Rymfire Elementary Will Open as Special-Needs Shelter, Bunnell Elementary as General Population and Pets Shelter

Special needs residents are those who require assistance with daily living or who have medical conditions that prevent or hinder their ability to care for themselves, as well as those who require electricity or oxygen.  A family member or caregiver should stay at the shelter with the individual. Special needs shelters provide only limited medical care. That care is provided by staff members of the Flagler County Health Department.

“We’ll spend the morning tomorrow morning, getting set up and ready in anticipation of the special needs shelter opening,” Bob Snyder, the health department’s chief and shelter’s incident commander, said today.

Flagler County schools announced late Tuesday morning that all nine school campuses will close for students and staff at the end of the class day today, and will remain closed through Friday, in part to give the Health Department and others time to prepare the shelters.In previous hurricane emergencies, Rymfire was always first to open, because its clients need more time to get there and to get set up, followed by Bunnell. The school district, working in cooperation with Emergency Management, has a succession of additional school-site shelters ready to open, depending on the year and the scale of the emergency.

“We’re all set to go, everything’s in place from our end. We’ve been planning and we’ve been involved in exercises ever since May, along with the EOC team, Jonathan and Joseph Nealon, as well as our own team,” Snyder said. Jonathan Lord heads the county’s emergency management department. Nealon is an emergency management planner. “So we’re ready to go, we have our oxygen being delivered today, because so many of our clients that we take care of are oxygen-dependent. The big issue is the potential for power outages, because they rely on power in order to use their concentrators or CPAP machines. And so we’re all set.”

The Health Department will be going “general screening” for Covid and respiratory illnesses. “If someone appears to be symptomatic, we will ask that they take a test so that we can isolate people who are symptomatic and test positive for Covid from those who don’t,” Snyder said, “because we are cooped up together in a large space, the gym and surrounding classrooms. And we’re all breathing the same air and we’re concerned about safety and wanted to have as safe an environment as we possibly can coordinate.”

Masks will be made freely available but are not required. Covid vaccines will not be available at Rymfire, so the Health Department can concentrate on tending to everyday needs.

Limited cots will be available at the regular shelters. Residents will be permitted to bring single/twin size inflatable mattresses. Queen and king size mattresses will not be allowed, due to space issues. 

 At general population shelters, there will be a limited supply of cots. All residents should bring:

·       72-hour supply of all medications
·       Sleeping bags, pillows, and blankets
·       Extra chargers and batteries for electronics
·       Headphones for music devices
·       Snacks and “comfort foods” – meals will be served
·       Those with special diets should bring appropriate foods
·       No weapons allowed
·       No illegal narcotics allowed
·       No alcohol allowed

At the Bunnell shelter, which will accept pets, the following rules will apply:

Animals must be crated

·       Animals must have current vaccination records and supplies, including medications
·       “Pets” are dogs, cats, birds, rabbits, rodents, and turtles
·       A four-pet maximum applies.
·       No snakes, reptiles or farm animals and livestock
·       No drop offs allowed.