USIndoor's Official Magazine is a quarterly publication, dedicated to owners, managers, program administrators and other professionals, startups and providers involved with indoor recreational sports facilities.
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14 who are pregnant or have babies. Those people, who might have difficulty being in the evacuation center and sleeping on cots, will be put up in a hotel. Keeping Busy The job doesn't end once evacuees are sheltered. "The city would take responsibility for planning activities every day," says Jodi. "We have a city-run leisure center across the parking lot from the facility, so they would set up swim times for the guests. They would set up times at the library, or they would bring in programs for reading, someone coming in and telling stories." The city will also bring in musicians and rent buses for trips to the zoo. Other groups donate passes for movie tickets. "The community really steps up and helps support everything that's going on and giving lots of things to do. Living in an evacuation shelter with a bunch of children is very challenging, so we try to keep them as busy as we can." Activities also include everyday needs. Transportation is set up to take guests to the laundromat, and the Salvation Army provides vouchers for the cost of washing clothes. On the facility side, Jodi says they have crews constantly working to keep the building clean and sanitary, and other staff members are on-hand to support any other needs that may come up. But for the most part, once the shelter is up and running, Jodi's team has little more to do than keeping the facility clean and support the ongoing effort. "There is a committee that would meet daily throughout an evacuation event. They would include the local police and fire departments, the city and social services, Salvation Army and food providers, and members of the communities that have been evacuated as well." If one of the fields isn't being used for cots, Jodi says they might set it up as a play area with things like volleyball. "They have the hard job having to service these groups and having to deal with all the issues that come with that when you uproot an entire community on no notice and drop them in a city they've never visited before. We just support them as much as we can." Cleaning Up Once the evacuees are on their way home, it's time to return to normal operation. "We just bring in every possible cleaner that we can to clean up, as the Red Cross leads the process." The Red Cross moves everything back to their storage containers, while a spray sanitation service thoroughly cleans the facility. Before the facility can go back to normal business, the health department does an inspection.