Youth Happenings at the Chapter

This week has been extremely busy for youth volunteers with the Loudoun County Red Cross! We had our regular youth volunteers who are from Park View High School's Extra Mile Club come in on Wednesday to wash the Emergency Response Vehicle (ERV), and on Thursday, youth volunteers from St. Matthew's Mission Possible group washed the Shelter Truck. All of this cleaning was in preparation for our upcoming trip to Kings Dominion Amusement Park's 6th Annual Emergency Services & First Responder Day.

The students from the Extra Mile have also been hard at work this summer scanning the chapter's archives (which date to the chapter founding in 1917!), and trying to help organize some of the disaster services paperwork. And the students from Mission Possible not only washed the Shelter Truck for us, but performed more than 800 hours of community service in Loudoun County last week! The members of Mission Possible received a tour of the chapter, and learned about what the Red Cross does to help. Staff at the chapter also appreciated the mini brownies, the flowers, and the card the group brought.

Thanks to ALL of our volunteers for your support!

Shelter Response

On July 10, the chapter worked with Loudoun County Family Services and the Office of Emergency Management to stage, and set-up a shelter. The request was in response to the hostage situation in Leesburg that had started earlier that day.
When asked about the response, David P. Chesler, Director of Emergency Services, said that, "Disasters aren't planned. They just happen. I'm very proud of all of our volunteers that changed their plans to help us help the community." You can read an interview David participated in with the Loudoun Times here.
In order to staff the shelter, volunteers were called into the chapter starting around 6:30 p.m. At that time, volunteers worked to load the chapter's Emergency Response Vehicle with Heater Meals, and bottled water. Volunteers also used knowledge learned during drills to hook up the chapter's shelter truck & trailer. Each shelter trailer can serve 100 people once opened and contains cots, blankets, necessary paperwork, and other materials. The video shows the volunteers working to hook the trailer to the truck:



The chapter had volunteers on stand-by should the shelter go into the overnight hours. The chapter would like to thank the Safeway on King Street in Leesburg for their donation of a gift card which was used to purchase ice for the shelter workers, clients & emergency personnel, as well as the King Street Roy Rogers for their readiness to donate 50 breakfast sandwiches & orange juice should those items be needed! Additional thanks go to the National Capital Area Chapter who stood ready to support us with shelter teams and nurses, along with the Regional Disaster Coordination Center, and all of the volunteers who made themselves available!

Townhouse Fire

On July 1, 2009, the chapter responded to a townhouse fire. We were able to assist a large family with lodging, contacting their insurance company, minor health services and information on how to replace important paperwork. The chapter also had Kira, one of our newest DAT volunteers, respond to her first fire on this call.
Additionally, this was the second use of our new Emergency Notification call-out system. The ENS system records a message, which is then sent out to all of the disaster volunteers, and minimizes the amount of time it takes for the chapter to respond.
Additional information on the fire was published in the Washington Post, and in Leesburg Today.

Family Service Show & Tell

Today, the chapter had the opportunity to show off our preparedness for emergencies in Loudoun County. We showed our shelter response truck, and shelter trailer which has 75 cots, 25 bed mats & 150 blankets.
We also had our shortwave radio kit, and 800 Mhz radios. The radios allow us to communicate during a disaster, and to be notified in the event of a disaster that may be requiring our response.
For use in our shelters, along with our sleeping supplies, Heater Meals and bottled water, we now have shelter internet access and a TTY kit. The shelter internet kit allows shelter residents to register on the Red Cross Safe & Well website/Twitter, and the TTY allows our clients who may not be able to speak with their mouths, or hear with their ears, to be in touch with necessary services and friends & family! Such cool disaster equipment!
In all, the event went well! The Loudoun County Red Cross demonstrated that we have a plan, and we are preparing!

Please, sir, we want some more!

Future Disaster Services Volunteer,
This past weekend six new Disaster Services volunteers completed Disaster Action Team (DAT) Camp. That’s brings the number to ten (so far) this year. We have quarterly scheduled DAT Camps (Mar, June, Sept, and Dec) throughout the year. What is DAT Camp? It’s a 20 hour training weekend consisting of five courses. All Red Cross Disaster Services training is free.

What is DAT? Disaster Action Team (DAT) is a team of trained volunteers sent to the scene of a disaster to provide immediate emergency services (ex. clothing, food, lodging, health and mental health services and financial assistance) to individuals, families and workers, 24 hours a day. In addition, we help individuals and families resume their normal daily activities independently. This help may be accomplished by direct assistance or with referrals. All Red Cross Disaster Services are provided free of charge as a gift from the American people. The American Red Cross is not a government agency.

The Loudoun County Chapter of the American Red Cross is in need of additional trained Disaster Services volunteers. We are working to increase our Disaster Action Team (DAT) capacity to respond to disasters in our county. Please contact the Chapter at 703-777-7171 or LCARC@usa.redcross.org.



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Social Networking & Games People Play

Let's just admit it: The Oregon Trail Chapter of the American Red Cross is doing some really cool stuff! Not just social networking (which is neat, all by itself!), but Comedy CPR, Singles Night CPR, and hitting neighborhoods affected by disaster with disaster kit supplies, first aid kits, and information. One of their new ventures is a podcast (an on-line radio show) about different Red Cross topics. And, the first show included an interview with Magi Shepley, from our chapter! Magi was asked to talk about different games people might play during a disaster. She shared that Uno has been popular, and she believes she has lost many decks of Uno cards at various disaster sites. Magi also talked about a class project where her students created a version of the popular Fluxx card game with a disaster/weather theme.

Unfortunately, a bit of a disaster cut the interview short when a thunderstorm took out Magi's phone. At least she knew what to do during the storm... Break out the card games, of course!
You can hear the podcast at this link: http://redcrosspdx.blogspot.com/2009/06/listen-up-listen-in.html

Sterling Apartment Fire

The Disaster Action Team responded to a multi-unit dwelling fire this afternoon. Three families were temporarily displaced due to the fire, which started in the kitchen. Families were assisted with lodging via our partnership with the Leesburg Holiday Inn at Carradoc Hall, and also received assistance in contacting insurance companies & restoration services.