STORY:
US Cities Get "C" On Y2K Report Card

Gaps include backup plans for health benefits, food supply, nursing homes

A "report card" on community preparedness for Y2K developed and circulated by the nonprofit Center for Y2K & Society shows that communities around the country still face significant gaps in local readiness with just over 100 days remaining before the Year 2000.

Based on the responses received to date, among the areas where communities are least prepared for Y2K are:

- Assuring the availability of key food stocks and supplies;

- Assuring there are backup plans for keeping funds flowing to healthcare institutions if Medicaid, Medicare or private insurance systems have Y2K problems;

- Distributing preparedness information to individual households; and

- Ensuring that nursing homes can care for their clients.

"The report card was designed as a tool to help communities assess their state of readiness on critical Y2K concerns, from healthcare to public safety to the possible impact on the most vulnerable people in our society," said Norman L. Dean, executive director of the Washington-based Center in a press release.

"The preliminary response from these report cards makes it clear there is a great deal that remains to be done, and there's not much time in which to do it," says Dean.

The Center has distributed some 10,000 copies of the six-category, 30-question report card nationwide over the past month and expects to distribute an additional 20,000 in the coming weeks. Baseline results were received from cities such as Austin, San Diego, Indianapolis, New Orleans, Tampa, Providence, R.I., San Francisco, Seattle and New York.

Responses have also been received from a range of smaller communities, such as Concord, MA, Gallatin County, MT, Boulder, CO, and Grand Forks, ND. The first wave of respondents has included Red Cross Chapters, emergency managers, city Y2K coordinators, hospitals, nonprofits and community groups.

The Center for Y2K & Society Report Card was developed to provide a self-grading opportunity to determine the readiness of cities, towns and counties and to identify community preparedness priorities with only 100 days remaining in 1999.

It is intended to promote discussion and provoke thinking about possible Y2K problems, and offer an early indicator of how American communities believe they are doing on preparedness. A grade of "C" means that only about half the goals for community readiness outlined in the report card have been met.

Individual report cards and a comprehensive summary of the findings in the Y2K Community Report Card are available by visiting the Center's Web site at http://www.y2kcenter.org

The Center for Y2K & Society -- a project of the Tides Center -- is a Washington-based nonprofit organization whose mission is to reduce the possible societal impacts of the Y2K problem.

Source: Center for Y2K and Society press release

DATE: 9/20/99

Marketplace
Books
Collectibles
Celebration Supplies
General Merchandise
Travel Packages