‘It’s had a tangible impact:’ Some people who get Deschutes Alerts and have added needs receiving calls about updates

(Update: adding video, comment from Deschutes County Sheriff's Office)

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- Starting on Monday, the Oregon Department of Human Services, in partnership with the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office and Deschutes County 911, is conducting phone outreach to certain people who have signed up for Deschutes Alerts to remind them to update their information. 

Sheriff's Office Emergency Services Coordinator Ashley Volz said, "The purpose of the outreach that we're doing this month in partnership with the Oregon Department of Human Services is really to touch base with people who have additional needs in our community. So these could be people who maybe have a mobility challenge, they're on dialysis, they might use oxygen or have some other kind of medical need for electricity."

And those are things first responders and emergency preparedness people need to track, if and when emergencies cut power or some other impacts. 

If you signed up for Deschutes Alerts and have also identified as having one or more of these additional needs, such as mobility challenges or oxygen use, Oregon DHS may contact you in coming days to help you check and update your information, if needed.  

Volz said the alert system is crucial, to "let people know about evacuations or other emergencies that might be happening, things that they need to take action on. So if you get a Deschutes Alert, you might need to leave your home for wildfire. There might be a law enforcement activity taking place in your neighborhood."

The Deschutes Alerts system has been in place since 2016, and currently has over 50,000 individuals registered. Just since the start of this year, Deschutes Alerts have been sent out 16 times by the county. Most recently, the alert system was used to notify people in the area of Huntington Road and Evergreen Lane about a wanted subject who fled from a traffic stop.

Deschutes Alerts is one key way first responders in Deschutes County notify people of life-threatening emergencies such as wildfires.

“We actually sent out an alert, a wildfire alert last year that went out to backcountry people in the backcountry who might not have otherwise gotten an alert that they needed to leave the area," Volz said. "We think it's had a tangible impact.”

Alerts are not sent out to everyone at once, and instead are based on geographic location. To update your information, go to deschutesalert.org and enter a number and email to be contacted at. Alerts come in the form of calls, texts and emails. The sheriff’s office recommends multiple people in a household be signed up on the alert system.

"We actually did kind of a mini-call center here at the Deschutes County Sheriff's Office a couple weeks back, reminding people to update their profile," Volz said, "and overwhelmingly, the feedback we got was, 'Thank you for calling. I really appreciate you reaching out to me.'"

Every county in Oregon has an alert system. The Deschutes County Sheriff's Office recommends if you live elsewhere that you visit oralert.gov to see what system is operating in your county.

You can log into your Deschutes Alerts account or create a new account by visiting deschutesalerts.org. If you need assistance accessing or creating an account, you're urged to call 541-388-6501 during business hours. If you want to find another county’s emergency notification system, visit ORAlert.gov.