By transitioning from traditional pen and paper to enhanced digital registries for Access and Functional Needs (AFN), Yavapai County is advancing its disaster preparedness models and fostering genuine connections between emergency management teams and the community. Residents can proactively provide information about their special needs, language preferences, and transportation requirements, which is crucial for those who may need additional time or resources to prepare for severe weather or other emergencies. Using the Rave Prepare platform, public safety personnel can gather this demographic information, identify areas that may require early warnings, and dispatch inclusive, multilingual emergency alerts. These include audio phone messages for those with visual impairments and SMS texts for individuals with hearing impairments, ensuring all community members receive critical information promptly.
The system we use to help people with special needs during emergencies had some limitations. It was hard to quickly check if someone had moved away or passed on, and keeping the information up-to-date is crucial for it to be useful. To improve this, we introduced a new system called Rave Prepare, which helps our emergency teams and the Emergency Operations Center use technology better. This system can send out important messages during events like evacuations, power outages, or other emergencies specifically to those with special needs.
It's important to remember that Yavapai County is a rural area where not everyone has cell service or internet access. Although the old system is still in place and will be used during emergencies, we strongly encourage everyone with functional needs to sign up for Rave Prepare. This way, you can receive emails, texts, or phone calls directly from us checking if you need help during an emergency. However, you can still sign up with the other form here(PDF, 284KB).
This helps avoid overwhelming our 9-1-1 service, which should only be used for immediate life-threatening situations. If you don’t join Rave, you won’t receive these messages, but you will still get in-person notifications when possible and other emergency alerts if you have registered.