Bartonesque
Sep. 1st, 2005 11:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
zyzylyI finished the last of my classes this evening in preparation for deployment. It was the "red cross nurse" class, and outlined for us what we will be doing during our time in the field. "The field" being a kind of diverse set of possibilities, from a shelter in Houston to a muddy street in Mississippi.
We won't have much in the way of supplies, and won't be performing heroic acts of lifesaving care. We will be using whatever is at hand to make these people's lives a little easier. The disaster nurse is really a coordinator--matching resources with needs, and being there to listen to the stories these people need to tell someone.
One of the nurses in the class suggested that we should ration toilet paper so that the toilets don't get pluggged up. The instructor, an old retired nurse with many disasters under her belt, observed that there probably wouldn't be any toilet paper.
Just after I got home this evening, the Red Cross coordinator called and asked how soon I could be ready to go. I told him I was already ready. It likely won't be for at least another 36 hours, though--there are all sorts of logistics involved.
One of my co-workers called me this morning--she had seen me on the morning news (they had been filming our class yesterday). I hadn't even yet called work to tell them I was back, much less to tell them I was leaving again, but I guess they all know now.
A lot of people have told me they wish they could do what I was doing. I am aware of the gift of freedom that I have been given--the freedom to be able to drop everything and go for three weeks, and not have to feel like I am letting anyone down back home. So I guess I go on behalf of them.
There is so much need. Even if you can't go work in a shelter, there are things you can do. In class tonight, they talked about how the local red cross office needs people to come in and answer phones for a while--to take messages from people looking for loved ones and to take donations. We do what we can.
The news seems so discouraging--seemingly all chaos and anarchy. But I think that the good that people like you and I will do in the days and weeks ahead, the little things that seem so futile against the tide of despair, will ultimately make the difference.
"You must never so much as think whether you like it or not, whether it is bearable or not; you must never think of anything except the need, and how to meet it."
--Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross
We won't have much in the way of supplies, and won't be performing heroic acts of lifesaving care. We will be using whatever is at hand to make these people's lives a little easier. The disaster nurse is really a coordinator--matching resources with needs, and being there to listen to the stories these people need to tell someone.
One of the nurses in the class suggested that we should ration toilet paper so that the toilets don't get pluggged up. The instructor, an old retired nurse with many disasters under her belt, observed that there probably wouldn't be any toilet paper.
Just after I got home this evening, the Red Cross coordinator called and asked how soon I could be ready to go. I told him I was already ready. It likely won't be for at least another 36 hours, though--there are all sorts of logistics involved.
One of my co-workers called me this morning--she had seen me on the morning news (they had been filming our class yesterday). I hadn't even yet called work to tell them I was back, much less to tell them I was leaving again, but I guess they all know now.
A lot of people have told me they wish they could do what I was doing. I am aware of the gift of freedom that I have been given--the freedom to be able to drop everything and go for three weeks, and not have to feel like I am letting anyone down back home. So I guess I go on behalf of them.
There is so much need. Even if you can't go work in a shelter, there are things you can do. In class tonight, they talked about how the local red cross office needs people to come in and answer phones for a while--to take messages from people looking for loved ones and to take donations. We do what we can.
The news seems so discouraging--seemingly all chaos and anarchy. But I think that the good that people like you and I will do in the days and weeks ahead, the little things that seem so futile against the tide of despair, will ultimately make the difference.
"You must never so much as think whether you like it or not, whether it is bearable or not; you must never think of anything except the need, and how to meet it."
--Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2005-09-02 07:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-02 07:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-02 07:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-02 07:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-02 07:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-02 08:07 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-02 08:35 am (UTC):blows kiss:
Tell them that many of us are doing what we can and are looking for ways to do more.
you're still a hero of mine.
Date: 2005-09-02 09:10 am (UTC)I wish I could say "wait for me, man. I'm coming soon" but there is so much that I don't know about waiting for me on the other side. I don't know what kind of legal notices are going to be in the mail, I don't know what responsibilities are laying in wait for me.
I really wish I could, but I can't.
Your soul is enormous and strong.
no subject
Date: 2005-09-02 11:26 am (UTC)Charlotte (sending love, prayers, and a big check)
no subject
Date: 2005-09-02 11:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-02 12:31 pm (UTC)Our love and prayers go with you.
Please update us when you can.
...
no subject
Date: 2005-09-02 12:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-02 01:12 pm (UTC)There are those of us who send money, and there are those who answer a higher calling to get in there and do the dirty work when it is needed. Frankly, I'm not sure if I could do some of that work, as much as I might want to think that I could.
May your efforts make a positive difference, to the lives of others as well as to your own.
Take care.
no subject
Date: 2005-09-02 02:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-02 02:10 pm (UTC)Yes, you are correct. You are blessed with the gift of freedom and it's good to see you using that gift to help others in such an important way.
FEMA has asked for 1,000 two-man teams from fire departments across the country. One of the guys on my shift and I are ready to go and do whatever they ask... But our department is small and our priority is to protect our city first. It's a very tough situation to be in.
no subject
Date: 2005-09-02 03:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-02 03:47 pm (UTC)How much can you bring with you?
medicines, TP etc...
I'd be that if you stopped along the way hospitals might give you more stuff.
But you know hospitals, I don't know if they'd do that.
I'd hope they would.
no subject
Date: 2005-09-02 04:06 pm (UTC)may God bless and keep you!
no subject
Date: 2005-09-02 04:42 pm (UTC)Good Joss.
no subject
Date: 2005-09-02 04:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-02 05:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-02 05:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-02 07:21 pm (UTC)I DO wish I could be there. This, more than 9/11 (and I say this as a NYC-er), is the true test of our nation's capacity to care.
God bless.
no subject
Date: 2005-09-02 09:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-05 07:35 pm (UTC)