Lynn Stanton, Co-Founder and Development Director of Emergency Prep Help for Seniors
Our guest speaker for August 31, 2023 was Lynn Stanton, co-founder and development director for Emergency Prep Help for Seniors (EPH). EPH’s mission is to educate and prepare seniors for natural disasters and other emergencies. She started this non-profit with two other women. EPH’s provides seniors with workshops to teach them about responding to natural disasters and emergencies.
Seniors are a huge part of Sonoma County’s population. Senior comprise over 20% of the overall Sonoma County population. Other North Bay counties, including Marin, Mendocino, and Lake, have even higher percentages of seniors. Seniors are among the most vulnerable populations in national disasters and emergencies. For example, in Hurricane Katrina in 2005, half of those killed were over 75. In the Camp Fire (Paradise), 25 people died and all but 12 were over age 60. The special challenges for seniors include minimal resources for emergencies, limited access to information, compromised health or mobility, and lack of support services.EPH gives 2-part workshops tailored for older adults. The topics include making a plan, putting together go-bags, accessing warnings and alerts, pet safety, and power outages. The workshops deal with the particular problems created by earthquakes, fires, flooding, heatwaves, and cold snaps. In the first workshop they give out go-bags and first aid kits. They also have guest speakers, including fire and police department first responders. They also give out a form to aid in emergency preparation, including addressing questions like where you will go, how will you get there, and who needs to know about the plan. They also have a go-bag checklist. They give out a go-bag with supplies and have the seniors come back in 2 weeks for the 2nd part of the workshop, bringing their personalized go-bags. They give incentive gifts for seniors who come back with their go-bags personalized! They also give a list of items to keep in the seniors’ homes for emergencies.
Between September 2021 and August 2023, EPH has served 670 seniors in 60 workshop sessions in 30 communities in Sonoma County. Lynn and her 2 partners have done all this work on their own as volunteers but now need support, including funding and volunteers. They need funding for part-time pay for 3 workers, a database, a unit rental, and go-bag supplies and incentives gifts. They also need volunteers, including a grant writer, fundraising consultant, Spanish translators, social media experts, and marketing experts. Lynn invited us all to an event on 9/12 at the Petaluma Women’s Club. The event will include a mini workshop and social time. They’d also love to have a musician to provide music before and after the presentations.
Thank you, Lynn, for the presentation and for doing this important work for an under-served population in our community.
Click HERE for a limited time recording of Lynn's presentation.
