Smart phone users in Stevens County are about to have a lot more safety information at their fingertips.
Stevens County Emergency Management launched a pilot version of a new app called “Stevens County Connect” last month. Emergency Management Director Adenea Sellars said the app has been in the works for the last three years and includes health resources, wildfire updates and information from the sheriff’s office.
She said they reached out to other rural counties across the nation that also have a countywide app to navigate how they should set it up, in addition to working with other departments in the county.
Sellars said they used $18,000 of opioid abatement funds to launch the app.
“This isn’t just another equitable step. It’s just another way to try to see, can we reach people out there, and can we give them the news that they’re looking for? That really is our main goal here,” Sellars said.
Sellars said the idea for the app stemmed from a 2022 survey from the Northeast Tri-County Health District that revealed residents felt like communities within Stevens County struggle to access information about services available to them.
Sellars believes part of this is because there aren’t any countywide news outlets or a central place to find resources and services that are being offered in their communities.
“Trying to get timely information out can really be a challenge,” Sellars said.
Matt Schanz, administrator for Northeast Tri-County Health District, said the county at one point had a notification system called “Hyper-Reach” that was only for emergency services like wildfire evacuations and “limited capability for other information that we wanted to share out there.”
By downloading the app, Schanz said residents will be able to get public health alerts as well as information centered around wildfire smoke and air quality.
“If somebody was looking for like resources for COVID-19 vaccinations, or travel immunizations, or even naloxone distribution locations, they would be able to go there and see where those resources exist and have access to them,” he said.
“We also have ways of which the public can submit their concerns from a public health perspective,” he added.
Fire Chief Mike Bucy of Stevens County Fire District 1 said this will help with misinformation that can circulate when there are wildfire updates and evacuations.
“I think people will appreciate the access to it, and it seems like it runs light, meaning it doesn’t take up a ton of resources. So in areas with low connectivity, I’m hoping they can still get access to information that they need,” Bucy said.
Sellars said there had been 4,900 interactions on the app as of Sept. 22. The most popular pages have been the Stevens County Sheriff’s Office and their emergency management page.
“People may not find it useful, and if people don’t find it useful, that’s OK too. That’s the whole point of research, to put a trial out there and test and see what works and what doesn’t work, but we are hopeful it will help people find the answers easier,” Sellars said.
