Friends at the scene of disaster

Local Red Cross volunteers take time to make sure victims can cope

File photo by GARY SMITH

Mike Zabko, left, chief executive officer of the American Red Cross Southern Maryland chapter, talks with volunteer Tom Davis of Red Cross partner Technology Security Associates of Lexington Park at a Red Cross picnic at the training center in Waldorf in 2006.
 

Friday, March 21, 2008

Hurricanes, tornadoes, house fires. Who you gonna call?

The Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund helps with ‘‘immediate needs” such as food, clothing and shelter for local families whose homes are destroyed by fires, said Mike Zabko, CEO of the chapter.

This past year the majority of the fund assisted 90 families with immediate needs after their homes caught fire, Zabko said. When Hurricane Isabel struck in 2003, and the La Plata tornado hit in 2002, the Red Cross helped out as well.

‘‘We’ve depleted our disaster relief fund, and we are using operational funds to subsidize the fund,” Zabko said.

‘‘We keep feeding the operational budget to the disaster fund,” he said.

The Red Cross is not a federal agency, and does not receive federal funds as some people think, Zabko said. Each local chapter relies on donations, he explained, with each chapter creating its own budget according to its individual needs.

Last fiscal year, beginning July 1, 2006, and ending June 30, 2007, the local Red Cross budgeted $29,000 for the disaster relief fund based on a five-year history, he said. The fund expended $33,000 in direct aid to local families during disasters, such as home fires, he said.

In past years, the Red Cross assisted 75 to 80 families, Zabko said.

‘‘We’ve been playing catch-up since Hurricane Katrina,” he said. Large amounts of donations came from the community for Katrina relief, Zabko said.

‘‘They were very generous,” he added.

The donations have diminished, but the fires continue.

Therein lies the problem, he said.

‘‘We’re robbing Peter to pay Paul,” Zabko said.

After the tornado in La Plata in 2002, the community raised more than $200,000 for disaster relief aid, with the national headquarters adding $100,000, Zabko said. Disasters continue to happen in the local community, but they don’t get the press coverage like Katrina and tornadoes, he said.

‘‘We are in need of help now, both with charitable contributions and volunteers,” Zabko added.

Good neighbors

The American Red Cross is ‘‘just neighbors helping neighbors,” Greg Jones, director of emergency services for the Southern Maryland chapter, said about the mostly all-volunteer organization.

When most people think of the Red Cross they just think of blood donation, but the Red Cross does much more for disaster preparedness and relief, he said.

Jones recalled two recent home fires in St. Mary’s County where the residents lost everything and the Red Cross assisted the victims.

Jones said one woman from Poplar Hill who lost everything in a home fire asked him, ‘‘What do I do now?” as all her belongings were consumed by the fire. The disaster relief fund helped with her immediate needs of shelter and clothing, but also worked with a pharmacy so she could get necessary medications and answered her questions as to how to obtain a new Social Security card and driver’s license, he said.

This woman’s questions made Jones realize that a booklet answering these types of questions would be an asset to people after a fire so he is in the process of writing one titled, ‘‘What Do I Do Now?”

The Red Cross this winter helped the Williams family, displaced from their home in Mechanicsville after a chimney fire during the night of Jan. 17, Sandy Williams said. The Red Cross set up hotel accommodations for the family and their 100-pound chocolate Labrador retriever, Williams said.

‘‘They were here with us the whole time right along with the fire department,” she said.

Williams said she was surprised at the help the Red Cross gave her family, and their efficiency and response.

‘‘You felt like somebody cared, it was very comforting.”

The Red Cross made sure another family’s pets — a dog, cat and a snapping turtle — were turned over to an animal shelter for care after another home fire this winter in Bushwood.

‘‘It was the biggest snapping turtle I’ve seen in my life, said Bob Gretton, who is part of the ‘‘Red Nose Relief” when responding to families hit by disaster.

Gretton, who dons a red nose while wearing his Red Cross vest, said he provides ‘‘soft assistance” to the families, showing them compassion, empathy and comic relief as they deal with the emotions brought on by a home fire. Red Cross volunteers will give teddy bears and small dolls to children to comfort them, Gretton said.

