🚨 Emergency response

1. CALL 911 if you are witnessing an emergency or need emergency assistance (Place hands-free call on speaker)
2. If a second person is available, have them call the Emergency Alegría WhatsApp dedicated chat so someone can assist you until help arrives.
3. If someone is unresponsive & doesn’t have a pulse, start CPR (see Giving CPR below).

• 🚨 Emergency response
• Emergency WhatsApp support
• 🫀 Giving CPR
• 🩹 First Aid / First Responder Resources
• 📞 Emergency Contacts and Services
• 🐍 Snakebite response
• 🛡️ On Prevention …
• Living In the Tropics
• General Emergency Recommendations!
• Bite / Sting Prevention
• 🔥 On Fire Prevention
• Alegría Community Fire Rules
• 🍂 Dry Season - Mid-January Through April
• 🌧️ Wet Season - May Through Mid-January
• 🔥 Fire Pit Protocols:

Emergency WhatsApp support

• This WhatsApp “hotline” serves as a 24/7 alert system for our community, so that neighbors may get help as soon as possible in an emergency. Note that this call will be sent to everyone on the chat. The group will determine who is most available, knowledgeable, and ready to help. Those neighbors will coordinate with 911 and might bring first-aid supplies or other community resources to your location, or help arrange transportation.
• Make sure you have the emergency chat number on your phone so you can find it easily! Go under the Alegria Village Community and scroll to the Solo Emergencias/Emergencies Only chat and ask to join. Don’t text in the chat; call!
• Nota Bene: The persons on the other end of this hotline are neighbors, not paid dispatchers. They have some training and are willing to do whatever they can to help, but “they” are really “us”

🫀 Giving CPR

• Stay Calm and follow the below.
• The 911 operator will also guide you.
• Check the scene for safety. [No electrified cables, fumes, toxic substances, etc.]
• Check for a pulse on the side of the neck (carotid artery) or on the wrist under the person’s thumb (radial pulse). Check with the first 2 fingers. NEVER check a pulse with your thumb.

1. Place one palm of your hand on the middle of their chest at the nipple line and place your other hand on top.
2. Press into the chest with a vertical (up-and-down) motion while over the affected person. Arms are straight.
3. Press hard and fast!! Perform 2 compressions every second. Press to the beat of the song Staying Alive.
4. Perform 30 compressions, then 2 breaths in the person’s mouth with their head tilted to open the airway and pinch their nose.
5. Watch to make sure the chest rises with each breath.

🩹 First Aid / First Responder Resources

• Location: An emergency care box is located at the HIVE (on the top shelf nearest the kitchen).
• Contents: Commonly used first-aid supplies, including sterile materials for wound and burn dressings, epinephrine, tourniquets, Narcan, and informational materials.
• Community support: Several people with medical experience live in our community.
• Report supplies used to either:
• Alan Goodman: 1-413-695-2688
• Deana Lofstad: 1-443-829-8409

We strongly recommend that every household have a basic first-aid kit. The (US and Canadian) Red Cross suggests that a first-aid kit for a family of four include the following contents.

📞 Emergency Contacts and Services

• Emergency Dispatch: 911
• (National emergency number. Operators speak Spanish and English.)

NOTE: If you have transportation and the patient can be moved safely, it is likely faster to go to the clinic or hospital (below) than to wait for an ambulance.

The two closest locations for medical care are in Orotina. (Get directions from WAZE.)

• Red Cross / Cruz Roja Orotina 2428-7676. Ambulance and urgent care services, open 24/7
• Clinica CCSS Orotina - San Mateo 2428-7438. Open Mon - Fri, 0700-2200; Sat-Sun, 0800-1800

🐍 Snakebite response

• If you are bitten by a snake, call 911, then go to an open clinic. This is the closest place with antivenom.
• Call on the way to let them know you are coming.
• If you can get a picture of the snake, that will help determine the antivenom needed.
• Fire Brigade (Bomberos Orotina): 2428-5544
• Hazardous Materials (Brigada MATPEL Orotina): 2428-5544
• Police (Fuerza Pública San Mateo): Non-emergency numbers. Call these if there is a non emergency security issue: 2428- 8358 OR 2600-1010
• Police (Fuerza Pública Orotina): Non-emergency number: 2428-8010
• Ministry of Health (Ministerio de Salud Orotina): 2428-7980
• National Poison Hotline (Centro Nacional de Intoxicaciones): 2223-1028

Contact list accurate as of 1/30/2026. Report changes to Alan Goodman (413.695.2698).

