Deborah Dorman, Resident
Who you gonna call?
Suppose you are living alone in Robson Ranch, your closest neighbors have had to dash back to Canada, and you need some help. You’re not feeling up to par, you’ve run low on food, need your prescription, or you’re having too many panic attacks. For those and other issues, you can now go to a new website, www.deborahdorm.wixsite.com/partners and call someone in your community who has volunteered to help. The website is a joint effort of Partners in Care, a volunteer group at Robson Ranch, and a small task force working on the Covid-19 pandemic, also at Robson Ranch.
On that website, Robson Ranch residents can find help from their neighbors in many categories, such as transportation or meal delivery, and have the information to directly contact someone for assistance. Partners in Care is not a legal entity, or a club, and has no connection to the HOA. It is basically a list of people who have volunteered to help their neighbors in need. There is also information to volunteer, if you wish, on the site.
Additionally, the site includes links to primary sources of information on the pandemic, notices about related events; such as a blood drive, a great video on how to safely handle your groceries (he makes it look so easy) and other resources. There is a sample sign you can print as a warning in your window if you are immunocompromised, or otherwise need to alert anyone approaching (which at this point, might be everyone). Other resources will be added as they become available. The site is a resource for factual information and help from neighbors.
While Partners in Care has been in place for some time, with many volunteers, a small task force related to the pandemic formed to do whatever emergency planning might be needed, and to stay on top of local and state developments that could impact the community. The core of the group consists of retired doctors, nurses, a physician’s assistant, and a lawyer. They have been meeting online for several weeks, and are in touch with Casa Grande and Eloy officials, an epidemiologist at the University of Arizona, a military general, Banner hospital, and other sources of information. Some of the issues discussed include testing sites and mobile hospitals, should the situation become too much for current facilities to handle. This is not some “doomsday” committee, but a group that would rather be proactive than reactive, and watching the numbers and projections, considers that the worst has yet to come to our area. They would also love to be wrong. (Perhaps, at the time of publication of this in May, we could be in a better spot.)
So, if you are experiencing information overload, and obtaining it from all kinds of sources online and on TV, and would like a less overwhelming approach, try the website. If you are in need of help from neighbors, but aren’t sure who to call, try the website. Just a small caveat, these are individual volunteers, not vetted or controlled by any organization, and you should take normal precautions in allowing someone access to your personal space and information.