American Red Cross Month

WWII Poster

Caesar:
Who is it in the press that calls on me?
I hear a tongue shriller than all the music
Cry "Caesar!" Speak, Caesar is turn'd to hear.

Soothsayer:
Beware the ides of March.

- Shakespeare's Julius Caesar Act 1, scene 2.
Caesar is killed on March 15

The month of March may be halfway over at the Ides but it's not too late to mention that March is Red Cross Month. The American Red Cross (ARC) responds to disasters, helps members of the military, provides blood for those in need and teaches lifesaving skills.

• Every year the Red Cross responds to more than 70,000 disasters—including approximately 150 home fires every day.
• About 11 million Americans turn to the ARC to learn first aid, CPR, swimming, and other health and safety skills. Last year, more than 158,000 people volunteered to teach those courses.
• Half the nation's blood supply— six million pints annually—is collected by more than 155,000 Red Cross volunteers .
• Among the emergency services for the men and women of the armed forces is the delivery of urgent family messages—around the clock and around the globe.

Here's how you can help...

The Red Cross Depends on Volunteers
Volunteers constitute 96 percent of the total work force to carry on ARC's humanitarian work. You can search for volunteer opportunities at http://www.redcross.org/en/volunteertime
More than 30,900 volunteers serve as chairs, members of boards of directors, or on advisory boards for local Red Cross units - chapters, Blood Services regions, and military stations.

Donate to the Red Cross
A hot meal delivered to victims after a disaster, blood when it is needed most, shelter when there is nowhere else to turn, an emergency message delivered to a member of the Armed Forces from their family -- these are just some of the ways that gifts are put to work through the American Red Cross. Thanks to the generosity of donors, the American Red Cross is empowering people to perform extraordinary acts in the face of emergencies.
Find out how to donate online or by mail.

Give Blood
See http://www.redcrossblood.org/make-donation to find a blood drive near you.
See http://www.redcrossblood.org/donating-blood/eligibility-requirements to see if your are eligible to donate blood.

Bottom Line

During Red Cross Month, the ARC asks that you support your community by making a donation, volunteering, taking a class, or giving blood.

Did the Coast Guard worsen the Gulf oil spill?

“The quicker we get about the business of reducing our reliance on oil the better.”- Condoleezza Rice

Now here is an interesting story about lack of preparedness at the Federal level. Columnist Ed Morrissey writes, Did the government cause the Gulf spill?

The generally accepted view of the Deepwater Horizon disaster has focused on the blowout preventer and the non-standard procedures BP conducted just before the explosion and fire. However, most of the damage and the main source of the spill came from the collapse and sinking of the DH platform [i.e. the biggest leak was from a break in the pipe that connected the platform to the ocean floor] ... A new report by the Center for Public Integrity, based on testimony from people on scene and Coast Guard logs, contains evidence that the platform sunk because of a botched response from the Coast Guard, which failed to coordinate firefighting efforts and to get the proper resources to fight the fire.

Here's what the CPI report, Haphazard Firefighting Might Have Sunk BP Oil Rig, has to say,

The Coast Guard has gathered evidence it failed to follow its own firefighting policy during the Deepwater Horizon disaster and is investigating whether the chaotic spraying of tons of salt water by private boats contributed to sinking the ill-fated oil rig. ... Coast Guard officials told the Center for Public Integrity that the service does not have the expertise to fight an oil rig fire and that its response to the April 20 explosion may have broken the service’s own rules by failing to ensure a firefighting expert supervised the half-dozen private boats that answered the Deepwater Horizon’s distress call to fight the blaze.

... The Coast Guard’s official maritime rescue manual — updated just seven months before the BP accident — recommends Guard personnel avoid participating in firefighting aboard a rig. Instead, the manual requires Coast Guard responders to set up an “Incident Command System” and assign an expert, such as a fire marshal, to lead the efforts to extinguish the blaze.

The Coast Guard failed to obtain an independent rig fire expert but instead deferred to firefighting experts aboard the rig. Witnesses say there was no attempt by the Coast Guard Command Center in New Orleans to designate any fire marshal to take charge. The Coast Guard focused on crew rescue and allowed any boat that showed up to spray sea water on the rig. This may have flooded the damaged ballast tanks causing the rig to list, become unbalanced, and sink. The sinking broke the oil pipeline, making the oil spill much worse. Experts say the proper procedure is to use foam on oil fires but neither the Coast Guard nor the rig fire team requested foam. The rig team itself put out an SOS for ships to spray the rig with water.