🛡️ On Prevention …

Living In the Tropics

You are no longer in Kansas. In fact, you are in a new environment with new health challenges. You must protect yourself and your loved ones from the sun and from dehydration. Additionally, we coexist with snakes, spiders, scorpions, and other creatures that can bite or sting. The tropics are fiercely alive.

General Emergency Recommendations!

• Always carry a water bottle with you.
• Acquire a First Aid Kit for your home and keep it stocked.
• Store potable water; recommend fourteen gallons per person/day. Refresh every 6 months.
• Take emergency training opportunities.
• Notify your immediate neighbors and the Alegría emergency team about the locations of LPG storage, the main electrical shutoff for your home, and where your personal medical emergency info is located.
• Make sure you and others are signed up for the “Emergency Only” WhatsApp.

Bite / Sting Prevention

• Teach children to “Look, but don’t touch!”
• Wear boots and long pants in fields or forests and watch your step.
• Check, shake, and punch the toes of shoes for scorpions.
• Use a headlamp/flashlight at night (UV light will make scorpions glow).
• Don’t put hands/feet in holes, under logs, or into tall grass.
• Keep grass short around homes and store firewood away from living areas.
• Learn to identify local critters that bite or sting and know the location of the nearest facility with “suero antiofídico” (anti-venom).

🔥 On Fire Prevention

A wildfire is likely the greatest risk to our beloved community. This land ignites quickly, and the wind will spread the fire very quickly. These rules are necessary to keep our lives, the jungle's precious creatures, and our dreams safe.

Proper fire management not only reduces the risk of forest fires but also minimizes the release of harmful smoke, which can degrade air quality and harm humans and animals alike. By following these protocols, we can protect the natural balance of our community and ensure the well-being of all its inhabitants, both human and animal.

Alegría Community Fire Rules

• Campfires can only be built in designated fire pits and only during permitted times of the year (see Fire Pit Protocols below).
• All fire pits must be approved by Condominium Management prior to use.
• It is the owners’ responsibility and liability to abide by the following rules and to communicate this information to renters.
• Construction work must have an active working hose on site.
• The use of fireworks, firearms, or other explosives is not permitted.
• Condominium Management may adjust the following dates for seasonal restrictions and additional periodic fire ban periods/permitted times based on dry or windy weather conditions (e.g., if there are about two weeks without rain).

🍂 Dry Season - Mid-January Through April

• No campfires on private lots during the dry season.
• Designated common fire pits may be used for special events when conditions are safe (not windy / no extreme drought).
• Barbecues using non-wood / non-charcoal, or any fuel that doesn’t produce a spark are permitted on private lots, but only on decks or patios with constant supervision.
• Special permission can be granted for special occasions, provided consideration is given.

🌧️ Wet Season - May Through Mid-January

• Approved fire pits may be used in this period, unless the Condominium Management has instituted an additional temporary fire ban or it is quite windy or dry.

🔥 Fire Pit Protocols:

• Small Fires: Only small fires are permitted on private lots; larger in the common area.
• Supervision: Campfires must be supervised by an adult at all times.
• Water: Fire Pits must have two (19-liter) buckets of water or an active hose next to them.
• Shovel and Ax: Keep a shovel and ax next to the fire pit.
• Extinguish Completely: Pour at least 38 liters of water (approximately 4 buckets) over the fire, stirring with a shovel. Make sure wood and coals are COLD to the touch. Remember – If it's too hot to touch, it's too hot to leave!
• No Vegetation: Fire pits must be encircled by 2 meters of non-vegetative dirt or stones with no overhanging branches.
• No Wind: Fires cannot happen in windy or gusty conditions.
• Safe Wood Storage: Extra firewood should be stored upwind and away from the fire pit.
• Only wood: Never place anything other than wood in the fire pits.
• Flammable Materials: Keep flammable materials at least 15 meters away from fire pits.

(Last Updated: August 17, 2026)