Health, preparedness take center stage at Shoalwater Tribe Yellow Brick Road Tsunami/Health Walk

By Dan Hammock • July 20, 2019 1:30 am
FILE PHOTO Lee Shipman, emergency management director for the Shoalwater Bay Indian Tribe, speaks at least year’s Tsunami/Health Walk.
FILE PHOTO Lee Shipman, emergency management director for the Shoalwater Bay Indian Tribe, speaks at least year’s Tsunami/Health Walk.

It’ll be a fun and educational stroll on Tuesday when the annual Yellow Brick Road Tsunami/Health Walk takes place on the Shoalwater Bay Indian Reservation.

There will be prizes, a free catered lunch and information that could quite literally one day save your life.

Registration runs from 10 a.m to 2 p.m. Visitors sign up at the Shoalwater Bay Gym and get a route map and “rescue card.” As you stop at each informational booth along Tokeland Road and State Route 105 between the gym and the Shoalwater Bay Casino, you can have a square stamped on your card. At the end of the walk, turn your card in at the gym for prizes.

The Yellow Brick Road event is designed to promote good health practices among the tribe’s members and others in the area. It’s put on by Shoalwater Bay Emergency Management and the tribe’s Wellness Center.

There will be booths hosted by the South Beach Regional Fire Authority, the State Department of Health, State Emergency Management, local police and the tribe’s education department. There will be valuable information on numerous topics including nutrition, behavioral health and tsunami preparedness.

Lunch is free for participants from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the gym, located at 2405 Elm St. in Tokeland.

Last year’s walk was a celebration of the announcement of a $2.2 million FEMA grant to build a tsunami evacuation tower, near where the south tsunami warning siren stands. Shoalwater Bay Emergency Management Director Lee Shipman is hopeful construction on the tower can begin this fall, with project completion in October 2020.

When complete, the 50-foot tower will have the capacity to hold nearly 500 people. According to Shipman, nobody would be turned away from the evacuation tower in the event of a tsunami.

FILE PHOTO The tribe’s two tsunami warning sirens are named after former emergency managers Dave Nelson and George Crawford.

FILE PHOTO The tribe’s two tsunami warning sirens are named after former emergency managers Dave Nelson and George Crawford.

FILE PHOTO The tribe’s two tsunami warning sirens are named after former emergency managers Dave Nelson and George Crawford.

FILE PHOTO The tribe’s two tsunami warning sirens are named after former emergency managers Dave Nelson and George Crawford.

FILE PHOTOs Emergency vehicles from the South Beach Regional Fire Authority and others from the Shoalwater Bay Indian Tribe, like this mobile command center, will be on display at the Yellow Brick Road Tsunami/Health Walk in Tokeland on Tuesday.

FILE PHOTOs Emergency vehicles from the South Beach Regional Fire Authority and others from the Shoalwater Bay Indian Tribe, like this mobile command center, will be on display at the Yellow Brick Road Tsunami/Health Walk in Tokeland on Tuesday.

FILE PHOTOs Emergency vehicles from the South Beach Regional Fire Authority and others from the Shoalwater Bay Indian Tribe, like this mobile command center, will be on display at the Yellow Brick Road Tsunami/Health Walk in Tokeland on Tuesday.

FILE PHOTOs Emergency vehicles from the South Beach Regional Fire Authority and others from the Shoalwater Bay Indian Tribe, like this mobile command center, will be on display at the Yellow Brick Road Tsunami/Health Walk in Tokeland on Tuesday.