September 2021 | Volume 83 | Issue 9
Conservation Lessons Bloom in Platte-Clay Butterfly Garden
Electric cooperatives have played an important role in conservation of the Monarch Butterfly in recent years, with many falling along their migratory route building gardens and habitats.
Platte-Clay Electric Cooperative’s butterfly gardens at its two office locations (Kearney and Platte City) were designed to help repopulate the Monarch, which is at risk of becoming an endangered species.
PCEC’s service territory falls within the route the butterflies take to head south to Mexico every year as the weather changes.
In mid-August, PCEC held a Butterfly Garden Open House at its Kearney office with the help of volunteer Cindy Connor, who educated attendees on the life cycle of the Monarch and their flight patterns.
Families were able to use the event as a hands-on learning opportunity for kids before school resumed for the year.
Making Safety a Priority Means Looking Out For Employees And Members
Dave Deihl, General Manager
From the General Manager
In August, Platte-Clay Electric Cooperative achieved 2,500 consecutive days with no lost-time accidents. This is a testament to our employees’ motivation to make it home safe at the end of every day and of our extensive safety training program.
Safety has always been and will always be a top focus of our cooperative.
The proactive steps we take to work safe have earned us the highest possible rating from our insurance partners and given our employees the confidence of knowing how to mitigate risks to themselves and others.
In addition to training programs to keep our employees safe, we also take action to protect members of the public from electrical safety hazards.
PCEC employees travel to meet with schools and community groups throughout the year and give presentations on how to be safe around electricity.
Beyond traditional safety programs, another focus of keeping the public out of harm’s way is our continued focus on service reliability.
Our Reliability Improvement Plan includes increased tree-trimming efforts which prevent tree limbs from breaking off and causing down power lines, fire and power outages.
The use of diverse energy sources by our partners at Associated Electric, our generation cooperatives, ensures that we can maintain high levels of service reliability.
Delivering reliable energy to our critical infrastructure members at firehouses, ambulance districts, grocery stores, gas stations and others is necessary to keep those services available at times when public safety is threatened.
Safety is more than a mantra to PCEC – it is part of the mindset we bring to the job every day.
Blood Drive to be Held in October
This year’s blood drive will be held in Platte City on October 11 from 10AM to 4PM and Kearney on October 12 from 12PM – 6PM. Appointments are preferred, but walk-ins will be allowed if space allows. Presenting donors will receive the free gift of a digital kitchen thermometer.
Anyone can register by visiting www.savealifenow.org/group and using the following registration codes: Platte City – EF2B | Kearney – EF2R.
COVID Guidelines: Donors must wear a mask that covers their mouth and nose and be 14 days symptom free if recovered from COVID-19. You may not donate if you have a positive diagnostic test or have experienced COVID-19 in the last 14 days. You may not donate if currently on self-quarantine restrictions.
AED Donated to Smithville Football Club by Platte-Clay Electric Cooperative
The survivability of cardiac events largely depends on how quickly aid can be rendered to the person experiencing one. For that reason, automated defibrillators, or AEDs, have become increasingly popular in recent years.
Youth sports associations have gone as far as to start requiring AEDs be available on site when students play sports. USA Football, a group the Smithville Warriors Youth Football Club belongs to, recently implemented an AED requirement of their own for all local organizations.
When the Warriors realized their need for an AED device, they reached out to a trusted community partner to see if they could help.
Platte-Clay Electric Cooperative, which keeps AEDs on site at its facilities, was able to donate a device that was being rotated out for a newer model. PCEC maintains AEDs in its offices in addition to having one device on every truck used by employees in the field.
“We were fortunate to have the opportunity to donate an AED to the Smithville Warrior Youth Football and Cheerleading Club,” said Jim Cox, Safety Director at Platte-Clay Electric Cooperative. “It’s great to be able to bring another level of safety and security to the Smithville community.”
Donated in August, the AED will be tested by the Smithville Fire Protection District. The fire department will also provide AED training to coaches and event organizers for the football club.
“In any public venue it’s essential to have an AED to be able to use for sudden cardiac events,” said Smithville Fire Chief Dave Cline. “Someone’s likelihood of surviving that event is greatly increased by the quick use of starting CPR then the quick application of an AED.”
Platte-Clay Moments
Students examine Monarch butterflies being raised in a controlled environment so they can be safely released later on.
Left: Board President Kendall Davis speaks to a group of co-op volunteers about co-op priorities at a July meeting. Right: Team PCEC employees volunteer at a back-to-school resource fair for families in Platte County.
Survey of Members to Begin Next Month
During the month of October, PCEC will be sponsoring a survey that is conducted every three years to measure the quality of service provided to you, our consumer-member. This survey will ask several questions about your satisfaction with the cooperative. In this random survey of members, a mixture of online and telephone interviews will be conducted. You may be sent an email invitation to participate in the survey OR you may be sent a postcard in the mail inviting you to participate. Members may also be randomly selected to complete a telephone interview. It should take approximately 12 minutes to answer all questions on the phone.
The Northland Connection is published monthly by Platte-Clay Electric Cooperative, Inc., 1000 W. 92 Highway, Kearney, MO 64060. Postmaster: Please send address changes to: Northland Connection, PO Box 100, Kearney, MO 64060 or mail@pcec.coop.
Platte-Clay is an equal opportunity employer.