This week’s Hometown Hero, presented by Hendrick Southpoint, is Kelly Drayton — the emergency management coordinator for the Town of Chapel Hill.
During the pandemic, Drayton also took over as the manager for the emergency operation center within the town.
“She has led the charge for the emergency operation center that began with opening up the emergency operation center for COVID-19 back when we thought this was going to be a two to three week thing,” said Ran Northam, Chapel Hill’s communications manager. “Then as it continued to grow, she did a great job of leading us and preparing us.”
As the town’s emergency management coordinator, Drayton’s role has evolved since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020.
“Outside of pandemic, she’s responding to things that you might not think are an emergency. She is helping with response to summer construction, sometimes. There are also things like responses to gasoline when you’ve got to start evacuating buildings.”
Drayton started her career as a firefighter with the Town of Chapel Hill, so she’s no stranger to heroic roles.
“Kelly goes above and beyond just in the normal way that Kelly responds to life and to work. She is always looking out for fellow employees and there was potential burnout.
“People were getting tired because we were in the emergency operation center for days and weeks on end for extended days. She saw where there was need to see when people needed to get breaks, but she was always checking on others to make sure that those people got those breaks and didn’t get to that burnout stage.
“So she’s constantly looking out for fellow employees and making sure that everybody’s taken care of.”
Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees. You can support local journalism and our mission to serve the community. Contribute today – every single dollar matters.
Listen to this week’s Hometown Hero segment:
Comments on Chapelboro are moderated according to our Community Guidelines