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Allegany County Chapter American Red Cross |
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Allegany
County Red Cross Chapter Conducts
Disaster
Readiness Exercise
Wellsville,
New York, May 8, 2007
– On Saturday, May 5, 2007 the Allegany County Chapter of the
American Red Cross collaborated with officials from the Northeast
Service Area to conduct a Chapter Disaster Readiness Exercise and
Evaluation (CDREE). The
purpose was to assist the chapter in measuring their readiness to
respond to disasters and to develop specific strategies to enhance
their readiness. Disaster
readiness means that each chapter has the right resources in the
right place at the right time to respond to any disaster event
which may impact its jurisdiction.
This includes establishing human resources, material
resources, and critical relationships necessary to initiate,
sustain, and manage a disaster response.
The CDREE allowed the Allegany County Chapter the
opportunity to identify any shortfalls in these resources and
relationships and to begin to design short and long-term plans to
overcome these shortfalls. This
was a table-top exercise, meaning that all the action happened in
the local Red Cross office in Wellsville.
The chapter was required to “respond” to major flooding
of the Genesee River from the Pennsylvania border to Scio.
Two shelters were “opened.”
The first shelter was at the Christian Temple Church in
Wellsville, but as time passed and it became obvious more families
would be affected, a second shelter was “opened” at the
Trinity Lutheran Church in Wellsville.
John
Tucker, Allegany County Office of Emergency Services Director was
a guest participant who said, “The Red Cross Chapter in Allegany
County is a vital resource to emergency and disaster relief. We
rely on them heavily for assistance to our residents.” Facilitators
for the CDREE were Jim Strause, Chapter Solutions Manager from
Rochester and Linda de Quintal, Disaster Specialist from New
Jersey. Mr.
Strause said, “We already knew that the local Red Cross chapter
has a group of highly dedicated volunteers. We
also learned that the local community is very supportive of the
Red Cross. In this
exercise local partners such as the Allegany County Office of
Emergency Services, the Andover School System, the New York State
Police of the Amity Station, the Allegany County Sheriffs
Department, the Village of Wellsville and their Police Department,
and Ham Radio Operators from across Western New York were ready,
willing and able to help the Red Cross meet the emergency needs of
people in the local community.
All-in-all, the exercise was very successful. We learned a
lot about the strengths of the local Red Cross, and I think the
local Red Cross learned a lot about themselves.” Also
assisting in the exercise was Mike D’Antonio who represented the
Amateur Ham Radio Communications Systems.
He had amateur radio operators from across Western New York
on standby for most of the day.
When the day was over he remarked, "I wish the public
could see first hand all of the dedication and hard work that goes
into the training that makes the Red Cross as ready as possible to
do the seemingly impossible." The
exercise was led by Robert Shook of Cuba, the Chapter Disaster
Readiness Officer. He
was assisted by Alison Dickinson of Belmont as Disaster Co-Chair;
Beth Shook of Cuba as Staffing Lead; Barb Brown of Wellsville as
Training & Support Lead; Judy Kosciewicz of Wellsville and Art
Couchman of Scio as Government Liaisons; Jerry Dickinson of
Belmont as Logistics Lead; Nick Abraham of Cuba as Community
Liaison; Dale Baker of Bolivar as Shelter Manager, Bonnie Strait
of Wellsville as Feeding Lead; Dick Wilhelm of Friendship as
Disaster Assessment Lead; and Madeleine Gasdik, Chapter Executive
Director.
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112 N Main Street, Wellsville, NY 14895 Ph: (585) 593-1531 Fax: (585) 593-6451 |
