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In this second conversation on emergency management, Jan sits down with Margo Lalich, a public health leader with more than 30 years of experience.

Margo was Clatsop County's first public health preparedness coordinator, hired in 2002, and later served as interim public health director during the COVID-19 response.

Margo explains how 9/11 pushed the federal government to invest in public health infrastructure, and how that money reached small coastal communities. She walks through the county's early full-scale exercises, regional planning with neighboring counties, and the incident command structures that paid off during the pandemic.

She also shares lessons from the 2007 coastal gale, including power outages that left pharmacies without access to medications.

Her main message is that relationships matter more than money. Margo also covers what happens when federal funding shrinks, how planning has to include older adults and people with disabilities, and why a binder full of plans is no substitute for practiced protocols.

She closes with ways listeners can get involved through county volunteer programs, Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT), and the Medical Reserve Corps.

Chapter markers

00:00 Welcome and Part Two Setup
01:36 Public Health After 9/11
03:07 Bioterrorism Funding Reaches Clatsop County
05:16 Oregon's Own Bioterrorism History
05:49 Regional Planning and Full-Scale Exercises
08:30 Incident Command and Shrinking Federal Funding
09:34 Training, Storms, and the 2007 Coastal Gale
10:48 Putting Decades of Planning to Work in COVID-19
14:03 How 9/11 Became a Catalyst for Cooperation
15:22 Camp Rilea and the Community Pandemic Response
16:05 Tsunamis, Cascadia, and Lessons from the Gale
17:55 Staying Resilient When Funding Shrinks
20:24 Planning for Older Adults and People with Disabilities
21:40 How to Get Involved: Volunteers, CERT, and the Medical Reserve Corps
24:42 Community-Led Preparedness on the North Coast
26:41 Plans vs. Protocols: What Works on the Ground
28:04 Every Community Is Different
29:26 Closing Thoughts
30:01 Outro: Sharing the Episode

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Nine days without power.

Camellia bushes ripping wires from houses.

A dialysis center with no generator.

🌪️ In this episode of Women of the Northwest, host Jan Johnson sits down with five incredible women — a community engagement coordinator, two former school principals, an ER doctor, and a retired emergency management veteran — to relive the 2007 Great Coastal Gale and share what it really takes to build a resilient community.

From ham radios to grab-and-go bags to knowing your neighbors, this conversation is packed with real, hard-won wisdom.

Plus: don't miss the free Get Ready Fair on Thurs, Oct 22 at Jewel School!

🎃 Tune in now.

Subscribe to the Women of the Northwest podcast for inspiring stories and adventures.
Find me on my website: jan-johnson.com

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Astoria Oregon's Heidi Brown spent a year racing around the world as amateur crew on the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race — an 11-month, eight-leg circumnavigation aboard a 70-foot racing sailboat.

In this episode of Women of the Northwest, Heidi shares how a chance sailing lesson in 2018 led her from the waters of Alaska to the Southern Ocean, the Panama Canal, and a dozen ports across six continents.

She talks candidly about living with 20 crewmates at sea for 30 days at a time, facing 45-knot storms in the Bay of Biscay, swimming with dolphins and sharks, and the leadership and team-building lessons that came from navigating both the ocean and the people on board.

It's a story about stepping outside your comfort zone, learning to be "nice, not spicy" under pressure, and discovering that fear fades the moment you decide to just do the thing.

https://www.clipperroundtheworld.com/

My Instagram Handle: @hb_rctid

https://windwardleader.com/

Subscribe to the Women of the Northwest podcast for inspiring stories and adventures.
Find me on my website: jan-johnson.com