Dear Friends and Neighbors in our Verde Valley Region and beyond,
I trust that you are all taking the important and essential precautions to stay well and help others do the same.
I know that many of you are concerned about whether there will be capacity to take care of those who become infected with COVID-19 and who reside in our Verde Valley. We are all concerned about the lack of or very slow response, nationally, to proactively address health care needs so that loss of life might be prevented or, at minimum, significantly reduced.
With that in mind, it is important for all of us to write to our elected officials and leaders urging them to take immediate action on the following issues throughout our region: identifying appropriate venues for hospital beds (such as schools, gymnasiums, even hotels, etc.); identifying, creating, or adapting spaces for quarantine; ensuring that local health care providers have increased staff by reaching out to retired health care workers and/or advanced medical and nursing students that might be willing to serve during this time.
We know that our rural communities have limited capacity and now is the time to be proactive—in advance of a probable surge in the number of cases. We need—in addition to the above—an immediate increase in deployment of test kits as well as increased testing throughout the county. The data from those test results can be used in determining how best to treat patients and will serve as an important reference for making optimum decisions throughout our communities as we move forward. These are foreseen needs and we must address them.
We need our voices to be heard now. We can protect our community members but it takes leadership that’s willing to be proactive.
As County Supervisor, your health and safety will be my highest priority.
I am writing to all the officials below and I ask that you do the same. Please use the language included in this statement or compose your own. Either way, I hope you’ll make the effort! Thank you!
Yavapai County Board of Supervisors
Rowle P. Simmons, District 1 Supervisor: web.bos.district1@yavapai.us | (928) 771-3206
Thomas Thurman, District 2 Supervisor: web.bos.district2@yavapai.us| (928) 771-3393
Randy Garrison, District 3 Supervisor: web.bos.district3@yavapai.us| (928) 639-8110
Craig Brown, District 4 Supervisor: web.bos.district4@yavapai.us| (928) 771-3207
Mary Mallory District 5 Supervisor: web.bos.district5@yavapai.us| (928) 771-3209
If you’re uncertain of which district you live in, the following link may help you:
Coconino County Board of Supervisors
Art Babbott, District 1 Supervisor: ababbott@coconino.az.gov | (928) 679-7151
Liz Archuleta, District 2 Supervisor: larchuleta@coconino.az.gov | (928) 679-7162
Matt Ryan, District 3 Supervisor: mryan@coconino.az.gov | (928) 679-7163
Jim Parks, District 4 Supervisor: jparks@coconino.az.gov | (928) 679-7154
Lena Fowler, District 5 Supervisor: lfowler@coconino.az.gov | (928) 679-7751 (Flagstaff Office); (928) 283-4518 (Tuba City Office)
If you’re uncertain of which district you live in, the following link may help you: https://coconinocounty.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=7d4581c7cab74681ada7802d80cf8bcc
State Legislature
Sylvia Allen, LD6, Senator: sallen@azleg.gov | (602) 926-5409
Walter Blackman, LD6, Legislator: wblackman@azleg.gov | (602) 926-3043
Bob Thorpe, LD6, Legislator: bthorpe@azleg.gov | (602) 926-5219
Congress
Tom O’Halleran, CD1, Congress Member: https://ohalleran.house.gov/zip-code-lookup?form=/contact/email | Flagstaff: (928) 286-5338 | Washington, DC: (202) 225-3361
Paul Gosar, CD4, Congress member: https://gosar.house.gov/contact/ | Prescott: (928) 445-1683 | Washington, DC: (202) 225-2315
Martha McSally, US Senator: https://www.mcsally.senate.gov/contact_martha | Phoenix: (602) 952-2410 | Washington, DC: (202) 224-2235
Kyrsten Sinema, US Senator: https://www.sinema.senate.gov/contact-kyrsten | Phoenix: (602) 598-7327 | Washington, DC: (202) 224-4521