Local businesses have stepped up to raise money for the local chapter when the Red Cross has asked for help in the past.

In 2006, Mary Roma, an owner of Vincenzo’s Restaurant in Solomons, said she agreed to partner with Bayside Toyota and hosted a fundraiser for the local Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund. They held a second fundraiser on Dec. 13, 2007, sponsored by Classic Homes, which has an office downstairs from the restaurant, she said. She said that she will probably host one again this year on Dec.13.

Roma said that her sister’s home in Pennsylvania burned down a few years ago. The fire put her family, including four daughters, on the street, she said. The Red Cross came to her assistance the next day with a check to JCPenney for clothes, Roma said.

‘‘The Red Cross are the first people to help and are an asset to the community,” she said.

No matter what hour it is when a disaster strikes, Red Cross volunteers are called to assist with the needs of the victims.

Zabko said that not only is the Southern Maryland chapter short on funds, but it could use volunteer time as well, whether manning a phone or becoming certified in one of the many health and safety training classes.

Volunteer Larry Thomas, Calvert County disaster coordinator, said he got involved with the Red Cross after reading an article about the organization after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

‘‘I’ve found it very rewarding to help someone with the skills I’ve learned,” Thomas said.

Thomas said he has even assisted people with the initial home insurance claim phone call when the home was still burning.

‘‘We need people that want to help people,” he said, ‘‘just find a hole and fit in.”

The Southern Maryland chapter trains 40 individuals each day in a variety of classes such as cardiopulmonary resuscitation, first aid, swimming and water safety and now pet first aid, Zabko said.

The Red Cross trains lifeguards for summer pool programs in Calvert, Charles and St. Mary’s counties.

Chuck Jacobs, aquatics director of the Patuxent River Naval Air Station pool, said the pool uses the Red Cross as a governing body to train their lifeguards. ‘‘On any given opportunity, they know what to do,” he said of the pool’s lifeguards. The Red Cross has pushed up its standards and the Navy believes in a high standard of excellence, Jacobs said.

Lifeguard Joe Kwasniak, a 16-year-old sophomore at Great Mills High School, recently assisted a woman and her son to the side of the pool after she called out for help and was visibly in need of rescue, Jacobs said.

Her 5- or 6-year-old son was climbing on her and Kwasniak said he saw her struggling, and then she yelled out for help.

Kwasniak, who said he has been a lifeguard for about a year, said a Red Cross class prepared him for what he needed to do.

A certified lifeguard is required to be CPR certified as well and many companies are urging employees to take CPR, Zabko said.

The Red Cross CPR class now includes training on an automated external defibrillator, a device that can restart a heart rhythm and save a life, he said. ‘‘It’s a very small and easy device to use,” he said.

All the high schools in Calvert County have one, and many public buildings have them available also, he added.

Calvert High School nurse Janet Cord said they have five automated external defibrillators at the school and all school nurses are required to take CPR training and know how to use the AED. Other faculty are also certified in CPR and know how to use the device, she said.

‘‘They are so easy to use, anyone could use them,” she said. The AED walks the user through the steps completely, it gives voice instruction and it has a good chart to follow, Cord said. Every day they are tested, she said.

Another service the Red Cross provides, emergency military communications, has also increased over the past years due to the war in Iraq, Zabko said. Congress gave an unfunded mandate to the Red Cross years ago to provide communications with the armed services, he said.

When a soldier needs to come back home due to a death or sickness of a family member, the Red Cross sends the request to the service member’s unit.

‘‘We are third-party verification to a service member’s unit so they can decide whether they need leave,” Zabko said.

The Red Cross collects blood on a continual basis with the Southern Maryland chapter supplying all the Southern Maryland hospitals, Zabko said. The Red Cross provides an abundance of services to the community and it continually needs volunteers for its programs, he said. It’s a matter of attrition, Zabko said, people volunteer at times in their life, and then they fall off, and more volunteers are needed.

charvat@somdnews.com