Local Red Cross volunteers prioritize disaster preparedness
Special to the Ledger
In order to be prepared for disasters that could affect Calloway County, the local American Red Cross chapter is training new volunteers and is continuing to align its response procedures with other community emergency responders.
The Calloway County Chapter is planning prerequisite disaster classes taught by its own instructors for new volunteers, including two Murray State University students. Once these volunteers complete four classes, they will travel to the Disaster College hosted by the Madisonville Red Cross chapter Feb. 20-22 at Lake Barkley State Resort Park. At least six Calloway County Red Cross volunteers plan to attend that training.
“It is less expensive and more convenient for our volunteers to travel to nearby chapters than to travel across state or out of state for classes that we may not be able to offer at our office,” Calloway County Red Cross Executive Director Jennifer Wilson said. “Red Cross chapters often work together and share instructors to be able to meet the training needs of the organization's volunteers.”
Disaster training, preparedness and relief fall into one of the four main service categories of the local America Red Cross chapter. Some others are services to the Armed Forces, blood services, and health and safety services, including CPR training, lifeguard training and swim lessons for all ages.
Red Cross staff and volunteers work daily to prepare communities through disaster training classes, shelter agreements with community facilities and churches, mutual aid agreements with other Red Cross chapters, maintenance of disaster shelter preparedness materials and supplies and meetings with other agencies involved in disaster response.
Wilson has been meeting on a regular basis with local city and county officials in an effort to improve disaster preparedness communitywide. Earlier this month Red Cross Disaster Services Chair Bob West joined Wilson in speaking during a Calloway County Sheriff's Department training hosted at the Calloway County Fire and Rescue facility. During a question-and-answer session, deputies thanked the Red Cross for all of the assistance volunteers have provided them throughout 2008.
“They also said that they had told their people at the state level of the talk that we were giving today and they hoped to see other Red Cross Chapters across the state follow suit,” Wilson said of the local organizations setting an example of cooperation.
Another disaster preparedness priority is working with Emergency Management Director Bill Call and continuing to cooperate with city and county officials as well as all first responders including, but not limited to, the Calloway County Fire and Rescue. “It is always important to respond to emergencies, not react to them,” Wilson said.
CCFR Chief Earl Hicks and all of the firefighters have been a great example of prompt response to fires and disasters. The local Red Cross, which is sometimes dispatched out just minutes after the city and county fire departments, is honored to serve firefighters and officials on the scenes and then follow up by giving assistance to clients involved in the disaster.
“My administrative assistant, Heather Bosse, and Red Cross volunteers are helping me with in planning stages of designing disaster preparedness courses with which we will invite city and county officials to participate,” Wilson said.
These one- to three-hour courses will better prepare both Red Cross volunteers and community emergency responders to work together in an emergency operations center. “Emergency Operations Center Liaison” is a self-study course that Wilson would like to see as the basis of a cooperative learning time to best prepare everyone involved for responding to worst-case scenarios.
If you are interested in volunteering or would like more information about the Calloway County chapter of the American Red Cross, contact Jennifer Wilson at 753-1421 or jwilson@callowaycoredcross.org or visit www.callowaycoredcross.org.
Story created Dec 18, 2008 - 11:05:15 EST.
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