Ready to volunteer?

In the days of C-19, we’ve added mitigations of risk through our safety procedures and submitting proof of vaccination or a negative viral test. Don’t worry, trailkeeping is for everybody and we made it easy to get going with a few easy steps.

DECISION-MAKING MATRIX FOR ACTIVATING VOLUNTEERS:

In our efforts to offer volunteer activities to support public lands, the following conditions will be considered to ascertain if TKO can safely offer programs. We will only offer volunteer activities if our analysis indicates that our staff and volunteers will not increase their risk of contracting or spreading COVID-19 due to their participation. Key assessments include:

Organization COVID-19 Policies and Procedures are in place: TKO programs may resume programming when these documents are in place, are understood by all relevant staff and stakeholders, and we have the resources available to implement them.

Civil Authority Restrictions are lifted: TKO programs may resume programming when national and/or state Executive Orders allow our program to resume travel and do not exceed mandated gathering numbers of individuals necessary to operate our program model.

Medical resources are available for support: It is understood that COVID-19 related demands on our medical infrastructure are an important consideration for four reasons:

• Additional demands on medical facilities/medical personnel may distract from our collective ability to meet the demands associated with COVID-19 and therefore may be irresponsible;
• Additional demands may strip the physical/personnel resources away from the communities in which TKO operate (e.g. medical personnel may lack access to proper PPE) which might make medical care less available, or
• May increase the likelihood of exposure to patients if care is sought. TKO programs may resume programming if COVID-19 models (www. covid19.healthdata.or/projections) and/or other available data indicate that the demand on the medical facilities in the areas in which we operate programs will not be overwhelmed during the times in which our programs are operating.
• Our volunteer activity could spread the virus to a local community with limited medical resources.

Our partners are prepared: TKO programs may resume programming when our partners are secure and confident enough in their own operations/availability to provide us reasonable assurance that plans, schedules, facilities, etc., won’t remain in flux – thereby increasing our opportunity costs, financial risks, and risks to our people.

It is socially responsible: TKO programs may resume programming when the organization believes it is socially responsible for us to be operating. We believe that volunteer stewardship programs will be a key part of our national recovery effort and we want to begin offering those opportunities as soon as these activities can be done safely, including gaining assurances from experts, our board of directors and our larger stakeholder groups that they are comfortable with us going back to work.

We are prepared: Lastly, TKO programs may resume programming when: (a) we have  had the time to recruit and train sufficient staff, volunteers; (b) identify sufficient project/recreational partners, and; (c) we have the physical equipment and supplies to implement our planned activities.

LEGAL NOTICE:

TKO’s Safety Policy and Procedures for a COVID-19 Environment has been developed solely for use by Trailkeepers of Oregon (TKO) programs, in consideration of specific programmatic and organizational elements. While TKO gladly shares these methods to activate volunteers as a resource, these protocols are not meant to be applied to any other organizations without careful consideration and revision to match the uniqueness of that organization’s population, staff, mission, training, resources, environment, and risk tolerance. Anyone who seeks to adapt or otherwise utilize these protocols in their programming does so at their own risk and expressly agrees to release from liability, and hold harmless, Trailkeepers of Oregon; our physician advisor Dr. Peter Reagan MD and clinical nurse Elaine Keavney RN; and Experiential Consulting, LLC for any liabilities, losses, damages, suits, or expenses of any kind.