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~~ <br />`°°at. w o <br />'o <br />ORANGE COUNTY DEPARTMENT ON AGING ~~ '~ <br />v sz <br />POST OFFICE BOX 8 l 81 <br />JERRY M. PASSMOAE D/RECTOR 600 HIGHWAY 86 NORTH o I °° <br />D/RECTTEL -91 9 24 5 2009 '~` a+~°~' <br />HILLSBOROUGH, I`IORTH GAROLINA 27278 <br />WINW..CO.ORANGE . NC .US/AGING <br />February 7, 2006 <br />Blue Cross Blue Shield of•North Carolina Foundation <br />5901 Chapel Hill Road <br />Durham, NC 27707-0718 <br />To Whom It May Concern: <br />I write in support of Orange County Emergency Management's grant application to implement a <br />notification system for at risk populations in Or•atrge County. The Department on Aging <br />maintains a list of~seniors to be called in case of•a county wide emergency. The seniors on the <br />list have health conditions and little social support, which make them vulnerable in the event of <br />an emergency. Our' agency staff tries to reach each person before the emergency to check on <br />them and determine if assistance is needed. Emergency situations often happen unannounced in <br />which case the staff'attempts to reach the vulnerable seniors affer the event to see if they require <br />any assistance. <br />The present system of using staff~to call each person on the list is very time consuming for• the <br />agency and causes some seniors on the list to be notified at a late time. Thus if this project is <br />funded, the emergency .list will be handled more effectively as many seniors will be notified <br />automatically and will have more time to prepare for the impending emergency.. Agency staff <br />will then be freed up to respond to the seniors who are unable to manage the automated system, <br />which will lead to better customer service. We expect one of'the outcomes of~this.project will be <br />a higher number of registrants on the list because of the increased service level provided by this <br />p2oject <br />We appreciate the Foundation's willingness to offer grants for• projects such as this and are <br />excited to be pazt of increasing the pr~epazedness level of~the vulnerable populations in Orange <br />County. <br />Sincerely, <br />~r <br />.Jeri P ore <br />Dir r <br />TELEPHONE {919) 24S-2000 • FncsuAiLE {919) 644-3044 • e-n~tni~: jpassmore@co.orange.nc us <br />