‘Moore Safe Nights’ program launches, honoring work of late ASL interpreter

FRANKFORT, Ky. ( FOX 56 ) — Getting alerts during severe weather can be a challenge for people who are deaf or hard of hearing. A new program is working to address that need, while also honoring the work of a familiar face.

“In a way, our eyes become our ears. And when we close our eyes and go to sleep, that access to awareness is gone,” Kentucky Commission on the Deaf And Hard Of Hearing Executive Director Anita Dowd said at Thursday’s Team Kentucky briefing.

A weather radio is often considered a reliable source of warning when bad weather pops up, but for those who can’t rely on their ears to hear them, it’s just one more barrier to getting updates when minutes matter.

On Thursday a partnership between the Kentucky Commission on the Deaf and Hard of Hearing and the Division of Emergency Management announced the ‘Moore Safe Nights’ program, named for the late American Sign Language interpreter Virginia Moore.

“This was her passion, and I’m glad that her memory is still alive as she continues to serve,” Moore’s widow Row Holloway shared tearfully at the lectern.

Moore died in May last year following health complications but is remembered as an advocate for the estimated 700 thousand Kentuckians with hearing loss. The new program is offering specialized weather radios with both a pillow shaker and strobe light attachment.

“And those two attachments work together to wake us up,” Dowd said.

Initially only 700 are available for free on a first come first serve basis. Any Kentuckian with hearing loss is eligible to get one, they just have to complete a short application on the commission’s website, https://www.kcdhh.ky.gov/msn/ . Or give them a call at either 800-372-2907 or (502) 416-0607.

Gov. Andy Beshear said the program will work to get more funding once the first batch is distributed

“I think Virginia would have loved this program given how we met and how she changed the world so much at the beginning of one emergency that we didn’t know would last as long as it did,” Beshear said.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 56 News.