RELATED: Montgomery County: ‘We did 12 years’ worth of emergencies in 6 months’
The focus of the EOC this time will be the distribution of critical resources, such as food, personal protective equipment and medical supplies as those shipments arrive in Montgomery County.
“We know how crucial it is to get this equipment into the hands of those working against COVID-19 in our community,” said Montgomery County Commission President Judy Dodge. “We’re activating our Emergency Operations Center to be a central hub to organize the distribution of these critical supplies.”
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The EOC opened four times during 2019: first in February following a region-wide water outage, then for a Courthouse Square rally by an Indiana Ku Klux Klan group, again for the Memorial Day tornadoes and finally for the August mass shooting, which also required a family assistance center to help identify the deceased and notify family members.
Historically, the EOC has been activated about once every three years, said Jeff Jordan, Montgomery County’s emergency management director.
“We did 12 years’ worth of emergencies in six months. And they were bigger than the biggest one we faced prior to that. Each one got worse,” Jordan told this newspaper in January.
For the COVID-19 emergency the EOC will also work with local veterinarians, dentists, construction companies, and manufacturing companies to coordinate donations of supplies to add to the distribution.
Montgomery County’s EOC will also manage volunteers, shelter locations, food supply and distribution (including school meal support), and security needs associated with potentially long lines. The EOC will also be working to coordinate volunteers in hospitals, at The Foodbank, Inc, and to staff the COVID-19 call center at (937) 225-6217.
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