- Video shows PULSE Safety Net preparing for another snowy season in Pine Mountain Club.
- After a brutal winter last year, the founder of PULSE Safety Net Elisa Christensen reached out to the community to get involved.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
As winter inches closer and closer, the Pulse Safety Net in Pine Mountain Club will be on standby-- ready to assist neighbors in the remote mountain community.
Emergency evacuations, stuck for hours– if not days– in traffic, or being stuck in your own home.
Last year, the snowy season hit the mountain communities in full swing.
Deanie Johnston, an emergency preparedness committee member with PULSE, was stuck at home from the unruly winter.
“I couldn’t even get out of my deck or out of my driveway for about a week cause we had so much snow,” she said.
From kids in the neighborhood shoveling a path on her driveway, to another neighbor collecting groceries for those unable to get them, Johnston said, “It was just really kind of nice with neighbors looking after each other.”
Founder of PULSE Safety Net, Elisa Christensen, said, “While we knew the storm was coming and many of us did prepare as well as we could, a lot of us found out where the holes in our safety plan are and a lot of people got stuck and couldn’t get out.”
PULSE Safety Net, a non-profit organization in Pine Mountain Club, helps organize groups of neighbors to connect when the weather turns nasty.
Christensen said, “The idea behind trying to get a lot of our more vulnerable community members and all of our community members in better touch with each other, especially in the case of a major storm or an emergency where we have to evacuate”
PULSE Safety Net also communicates with the sheriff’s department, the CERT program, and the American Red Cross when necessary.
“Nobody wants to admit that they’re vulnerable,” Christensen said, “and being vulnerable in this mountain has little to do with age or physical condition.”
The organization also delivers emergency supplies such as propane, wood, medications, food, and medical assistance.
PULSE took a volunteer-helping-neighbors approach in years past, but last winter changed that perspective.
“A 30-year-old bodybuilder can be up here and walk out of his home, slip on the ice, break his ankle, and all of a sudden, he’s very vulnerable,” said Christensen.
With the program growing over time, PULSE Safety Net hopes to reach out to more neighbors willing to lend a hand.
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