Thunder Bay Flood May 28 2012 5 000

Thunder Bay Flood May 28, 2012 5, 000 homes with sewage backup!

Be Prepared for the Call • Talk over the possibility of deployments and what that incurs • regularly with your family, boss, fellow workers and those who will look after your stuff. Have: – – – Current CV/Resume Current Passport Criminal Records Check Vulnerable Persons Check Immunisations Credit or Debit Card • Take as much Red Cross training as you can. The more training the more opportunities.

The Call • • June 1 – E-mail from Mona looking for volunteers, I applied. June 6 – 8 a. m. second e-mail call for volunteers. June 6 – 10 a. m. – the call We always want to go, but when the call comes: – Do I: • Have the time, what about my commitments – Family – Job • Have the skills? • Want to do the job they are offering? – Who will look after • Dog. • House • Business – Close-up house • Empty refrigerator, turn water off, snow removal, grass cutting etc

Getting there • The Canadian Red Cross covers your expenses (travel, meals and lodging) while you are on deployment. – Keep receipts • Getting there for me: – – – Call at 10 a. m. At noon, all arrangements made for my life here to go on hold. Red Cross books the flights. But four (4) hours and two additional ticket changes. – Leave home at 8 pm. • • • Drop cat off in Fredericton Motel in Fredericton Up at 6 a. m. to drive my dog two hours to my sister’s in northern N. B. Back to Fredericton airport for 10 a. m. Fly Fredericton to Toronto to Thunder Bay. Met at the Thunder Bay by a Red Cross volunteer/driver.

The Emergency Response • • • I arrived a week after the flood. The hard work of set-up was done. I’ve no pictures of flood damage as I worked in a Registration Center

The Daily Trek From Residence to Command Centre

Morning Meeting - Everyone

Registration Centre

Reception - Meet n Greet

Registration Centre

Tents can be cold or hot

The facilities What if we have to evacuate?

Lunch & Snacks

Emergency Services

Mennonite Central Committee

Emergency Operations Centre (EOC)

Human Resources (HR)

Logistics

Data Entry

One of Ours

The Residence Chartwells

The Residnce

Decontamination

The Good and the Bad

Winding Down • From all of us to a few of us!

A little R & R – Kekabeca Falls

Wrapup • Over 100 Red Cross Staff and Volunteers in Thunder Bay at the height of • • the response. Over 160 personnel rotated through Thunder Bay. Personnel from eight provinces. • It was: – – – Fun Exhausting Worthwhile Enriching Grounding