{"id":57048,"date":"2025-08-02T17:49:40","date_gmt":"2025-08-02T21:49:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=57048"},"modified":"2025-08-02T17:49:46","modified_gmt":"2025-08-02T21:49:46","slug":"polk-county-boosts-emergency-prep-with-new-shelter-needs-warehouse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2025\/08\/02\/polk-county-boosts-emergency-prep-with-new-shelter-needs-warehouse\/","title":{"rendered":"Polk County Boosts Emergency Prep with New Shelter Needs Warehouse"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u00a0Polk County Commissioners, County and\u00a0Emergency Management officials gathered for a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the completion of the new Special Needs Shelter Warehouse on Tuesday, July 29.<\/p>\n\n\n

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By providing storage for supplies and equipment needed to support residents during emergencies, the facility will enhance disaster response efforts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 8,000-square-foot warehouse is located at 1896 Jim Keene Blvd. in Winter Haven, adjacent to the county\u2019s Emergency Operations Center. It will serve as the central storage and distribution site for equipment and supplies used in special needs shelters throughout the Polk. Equipment such as cots and bedding, hygiene kits oxygen carts and tubing, cleaning supplies, and personal care items will be stored on-site and deployed when shelters are activated during hurricanes or other emergencies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis warehouse strengthens our ability to respond effectively in times of crisis and ensures we are better prepared to support our most vulnerable residents,\u201d said Emergency Management Director Paul Womble. \u201cIt\u2019s a major step forward in building a more resilient Polk County.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The warehouse also includes staging areas to improve logistics and speed up the delivery of resources to shelter sites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Polk County\u2019s Special Needs Shelter Program assists residents who have medical conditions that require the use of electrical medical equipment, oxygen or those who have physical, cognitive, or medical conditions and require assistance from medical professionals. Although special needs shelters provide more care than a general shelter, they do not provide the level of care found in a medical facility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Residents can learn more about and register for the Special Needs Program at www.polk-county.net\/emergency-management<\/a> or by calling (863) 298-7000.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0Polk County Commissioners, County and\u00a0Emergency Management officials gathered for a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the completion of the new Special Needs Shelter Warehouse on Tuesday, July 29. By providing storage… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":57049,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"12","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNVwvMDhcL0VNX1JpYmJvbl9DdXR0aW5nXzdfMjlfMjAyNS1zY2FsZWQud2VicD9maXQ9MTAyNCUyQzc2OCZzc2w9MSIsInR4dCI6IlBvbGsgQ291bnR5IEJvb3N0cyBFbWVyZ2VuY3kgUHJlcCB3aXRoIE5ldyBTaGVsdGVyIE5lZWRzIFdhcmVob3VzZSIsInRlbXBsYXRlIjoiaGlnaHdheSIsImJsb2dfaWQiOjE2MzA0MDY2MX0.AhuhNuSuFzZ4flTlOMWH27qYq0rblD2utz1SHpbyGdgMQ"},"version":2,"attached_media":[{"id":57049,"url":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/EM_Ribbon_Cutting_7_29_2025-scaled.webp","type":"image\/jpeg"}]},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[12,14],"tags":[11920],"class_list":["post-57048","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","category-news","tag-polk-county-boosts-emergency-prep-with-new-shelter-needs-warehouse"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57048","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57048"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57048\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57050,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57048\/revisions\/57050"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57049"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57048"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}