us in Concord personally know a few folks scattered around our neighborhood and that's about it. Reaching everyone quickly in the event of an emergency or even to pass along glad tidings seems difficult since we don't know our neighbors.
Good communication is one of the most important components of building both strong neighborhoods and emergency preparedness and response. There are already several ways in which CNN passes information between the Town emergency departments and our Neighborhood Contacts (NC's) in 140 neighborhoods around town. But often, that information stops with the NC's because not all have a neighborhood-wide communication system that is easy, fast, and effective.
Calling All Neighborhoods!
We are encouraging all neighborhoods to develop such a system capable of reaching all households under a variety of conditions. This includes when phone and electricity are working, and when one or both are not. Your Neighborhood Contact or their Alternates may be asking you soon for your contact information. Please consider giving them this data; we have asked them to treat it with respect and use it only for the purpose stated here.
One of the hallmarks of a good communication plan is redundancy; we recommend neighborhoods have at least three ways to make contact. In some instances, the same people may be reached more than once, but isn't that better than not at all? We suggest neighborhoods test each method every six months or so.
It's important that whatever your neighborhood decides to adopt does not overly burden one or two people - we think it's only right that we all participate. It's also not a good idea for the plan to depend so much upon one person that if he/she were unavailable, it would fall apart.
Neighborhood Plans from Your Neighbors
We think neighbors should decide for themselves what works best for their specific needs and conditions, so CNN leaves the details up to you. Below is a compilation of the methods neighborhoods around Concord have adopted for their plans, all of which we heartily approve:
The first step has been to gather neighborhood contact information. Many of us don't even know our neighbors' names, so it makes it difficult to look them up in the phone book. We recommend the current Concord Street List for some help with names and addresses. You can purchase a copy either in book form or on disk at the Town Clerk's office (call ahead first if you want the diskette version). There are also copies in our libraries.
Email list - Some Neighborhood Contacts have collected all email addresses in the neighborhood and used them to pass along information of interest to their neighbors. Some can email better than 90% of the households in their area. By sending out a single message, NC's have quickly and effectively passed around information such as sudden changes in the trash/recycling collection schedule, upcoming local road work, or developing news updates. Email is also a good way to pass around neighborhood news like a baby's birth or the arrival of a new neighbor. Those without email ask a neighbor to print them a copy of the message.
A neighborhood phone tree can pass along information quickly. Each neighbor knows ahead of time which household they are supposed to call, and how to handle finding no one home to pass along the message. This is also an fast way to catch the folks who don't have email. Be sure to write down the message for accuracy; it's amazing how easily a spoken message can morph into something new!
Neighborhood emergency message post - What happens during an ice storm if the phones go down and make the above methods useless? Some NC's have proposed using a tree or fence post in a spot which many neighbors can see. If they spot a red marker on the designated spot, they know they should check for an important message posted there -- or take some other previously-determined action. A waterproof sleeve for the message is vital to making this work.
Drop off a note at the door - Other NC's like to pass along messages via photocopied notes. If your neighborhood adopts this method, do not put notes in mail delivery boxes -- the post office disapproves. Some neighborhoods have a delivery team of children who split up the area for fast coverage. Parents out walking for exercise, with dogs or baby carriages join in or supervise.
At-risk neighbors, including the elderly, those with infants, the ill or the handicapped may need special attention during times of crisis, such as a serious power outage or a widespread flu. Some neighbors have a system using a colored card in the window or a window shade pulled down signifying a need for help. Others have bought inexpensive walkie-talkie-type radios, passing one to a close neighbor for periodic check-ins. Even if they are never used, they seem to make everyone feel much more secure.
Do you have a spread-out neighborhood? Some distribute two or more of these radios at opposite ends of expansive neighborhoods for faster communication. Make sure you keep extra batteries on hand!
After a bad storm or other such emergency, a fast and effective way to make sure everybody is okay is for each neighbor to check the house to their right and the house to their left. This way, if one neighbor is away, there is a chance the one on the other side may be home and can provide needed help.
Can you suggest an additional method for communicating within your neighborhood? Or do you have a story of how your neighborhood communication system has already worked? If so, please contact us and we will share the information in the future.
Artwork: Hometown Websmith and ArtToday.
This website is a gift to the Concord community from ConcordMA.com, a full-service
Internet design and marketing company. 978 369-0113. PO Box 285, Concord, MA 01742 webmaster@concordma.com