Rob Bluey of the Washington Examiner writes,

These new details raise serious questions for the White House, which has repeatedly pinned the blame on BP. If it turns out the Coast Guard is at fault -- either because it didn't follow proper procedures or couldn't respond adequately because of a lack of resources -- the public has a right to know why we're just now learning this information 100 days after the disaster began.

The crippling budget cuts President Obama proposed for the Coast Guard also deserve a closer examination. Obama's spending plan reduced the blue water fleet by a full one-third, slashed 1,000 personnel, five cutters, and several aircraft, including helicopters. ... Adm. Thad Allen warned the budget cuts threatened to turn the Coast Guard into a "hollow force."

Bottom Line

Unfortunately this is typical for federal government rescue efforts. As with FEMA, the federal government says its role is NOT do the actual rescue work but rather to organize the effort through the Incident Command Structure. In theory the government brings value with expert, knowledgeable leadership and coordination. In fact neither occur. With the oil rig, no outside expert was appointed to lead and the Coast Guard let the rig team run the show. This was perhaps not wise - you don't fight a fire with your HQ inside the burning building and staff fleeing for their lives. 

It does seem that the Coast Guard is already a "hollow force" when dealing with maritime fires. If you can not rely on the Coast Guard to properly manage a fire at sea, who can you trust?

PS
For a different story on "everything we know about the oil spill is wrong" see Time magazine's, "The BP Spill: Has the Damage Been Exaggerated?". President Obama has called the BP oil spill "the worst environmental disaster America has ever faced" but so far the number of birds killed is 1% of the number killed by the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska 21 years ago. Only three dead mammals (dolphins, etc) have been found. Assessment teams have found 350 acres of oiled marshes, but Louisiana loses 15,000 acres of wetlands every year from erosion caused by "flood control" re-engineering efforts on the Mississippi.
Yes, every oil spill is bad, but it serves the public little good to have the press and government exaggerate the damage, destroy a company (BP) and ban all future drilling.

Zombies!

Darkness falls across the land.
The midnight hour is close at hand.
Creatures crawl in search of blood.
To terrorize y'alls neighborhood.
-lyrics from Michael Jackson's Thriller

Here's an odd but true story via geekpress.com.

A car full of people dressed as zombies crashed on Interstate 84 near downtown Portland, Oregon, on Friday, causing initial confusion by people who witnessed the crash.

...Sgt. Greg Stewart said people who witnessed the crash initially thought the victims' injuries were much more serious, because of the zombie costumes.

"We're glad that everyone is alive, despite being 'undead'," Sgt. Stewart said, referring to the costumes.

http://www.kgw.com/news/Car-accident-victims-dressed-like-zombies-confuse-crash-witnesses-98157894.html

Social Networking after the Haiti earthquake

“I'm surprised at how much Facebook.com has burrowed itself into real life along with instant messaging, text messaging and e-mail, ... It's another reason to be on the Net."-Chris Hughes, facebook co-founder

Today I recommend the article, The tale of an Android phone in the earthquake in Haiti. The web site is French but this article is in English.

As is common after a disaster, phone lines (both land and Cell) may be out of service or overloaded.

"In the first few hours that followed the earthquake, mobile service was completely disrupted. It was almost impossible to place a call, due to the combination of the damages on the cellular networks and the spike in phone calls."

But texting often works...

"However, on some networks, SMS service was still available. People stuck under
rubbles started texting to their friends and family (in Haiti and abroad) to
tell them they were still alive and needed help."

The next part really caught my eye,

Those friends and family, not knowing what to do, started posting these SOS messages on their social networks, mainly on Facebook.

Facebook is an amazing tool for linking people together and getting your message to friends. In the article, the Author in Haiti was able to view Facebook on his Android phone, see the SOS messages, and forward the information to rescue workers who were delighted to know where the people were buried. Lives were saved.

Bottom Line

It pays to be connected with a social network. Check out facebook.

Update

I'd never heard of Android before this article. It is a Google smartphone running on Linux. For a comparison of smartphones, check out http://gizmodo.com/5472971/all-the-smartphone-oses-a-beginners-guide/

What’s in your First Aid kit?

“It would be terrible if the Red Cross Bloodmobile got into an accident. No, wait. That would be good because if anyone needed it, the blood would be right there.”-unknown

For the Cub Scout Readyman activity, boys are required to inspect a First Aid kit and explain the contents. So what exactly should they expect to find inside? If you buy a First Aid kit with “100 pieces”, you can bet 80-90% of the content is just generic “Band-Aids” in various sizes. A kit should contain so much more.

