Contact Us | Giving | Site Map | Member Login | Search
All are out in the stores getting ready for white Sunday. We met the families we knew from the village of Leone early this morning when they came to pick up the bodies of two families who lost their daughters and supported them as they began the long journey around the island to their homes. The burial plots are dug, the village community is assembled and they join together in this loss. Late last night after the curfew bells were rung around 10pm across the distance we could hear what sounded like a conch shell being blown in a soft and somber pace. At least two men were in the back of a pickup truck that was just driving slowly to the edge of the village of Leone and the sound was a soft and then louder moan of a sound. It came to the edge of the village and the turned around as if to signal the day of mourning ahead.
And as the families gather in the morning at the hospital chapel they have a brief ceremony and the others of the family are in cars and buses proceeding to the village in their vehicles with a police escort.
One mother of one of the litttle girls, said "thank you Red Cross for being there for me and for my family, you have helped me to be strong in this time, you have helped me to bring my daughter home.". She was deeply grateful for all who are helping these families--- too many to name. But each significant, locally and abroad.
Tim
Tim Serban
SRT Lead DRO 560
Site Report - Friday
From the hospital we went to support five separate families. As mentioned earlier, the common word is that the tsunami warning really was difficult on everyone. You see they really rarely ever get them and to have two in a week is very difficult. We learned much about the village structure and how community ownership works, all funds are community funds, according to one person who lost a family member. Family members were busy digging the grave, mixing cement by hand as I have seen in El Salvador.
Then I learned about the details of how the community does a burial at sea. The relative shared with me the entire ceremony and process as it is done here. The rituals and traditons and process is truly a beautiful way to honor those who love the sea as their home.
Next we received a call to support a man and his 16 yr old nephew who didn't see the tsunami until it hit the house in front of them and pushed their vehicle over 400 yards. When he awoke, he was dazed and found himself in the back seat. They both got out only after his nephew shook him awake. "Nightime is the scariest time" is a common phrase we hear alot. The fear that the earthquake caused is as scary as the tsunami that followed. Many speak of the sound the earth makes in a big earthquake. Others speak about the deep jungle people who remain high in the mountain jungles of American Samoa. For many it's out of choice, for others they may fear coming down because of their fear of a tsunami.
When people talk of those living in the jungle they say in order to get there one cannot drive and you may mostly be climbing a very narrow path that is quite possibly very vertical which sometimes skirts along the edge of the cliff with a sheer drop below. Something about the thought of these impressive mountain jungles is intriguing but no, Mom, I wouldn't take any chances. Red Cross does a phenomenal job keeping its volunteers safe and well supported.
Now on a lighter note one thing that I still can't get my mind around is how big the bats are at night. They are endangered so there are not a lot of them. But when you see one, thats about enough. One local person said, "so that means we can't shoot them". They have the wingspan of a seagull. So amazing and a little over the top to see.
Well that wraps up the night.
Tim
Tim Serban
SRT Lead DRO-560 Tsunami American Samoa
During this past week we received from Earl Johnson, on behalf of the Spiritual Care Response Team (SRT) a proposal to the Spiritual Care Collaborative members. We share it with all NACC members and seek your responses and advice.
There has to be a better way.
How can we do disaster preparedness without creating more anxiety or denial? How can we motivate others to help when some blame disaster victims for living in harms way?
How can the membership of our American Red Cross spiritual care professional partners be integrated into regularly anticipated catastrophic weather events with mass fatality potential without creating Pre-Traumatic Stress Disorder? How can we expand the continuum of care from critical care to impacted neighborhoods, from ICU’s to shelters and feeding stations? How can we find and embrace the appropriate partners when disaster response has proved to be fertile ground for predators and entrepreneurs?
Our healthcare institutions need and regularly practice disaster plans. How to evacuate a hospital in less than an hour, or, conversely, how to prepare for a surge event---how to ramp up from 500 beds to several thousand beds within 24 hours---is part of the new ‘normal’. Disaster preparedness is basic standard operating procedure, and, good business. To not be prepared, exposes institutions for litigation and loss of licensure---while federal partners continually evacuate special needs and other vulnerable populations that are in harm’s way when disasters strike.
Much was learned from the gaps in services and chaos that followed hurricane Katrina and Rita. Hospitals evacuated and closed, ICU’s and nursing homes transported significant distances to protect the most vulnerable---the human cost of exposure to profound catastrophic events can not be diminished. We do not serve one another by not providing disaster orientation and training to those who seek to help the victims of these catastrophes. Otherwise, the intensity and complexity of these events may overwhelm the responder, who may not know how to claim self-care and work as a member of a team.
I would like to propose the following:
Five forms are attached:
At the present time, the American Red Cross has 215 trained Spiritual Care Response Team members from six cognate group partners (with ARC MOU’s) and two groups that are exploring MOU’s. The six with MOU’s are:
And, the two others are:
Chapters may already have relationships with SRTs in their domain and use them as subject matter experts during aviation drills at local airports or for mass fatality responses (i.e. Rhode Island Nightclub Fire). SRTs are highly credentialed Red Cross volunteers that are nationally managed and nationally deployed and are integral members of the ARC Critical Response Team, and, already in our DSHR.
With the encouragement of cognate group leadership, to volunteer and do the paperwork in advance of catastrophic disasters, when events occur, one may have expedited travel and processing and know how to work with those disaster response entities to provide essential emergency support and services.
I would welcome comments to this proposal at your earliest convenience.
Earl
Earl E. Johnson, Volunteer Partner
Spiritual Care Response Team (SRT)
American Red Cross NHQ
2025 E. St., NW
Washington, DC 20006
202.303.8642
202.303.0241 fax
At left: Fr. Tom Landry, NACC Interim Executive Director, signs the MOU's (Memorandums of Understanding)* while (from left) Tim Serban, Marjorie Ackerman, NACC Board Chair Karen Pugliese, and Court Ogilvie look on.
*For more information, see the January 2007 newsletter, below.
Copies of the E-SRT newsletter are available for NACC members to read. The newsletter is self-described as
An occasional electronic communication from the Spiritual Care Response Team (SRT formerly SAIR) a component of the national Critical Response Team (CRT formerly the AIR Team) collaborated through the national American Red Cross (ARC), communications, including late-breaking news, team member notices, reminders, and tidbits.
To read, click here.
Click here to view the Honor Roll.