Emergency Services Director updates county commission

St. Joseph County Emergency Services Director Erin Goff said the agency is transitioning from “very active” to more of a supportive role.

Goff provided the update during Tuesday’s St. Joseph County Board of Commissioners meeting.

In addition, Goff noted that the agency has fielded an extraordinary number of requests for personal protective equipment. The requests have come from daycare centers, dentist offices and other fields in which person-to-person contact, by their nature, is closer than six feet apart.

She said she is connecting those groups with local manufacturers and suppliers that have PPE in stock and available to distribute. The state has also launched a procurement platform that provides additional assistance, she noted.

Goff has also been working through FEMA public-assistance grants. The grants can be distributed under circumstances of what is deemed emergency-protective measures, she said.

In an unrelated matter, Goff said Sheriff Mark Lillywhite was in the city of Kalamazoo to provide mutual aid with protests Tuesday. Meanwhile, protests earlier in the week in Three Rivers and Sturgis were both considered peaceful, she added.