First, a short digression. Do you know the difference between a dressing and a bandage? A dressing covers the wound – typically an absorbent gauze. A bandage holds the dressing on the wound and keeps it from falling off. It could be tape or an elastic wrap. A Band-Aid is a product by Johnson and Johnson that combines a dressing with an adhesive bandage.

So yes, item #1 in a kit needs to be several sizes of adhesive bandages to cover your basic cuts and scratches. These can be bought cheaply in bulk at dollar stores or drug stores.

For large wounds, buy several packets of sterile gauze (four inch squares are best). Again buy a large package and share with friends. You’ll also need medical adhesive tape or elastic bandages to hold down the gauze. I favor elastic bandages since these can also be used as wraps for a sprained foot or knee or hand or elbow. You might need to include a small pair of scissors if your bandage roll resists tearing strips off.

Before applying the dressing, you’ll want to clean small wounds with triple-antibiotic ointment. Don’t try to clean or wash large gaping or profusely bleeding wounds. Cover large wounds immediately, apply pressure to stop the bleeding, and see a doctor.

Clean your hands with an antiseptic hand cleaner before (and after) applying First Aid. For First Aid kits in your car or other situations where you might be aiding a stranger, wear rubber gloves to prevent blood borne disease contamination. Include a plastic bag or garbage bag to safely dispose of blood soaked items.

If you’re trained in CPR, add a barrier mask to your public kit to block germs (and vomit) when doing mouth-to-mouth.

Don’t forget to include items for pain relief like insect bite swabs (Hydrocortisone to prevent itching) and child-safe acetaminophen or ibuprofen. Aspirin is discouraged for children under 19 as it can cause Reye’s Syndrome. Chewable aspirin is encouraged for adults who may be suffering a heart attack.

Tweezers are essential for removing splinters but potentially harmful for insect bite/stings. Scrape away, never tweeze, a bee stringer. Tweezing will push more venom into the body. Likewise use tweezers with care when pulling away a tick. Pull gently and slowly to avoid breaking off the tick’s head and leaving that embedded in the skin to cause an infection. Never squeeze the tick's body when it's attached as this will push more tick germs into the bloodstream increasing the chance of Lyme disease.

Include one or more large triangular bandages (like the Scout neckerchief) as a splint for injuries. You can make these yourself out of old sheets.

For extra credit, include an instant cold pack. These can reduce swelling with sprains.

In cold climates, an instant heat pack might save you from frostbite. Stuff it in your shoes or between layers of gloves. Do not apply directly to skin.

For kits outside the house, add a space blanket. Keep victims warm and covered after trauma to prevent shock.

If you have the space, add some Calamine lotion for Poison Ivy.

Last but not least, include a good First Aid book (or booklet) that you like and can understand.

Bottom Line

Your need at least one well equipped First Aid kit in your house. Another for each car. Your workplace should have a kit (required by law?) - do you know where it is?

Customize your kits for your activities. If you camp or hike or play sports you'll want more protection from insects, poison ivy, sprains, broken bones, etc.

Resources

http://www.redcross.org/images/pdfs/code/First_Aid_Kit_Contents.pdf
http://www.redcross.org/services/hss/lifeline/fakit.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_aid_kit
http://kidshealth.org/parent/firstaid_safe/home/firstaid_kit.html
http://www.survival-center.com/firstaid/kit.htm
http://youthsports.rutgers.edu/resources/administrative/recommended-first-aid-kit-contents

Earthquake in Haiti

"Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself" - Luke 4:23 KJV

Last week a devastating earthquake hit Haiti. The resulting aftermath was a complete breakdown of civilization as we know it. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, understatedly said: "The authorities that existed before the earthquake are not able to fully function." [Actually they weren't functional much at all.] Days after the event, victims started stacking bodies along the roads as a sign of protest over no one coming to their rescue.

The earthquake in Haiti hit the government just as hard as the population. Bodies piled up and rotted at the morgue attached to Hospital General in Port-au-Prince because the Hospital Administrator had had no contact with any government officials to see what to do with them. He said, "I'm awaiting the decision of the government. What else can I do?" But as one Latin American expert noted, "The sad truth is that no one is in charge of Haiti today."

A shop owner figured out the problem, "There is no one in our country capable of sorting this out. Everyone is looking after their own families." Even President Rene Preval lost his home. He told CNN, "My palace collapsed. ... I can't live in the palace, I can't live in my own house." The 9,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping force in Haiti, instead of coming to the rescue, it looked after its own dead after its headquarters were destroyed in the quake.

