FRAZIER PARK, CA (Monday, Sept. 7, 2020 at 2:10 p.m.)—Kern County Aging and Adult Services replies:
Hi Mr. Meyer We will review our process and will be in touch If we have any questions and/or need further assistance. Thanks.
FRAZIER PARK, CA (Monday, Sept. 7, 2020 at 11:15 a.m.)—Kern County’s office of Aging and Adult Services reached out to us yesterday afternoon, so a dialog has been opened on this subject:
Lito Morillo
Kern County Aging and Adult Services
Bakersfield, CA
Hello Lito,
Thank you for the opportunity to offer to suggestions again.
We believe that the process you described can be reviewed by your department to identify the reason why people here were prohibited from accessing a cooling center on Sunday. There are numerous organizations here with keys to the building. Some of these organizations may be willing to have members open and staff a cooling center:
Meals On Wheels Food Distribution program
Commodities Food Distribution program
Senior Sack Food Distribution program
Frazier Mountain Quilters
Dominoes, cards and exercise group
If you would like assistance with contact information for the organizations, please let us know.
Additionally, we suggest contacting local churches to inquire about their interest in being authorized to open and staff the cooling center at the Frazier Mountain Park Community Center when Kern County’s standard procedure does not meet the needs of people here during dangerous temperature events.
If you would like assistance with contact information for the churches, please let us know.
We all know this will happen again and people will suffer from extreme heat conditions, so it seems reasonable that a modification to the county’s standard procedure can be made.
Best regards,
Gary Meyer
The Mountain Enterprise
Frazier Park, CA 93225
Ph: 661-245-3794
On Sep 7, 2020, at 9: 56AM, Lito Morillo
Please let me know how we can assist, or if you identify any senior in distress. Thanks
Lito Morillo
Kern County Aging and Adult Services
Bakersfield, CA
On Sep 7, 2020, at 8:26 AM, Gary Meyer
Hello Lito,
Thank you for responding on Sunday.
Yes, my suggestion would be to have one or more community volunteers in possession of keys to the Frazier Mountain Park Community Center, and allow them to open the cooling center when the temperature is forecasted on short notice to reach dangerous levels. It currently appears that the priority is not on health and well-being, but is rather on logistical convenience.
Thank you,
Gary Meyer
The Mountain Enterprise
Frazier Park, CA 93225
Ph: 661-245-3794
On Sep 6, 2020, at 4: 17PM, Lito Morillo
Good afternoon Mr. Meyer,
I wanted to reach out and share with you our process related to the operation of the Cooling Centers throughout Kern. Cooling Centers are staffed with employees and community groups. In order to staff Cooling Centers appropriately, we try to notify staff (and volunteers at times) at least one day before a Cooling Center will be open. We use the National Weather Service (NWS) forecast the day before to determine if the Cooling Centers will reach their temperature threshold for the following day. For the weekend, we pull the NWS forecast on Friday to see what the temperatures is forecasted to be on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday (and Tuesday if Monday is a holiday). There are times where the temperatures will be warmer then originally forecasted, which may be the case at this time. In saying that we’ve also opened our Cooling Centers when a cooling trend comes in and lowers the original forecast which met the threshold. However, since we made the forecast the day before, we will still open the Cooling Center since we made the determination the day before. Again it was designed this way to assist staff and community groups and give them some advance notice. Staffing and scheduling Cooling Centers operations have always been a challenge because of the sporadic nature of when and if they will open and finding staff (or volunteers) to work at a moment’s notice. At the end of each Cooling Center season, we debrief with partner organizations, staff, and municipalities and look for other opportunities to improve our operations. If you have any suggestions, we will be happy to take these in consideration.
FRAZIER PARK, CA (Sunday, Sept. 6, 2020 at 9:55 a.m.)—Kern County will not be opening its cooling center at Frazier Mountain Park today, even though the National Weather Service has forecast the temperature here to reach 99 degrees today. Kern County’s Parks & Recreation web page at https://www.kerncounty.com/government/parks/facilities/cooling-centers shows Frazier Park’s cooling center “CLOSED” today, Monday and Tuesday, even though the temperature today is forecast to be 99 degrees, well over the 95 degrees that Kern County has previously stated would trigger an opening of the cooling center. A request for clarification sent to Supervisor Zack Scrivner’s office this morning has not yet received a response.
This is part of the September 4, 2020 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.
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