Many of you have been up in the Palisades burn area recently for the Turkey Trot or for a training run and saw first-hand what we all know here in SoCal: emergencies happen. Earlier in the year (for the second year in a row) we had a tsunami warning that didn’t amount to much. And over the years we’ve had some hairy interactions with members of the public, dogs, cars, scooters — you name it!
I wanted to let you know that we do have communications and contingencies set up for issues like these. Over the decades the Leggers have had to respond to all sorts of emergencies, and we pride ourselves on handling things rapidly and effectively. We’re always looking to improve on safety and responsiveness, and here’s an idea of how we’ve done so recently.
– Both the Board and the Mentors have WhatsApp groups for conversations and information sharing. Mentor Melanie Wasserman suggested this last year after seeing the number of times we dealt with aggressive or obstructive members of the public last season. Thankfully we’ve had a fairly peaceful season so far.
– Mentors have been offered (and well over 75% have accepted) Basic First Aid / CPR training sponsored by the club. We don’t expect them to be expert medics, but basic knowledge helps. We also had an in-service training from Emergency MD and marathoner Elizabeth Scott that was just terrific. We have a system in place to contact extra help in an emergency (in the person of either myself or President Jim Doyle), and plans to expand on our knowledge as mentors through more training opportunities. The mentors are also encouraged to report on incidents so the club has some sort of record and we have some information on how we could improve.
– Board and Mentors do monitor and discuss weather situations. Again, it’s been a pretty quiet year, but I still look at the Air Quality reports every week. In case of unsafe air conditions or severe weather, we’re prepared to alter training plans. If you’re ever unsure about an upcoming session you can contact your mentors or email me at mentorcoordinator@laleggers.org.
– For “on-the-spot” issues like freeway closures or traffic problems, the Mentors are empowered to make a call then and there to alter training routes or schedules.
Of course we can’t plan for every contingency which is why we all ask you to be mindful of your surroundings. Notice those Tsunami Evacuation Zone signs? Abbot Kinney Blvd. is considered “safe” in case of an offshore quake! But this rule applies to any hazard (natural, human or animal).
Always: we want to hear from you if you’ve got ideas or suggestions. Again, you can email me at mentorcoordinator@laleggers.org or Jim Doyle at president@laleggers.org, or just talk with your mentors.
by John Flynn, Mentor Coordinator