Bottom Line

A 19-yr-old survivor said, "Look at us. Who is helping us? Right now, nobody." That's right! During an emergency you have to help yourself and your family. You can not count on government or outside rescue, especially not in the first 3-days, the famous 72 hours. Three days after the earthquake international organizations had yet to arrive in the country to help.

Update

Here's an article dated this morning, Jan 18, that describes how after 6 days, the first food and water is reaching a village of 10,000 people in Haiti.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.935566350b537e75897dfaac9f307642.5b1&show_article=1

Update 2

The U.N. World Food Program plans to start feeding 1 million people in two weeks and 2 million people in one month, the secretary-general said....With an estimated 3 million to 3.5 million people in need of aid, Ban was asked whether it would be enough to avoid riots.
"I sincerely hope and appeal to Haitian people to be more patient," he said. "We do not want to even imagine that kind of situation."

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9DA0IHG0&show_article=1

More lessons from Kentucky

Natural disasters arbitrarily bring death and destruction. They act beyond the control of mortal man and his institutions, no matter how grand and well-intentioned those institutions may be. - Jeff Taylor

The quote above comes from the article Katrina in Kentucky on reason.com. The author makes several interesting points.

remember that it was not until the Clinton administration that the federal government was even expected to deal with winter storms. ... Soon enough state and local officials were petitioning Washington for any and all weather-related expenses.

... Natural disasters arbitrarily bring death and destruction. They act beyond the control of mortal man and his institutions, no matter how grand and well-intentioned those institutions may be. Furthermore, the iron law of all disasters is that it is nearly impossible to get aid quickly to people in need. Two corollaries flow from this reality. One, that it is always better to evacuate potential victims than to attempt to rescue certain victims. Two, given that outside help will be unreliable at best, local ad hoc relief efforts are almost always more effective.

Bottom Line

The last point is very important. Local help is your 2nd best source for aid. The best is yourself and your own emergency supplies. If you have a local CERT team consider joining for the training and the neighborhood support.

ARC Disaster Action Team

"Treat all disasters as if they were trivialities but never treat a
triviality as if it were a disaster." - Quentin Crisp

While my wife and I have been Disaster Action Team members of the American Red Cross for many years, it was only yesterday that I saw a "job description" of the role. I thought this might be interesting to share...

DAT members assist the Red Cross in its mission to provide relief to victims of disaster and help prevent, prepare for, and respond to emergencies. Disaster Action Team members respond to disaster scenes during assigned times, provide relief (shelter, money & toiletry kit) by completing all ARC forms at disaster sites and provide referrals to other agencies. DAT volunteers must be able to respond at all hours or as scheduled with own transportation, be aware and conversant with diversity issues, and able to maintain confidentiality with clients.

Team members will learn: “Mass Care Overview”, “Fundamentals of Disaster Assessment”, “Shelter Operations”, and “Client Casework Providing Emergency Assistance”.

DAT volunteers are valued members of Red Cross relief services who make an impact on clients' lives. You will have the opportunity to enhance your personal organizational and leadership skills and to be trained in Red Cross emergency response skills. We ask volunteers to commit a minimum of six months. Once trained you may remain active as long as required training is up-to-date.

Bottom Line

If this sounds like something you'd like to do contact your local Red Cross. In addition to the Disaster Action Team there is also a need for volunteers to process the paper work and type it into computers, to organize blood drives, staff ARC tables at events, and give presentations to the community.

Local Resources

"All politics is local" - Tip O'Neill, US Congressmen

There is a recent article with a controversial title, The case against disaster relief. It cites a conclusion from a report by the Disease Control Priorities Project:

The immediate lifesaving response time is much shorter than humanitarian organizations recognize. In a matter of weeks, if not days, the concerns of both the population and authorities shift from search and rescue and trauma care to the rehabilitation of infrastructure (temporary restoration of basic services and reconstruction). In Banda Aceh, Indonesia, after the December 2004 tsunami, victims were eager to return to normalcy while external medical relief workers were still arriving in large numbers.

People mean well and want to help after emergencies. However most offers of help are rejected or arrive too late. Fresh food donated is tossed out - who knows if some joker wants fame by poisoning rescue workers? Supplies are given in huge quantities but no one has the trucks and logistical support to ship them where they are needed. Volunteers offer help at disaster scenes but most are turned away - perhaps they are really looters trying to get inside?

If you really want to help consider the following:

1. Register now with Red Cross or CERT.
You'll need to get a Red Cross or CERT photo ID, volunteer to help, receive training, and wait to be called for service.

2. Never just show up and demand to help.
Some exceptions - medical, police, fire staff (with ID).

3. Call the Red Cross, United Way, your church
Find out what they are collecting, don't just assume they want socks or dolls.

