North Carolina Psychological Foundation Disaster Response Network North Carolina Psychological Association

Monday, August 16, 2004 - REQUEST FOR HELP WITH HURRICANE CHARLEY

Dear DRN members:

The national headquarters of the American Red Cross has asked us to let you
know that they are recruiting disaster mental health workers to assist with
hurricane relief operations in Florida. Details known to date include:

* Volunteers must be willing to commit to a 12-day minimum time period
(10 days of work with a day for travel on either end). Because of the nature
of the relief efforts, Red Cross will not be bringing on workers for shorter
durations.

* Red Cross anticipates that the relief operations will extend for
several weeks. They are preparing to shelter approximately 25,000 people
for 4-6 weeks.

* Offering assistance at shelters and providing some community
outreach will be the primary assignments.

* Volunteers need to be prepared for difficult environmental
circumstances. Housing conditions are limited. There is no electricity
throughout most of the relief areas.

* If you are available anytime between now and the end of September to
offer assistance for a 12-day or longer duration, please contact your local
Red Cross chapter. Chapters are receiving regular updates on operation
assignments and conditions and are working with ARC's Disaster Services
Human Resources (DSHR) system to fill available positions.

* As in many post-disaster circumstances, contacting your local Red
Cross chapter to find out how you can help (there may be some things you can
do locally, e.g. future disaster response preparations) and informing them
of your availability is the best way to get involved.

* Here is a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website with
helpful information on flood recovery.
http://www.bt.cdc.gov/disasters/floods/recovery.asp

* The DRN program tries to track members who go out on relief
assignments. This is important to our program operations. We do receive
some data from the Red Cross, but please help us by letting your state
coordinator know if you accept a Red Cross assignment. We will collect this
information from the state coordinators in the weeks ahead. Thank you.

If you can respond, it would be much appreciated.
Thank you!
Sandra Wartski, Psy.D.
Disaster Response Network Coordinator

For further information contact ncpaelizabeth@mindspring.com

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