Training to serve in disaster

The recent earthquake in Haiti has touched a global nerve that is still reverberating here in the Lowcountry.

News reports of the devastation in that poor, Caribbean country continue to move people to reach out in many ways to try to help survivors as they struggle to recover from this natural disaster.

One measure of the response is the money being raised. Everything from international telethons that collect millions to children selling cookies in their neighborhoods to donate a few dollars.

Another sign is the phone at the local Red Cross that is ringing off the hook.

"It's not just here, it's across the nation," said Louise Welch Williams, executive director of the Carolina Lowcountry Red Cross. "People are reaching out to help. They want to do something other than donate money."

Help needed

In response, the local Red Cross will hold a session Saturday at The Citadel to train Lowcountry residents to become disaster volunteers.

This day-long training session will prepare participants to respond to earthquakes, hurricanes, floods and other disasters that put our communities at risk.

This training will not, repeat not, immediately prepare people to deploy to Haiti. It will, however, train people to respond with Red Cross Disaster Action Teams to local disasters and prepare them to help with other disasters around the region and country.

"We want to train people locally so we can respond to local and national disasters," Williams said. "It serves two purposes. It's making people feel like they are doing something, and we always need volunteers."

Indeed, the Red Cross conducts these training seminars almost monthly and maintains a group of approximately 600 trained disaster volunteers who are ready to respond when disaster strikes.

Williams said she hopes to double that number in coming months.

Travel teams

To register for this training session, which runs from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. Saturday, call the American Red Cross at 843-764-2323 ext. 300.

This session is designed to teach volunteers the history and mission of the Red Cross services in disaster readiness and response, and how the humanitarian organization provides shelter, food and other mass care services during disasters.

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"They are going to get an orientation on the Red Cross," Williams said. "They can expect to learn about mass care, the sheltering and feeding of people, which is a big part of what we do."

This training will qualify volunteers to become involved with local response teams, and they will be entered into the system to respond to national events.

"Once you've had this training and there is, God forbid, a flood in West Virginia, you can go," Williams said. "You go at the entry level, but you can work your way up from there. We call it, 'Have training, will travel.' "

Reach Ken Burger at kburger@postandcourier.com or 937-5598.