BOTTOM LINE
The best help during an emergency is local help. They know the area, the people and are already on site or near. Do all that you can to support local disaster teams versus the less efficient and costly outside rescue teams.

Hide and Seek

"Ollie, Ollie oxen go free" - children's game of hide and seek

In yesterday's post I pointed out the many reasons why rescuers may be slow to reach your door - blocked roads, floods, no street signs, etc. Now let's consider the best of conditions, help has reached your neighborhood. Now what? Except for the obvious cases, like persons sitting on the roof of their flooded house, it won't be easy to determine who needs rescuing and where.

If resources permit, rescue teams may do house to house searches but this takes lots of time and manpower. Here are some ideas to help rescuers find you quickly.

1. Try every type of phone when calling for help.
   - During emergencies cell phones are quickly overwhelmed or the cell towers fail. An old fashioned land line phone attached to a jack the wall can be a life saver. Land line phones get power from the phone line and may still work when electricity fails.
2. Call someone far away.
   Local 911 and local phone lines will be overwhelmed and all you get is a busy signal. Try calling family or friends out of state. Calls to someone outside the disaster region may work while busy lines might block them from calling you. Let them know where you are and ask them to notify 911 on your behalf.
   Frequently in a major disaster, the number of lost people is overwhelming and search efforts less than organized. Your outside friend can keep retrying on your behalf if you're not found over many days and your cell phone and land phone have lost power.
3. Register on FEMA
   FEMA supports a website so your outside friend can register that you are a person displaced in a storm. Power/Internet permitting - you can register yourself to let family know where you are sheltered. See https://asd.fema.gov/inter/nefrls/home.htm
4. Register on the Red Cross Safe and Well
   Same as FEMA - report persons missing or report yourself as alive and well https://disastersafe.redcross.org/
5. Make it obvious that you need rescue
   Paint "HELP ME" or "SOS" on the door or wall of your house. Write in soap or markers on your windows. Put a note on the door (covered in something water proof and nailed down) letting rescuers know what room you are sheltering in.
6. Contact the news media
   If you have not been rescued and your 3 day kit is running out, you or friends can try calling the media to ask them to find out why you are not being rescued.

BOTTOM LINE
Don't play hide and seek when you want to be rescued. Use every means you can to make your location and your need for rescue obvious.

Waiting for the Cavalry

“Numerical superiority is of no consequence. In battle, victory will go to the best tactician.” - General George Armstrong Custer, before his army was completely destroyed at the Battle of Little Big Horn

In many an old movie of cowboys and Indians, the settlers are saved at the last minute by the arrival of the US Cavalry division of mounted soldiers. During emergencies today, many people have the same expectation of being rescued last minute by fire/police/National Guard in helicopters, boats, etc. In reality most cities and towns barely have enough law enforcement and firemen to cover normal, everyday occurrences. To handle large events like a block fire they use Mutual Aid Agreements to call in resources from neighboring town. For large scale events like flooding and hurricanes, the towns next door need outside help too so the governor must call out the local National Guard or ask the federal government to send Guardsmen from nearby states.

Outside help needs time to arrive. Sometimes, as with hurricanes, a need can be predicted and outside help called in early and placed on stand by. The Red Cross frequently does this. But when a hurricane does hit the road to rescue is just beginning. Perhaps the storm hit hundred of miles away from the predicted spot far away from the waiting help. Perhaps it hit the rescuers. Even in the best scenario of perfect storm prediction, the outside help still needs to reach you. Road signs may be twisted or blown away, roads blocked with fallen trees or flooded with water. No electricity means no working gas pumps so fuel trucks need to be brought in. Organizing a rescue effort is extremely difficult and takes time and works slowly.

A few years ago residents of Rye and Mamaroneck, NY were forced to evacuate due to coastal flood caused by a tropical storm. My wife and I were asked to help set up a Red Cross shelter at Mamaroneck High School, 22 miles from our house. We had no problems with the first 17 miles but encountered many blockages just miles from our goal. Traffic on I-95 South was not moving so we tried instead local roads in Rye. Bad idea. We came upon blocked roads, flooded roads, police barricades, and quickly became lost with so many detours. We were very lucky that our car was not stalled out driving through flood waters and also lucky that we finally found the shelter.

BOTTOM LINE
There is a reason for 72-hour go kits. If you cannot rescue yourself and must wait for help, then be prepared for a long wait. 72 hours is 3 days of waiting with no fresh water and no electricity. And waiting to be found assumes that someone is looking for you and knows where to find you.
More on that tomorrow.