![]() My first disaster response as an American Red Cross volunteer occurred in my own back yard, when the Arkansas River rose to a historic 40.79 feet in the Spring of 2019, affecting around 500 homes and causing around $23 million per day in economic damages to agriculture and transportation in the Fort Smith, Arkansas area alone. The moment that it became apparent that residents would need to be evacuated, our small Northwest Arkansas Disaster Action Team (DAT) of 6 jumped in to open a shelter that would need to accommodate up to 300 people. It took us hours just to find an adequate facility that could house that many, that wasn't in the projected flood path, and that wouldn't have students present (as area schools were still in session). It was the first shelter opened in Western Arkansas, and by the time it finally closed 3 weeks later, it had housed an average of 75 residents per day, and had been only one of 9 shelters opened in the area.
I'd been a volunteer for less than two months. Since that time, I've been assigned to 6 other Level 2+ disaster responses, completed disaster assessment after two tornadoes tore across 3 counties in central Arkansas, commanded 64 home fire responses as a Disaster Duty Officer (DDO), and assisted approximately 150 survivors of home fires with shelter, clothing, food, medical needs, and psychological comfort. I have learned an incredible amount through my work as a disaster responder with the American Red Cross, but perhaps my biggest lessons have been on the importance of courage, flexibility, team-building, and compassion in disaster response. My first week as a DDO, I was completely terrified. Every time someone experiences a home fire or natural disaster and calls the American Red Cross National Hotline for help, a dispatcher will take their information, and then send an alert to the local Disaster Action Team Duty Officer on call to dispatch responders, much the same way a volunteer firefighter receives a notification of an active emergency. I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. I had only been on two home fire responses up until that point, and all I did know was that our DAT team desperately needed another Duty Officer. So I volunteered. ![]() "I'll do it," I told our DAT Coordinator, Mike. "I'm scared out of my mind, but I'll do it."
The Northwest Arkansas chapter Duty Officers opt to rotate through 24-hour, 7 day shifts, Monday-Sunday. My first call came at 4am Monday morning. I immediately called Mike, who held my hand through the entire response, from verifying the event and damage assessment with the responding fire department to interviewing the client to issuing assistance. He continued to guide me through every single one of the 14 cases I opened that first week. Not because I'm particularly dense and it took me 14 cases to learn, but rather because every single request for assistance I received that week was unique and had its own little quirks to work through. As did every request I've received on every shift I've worked in the 7 months since. Because if there is one thing for certain in disaster response, it's that nothing is ever certain. "If you've seen one disaster," former Disaster Program Manager Jaison Scott once explained to me during a response, "then you've seen one disaster." That's a big part of the reason courage is so important in emergency management. Most of the time, you walk into situations where you have absolutely no idea what to expect. It's not unusual to deploy halfway across the country to a disaster response and not have the foggiest notion what you'll be doing or where you're even going to sleep that night. That's where flexibility comes into play, too. We have had to jump through some crazy and creative hoops to try to get aid to clients across the 18 counties in Northwest Arkansas that our chapter serves, especially to those remote, rural areas, and especially during a pandemic. ![]() That's also why team-building is essential. When you can't count on anything for certain, you have to be able to count on each other. I adore my teammates. If it weren't for Mike, and Linda, and the rest of the DAT team, I'd have drowned, slowly and painfully, that first week of duty. The only reason I could muster the courage to take on that first shift was because I knew that my team was there to support me. They wouldn't let me drown. And still today, even 7 months later, I know I can call the other DDOs for backup or for advice on those quirky cases (though, now, I've developed enough experience that they can also call me as well).
None of it matters, of course--the courage, the team-building, or the flexibility--if you don't also have compassion for those you're serving. Disaster response is really, really hard work. It's stressful, exhausting, and often chaotic, and requires an incredible amount of dedication. Most of the time you're working under extreme pressure and with few resources. Unless you are bound and determined to "bring comfort to those who are in trouble", unless you are driven by the notion that this person needs help and you care enough to make the inevitable sacrifices on your part to give it to them, you're going to burn out quickly, even if you're not a volunteer. Likewise, if you're trying to conduct a disaster response, whether it involves a single-family fire or a winter weather event impacting a large part of the Southern United States, you need compassion in order to patiently and sensitively assist survivors who have, as Linda says, "just had one of the worse days of their life." In the end, my disaster response experience has been incredibly rewarding. And despite the times where I was utterly exhausted, where every muscle in my body hurt, where I wanted nothing more than to cry in a corner, convinced I had no idea what I was doing and was in way over my head, where I was lost on some back-road in Scott County, Arkansas, (sorry about that, Linda), or where I was suddenly jarred awake by a fire call at 3am, I wouldn't trade a single moment of it for anything in the world. Vertical Divider
|
I have had the pleasure of getting to know and work with Misty over the past 2 years. I have been impressed with how quickly she learns things, which I have witnessed while working with her on several disasters. One of my favorite things about Misty is her smile and her ability to put people at ease and make them feel welcome, which is very much needed when you work with people who have just had one of the worse days of their life. -Linda Morgan
Disaster Program Manager Volunteer Partner American Red Cross 7 disaster responses: |