The Anchor Point Fire & Emergency Medical Service Area Board will hold its next board meeting at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday June 17thth , 2020. Further information on location and delivery will be released at a later time.
Kachemak Crane Watch keeps track of nesting cranes and wants your observations of crane colts. Send your report to reports@cranewatch.org or call 235-6262. Include date, time, location, number of colts and your contact information so the Crane Watch can call for more information. After30 days of incubation, sandhill crane eggs hatch. Crane colts and other baby wildlife are very vulnerable, so please keep dogs on a leash and cats at home.
The South Kenai Peninsula Hospital Service Area Board will hold its regular monthly board meeting virtually via ZOOM at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, June 11. Public meeting ID and details will be published closer to the date of the meeting on June 11. The South Kenai Peninsula Hospital Service Area Board is an elected board that oversees local tax dollars for a healthier community.
The Kenai Peninsula Borough Solid Waste facilities are now open Sundays. For more information contact the KPB Solid Waste Department at 907-262-9667 or check their webpage at https://www.kpb.us/swd-waste/about-solidwaste.
Kenai Peninsula Votes tidbit:
The novel coronavirus has changed our normal activities in so many ways. One of these ways is possibly changing the way we vote in Alaska. This week, the Kenai Peninsula Borough is looking at conducting the October election through a mail-in vote. Kenai Peninsula Votes is endorsing this method of voting. Currently, the borough already uses mail in voting in some areas because of the remoteness of these places.
Currently, five states already do a form of vote by mail. In a May 5 New York Times opinion piece, “We Should Never Have to Vote in Person Again,” the authors found that elections in Colorado with all-mail voting increased turnout among all groups, including “disenfranchised voters, young people, voters of color, less-educated people and blue-collar workers.” The opinion piece went on to say that fraud is rare, and hard to affect election results and also is more secure than in-person voting because it leaves a paper trail. Mail-in voting would allow for more people to vote because it is not a one-day event and also would minimize contact with poll workers and voters. The borough would still have some polling stations available, so if you wanted to vote on the day of the election you could. There will be questions and concerns, but mail in works. We are already doing it and it has been successful. In this age of social distancing and safety we need to come together and look at what is best for the whole. Your voice matters — please vote.
Kenai Peninsula Service Area Boards meetings have been postponed until further notice. For more information, visit kpboem.blogspot.com.
Anchor Point Senior Citizens
The Anchor Point Senior Center on Milo Fritz Avenue is closed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Congregate meals and the Helping Hands Thrift Store also are closed. The Anchor Point Senior Center serves take-out meals on Monday and Thursday evenings with pickup from 5-6 p.m. Donations for Helping Hands Thrift Store can dropped off. The office staff are at work and available by phone for addressing needs. For information, call 235-7786.
Friendship Center
Friendship Center Adult Day Services is closed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Call 235-4556.
Homer Senior Citizens
All activities are canceled and the Homer Senior Center is closed to the general public during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Homer Senior Citizens congregate lunch is closed, but meals can be picked up at noon from Monday-Friday. You must call 907-235-7655 by 10 a.m. daily to reserve your meal.
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Hospice of Homer
Hospice of Homer requests that anyone who needs to borrow or return medical equipment or to pick up disposable personal care items, call the office. Staff will check availability and arrange a time for pick up.
Anyone needing access to grief counseling or other services should also call to talk with a staff member. Staff will be available Monday-Thursday at 235-6899.
Support Group meetings have been canceled.
Hospice of Homer has had an unusually high demand for medical equipment recently and are in great need of many items. Anyone wishing to help can go to Smile.amazon.com.
Select Hospice of Homer as your charity then select Charity List and choose any of the items on our List of Current Needs. All donated equipment is loaned out free of charge to anyone who needs it in the Homer vicinity and a percentage of the purchase is donated to Hospice of Homer.
Kachemak Bay Campus
Fall registration is open now. Now is the perfect time to pick-up a class you might have missed during the spring semester. Visit this link to see what we have on offer: https://tinyurl.com/y9bdk3fm. Call 235-7743 with questions.
For the fall, the printed schedule is back. Look for it in your mailbox and around town in May. Register now to hold your place in your local campus classes. Want a sneak peak? Visit this online link, https://bit.ly/2wRIxEA to see what KBC is offering our community; call 235-1655 to talk to an advisor.
What will the college look like this fall? Join for a Q&A with Kenai Peninsula College and Kachemak Bay Campus. KPC Director Gary J. Turner and KBC Director Dr. Reid Brewer will be available via Zoom to answer questions and tell you what we know so far. This live Zoom session will take place at 2 p.m. Wednesday, June 10 at https://alaska.zoom.us/j/96404577039. You may submit questions online at https://kpc.alaska.edu/about/events/details/qandawithkpc.cshtml or call 235-1674 for more information.
The Kenai Peninsula Borough Homer Annex is closed to walk-in traffic during the COVID-19 pandemic at its location at 638 East Pioneer Ave. in the Homer Borough Maintenance building east of the Homer Volunteer Fire Department. The office is staffed for help by phone or email. For more information call 235-9837 or email Tamarron Baxter at tbaxter@kpb.us. Forms for property tax exemptions or appeals are available outside on the door, and a dropbox is available for completed forms.
Alaska Islands and Ocean Visitor Center
The Alaska Islands & Ocean Visitor Center operations are temporarily suspended following guidelines from the CDC and recommendations from state and local health authorities. Updates will be posted to the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge website and social media channels. The Beluga Slough Trail and other outdoor areas on the refuge will remain open to provide healthy options for recreation and relaxation. A reopening date has not been determined at this time.
Updates about the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s response to coronavirus will be posted at https://www.fws.gov/home/public-health-update.html. Please check with individual refuges or facilities regarding the change of operations or postponement of events and programs.
To reach refuge staff call 907-235-6546 or email alaskamaritime@fws.gov.
South Peninsula Hospital
Got symptoms? Get tested!
Symptoms of COVID-19 include: cough, chills, difficulty breathing, diminished sense of taste or smell, diarrhea, fatigue, fever, headache, muscle/joint aches, nausea, rash, chills with shivering, runny nose, sore throat, or increased sputum (phlegm) production.
Three ways to get tested if you have symptoms:
• Call your provider
• Call the hospital Covid Nurse 235-0235
• Just show up! Come to the drive through testing in the hospital’s main entrance parking lot.
COVID-19 testing does not require a referral and there is no charge to the individual, regardless of insurance or not. Testing is offered 24/7 in the tent in the hospital’s main entrance parking lot. Call 235-0235 en route to be met outside for a drive by swabbing.
South Peninsula Hospital is offering free COVID-19 testing at the Boat House Pavilion on the Homer Spit daily (except Wednesdays) through Saturday, June 13, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. There is no charge to the individual for testing. This testing is offered only to individuals who fit one of the following criteria:
· working in critical infrastructure or the fishing industry,
· have had recent travel out of state,
· have been exposed to someone with a confirmed case of COVID-19,
· they have new onset of any symptom related to COVID-19,
· have a provider referral.
Results should be available within 48 hours via the hospital’s patient portal. No appointments are necessary. Individuals are asked to provide a driver’s license or state I.D., email address, social security number and phone number to register, and show an insurance card if insured. The pavilion is located at the top of ramp two, near the public restrooms at the Homer Harbor.
Additional testing is available 24/7 at the hospital’s main entrance parking lot at 4300 Bartlett Street, Homer. For more information about testing, call the COVID-19 nurse at the hospital at 235-0235. For more information on South Peninsula Hospital’s COVID-19 response, contact Derotha Ferraro at (907) 399-6212.
