The American Red Cross – Utilizing Volunteer During Crisis

In the past year, the American Red Cross Serving Greater Iowa responded to 437 disaster incidents across 80 counties in Iowa, Nebraska, and South Dakota (mostly home fires), where 1,629 individuals were assisted by Red Cross volunteers. That’s over 4 people being helped every day!

Here in the Eastern Iowa Area, 820 trained volunteers provided 613 individuals with food, shelter, clothing, medical necessities and emotional support after 162 incidents.

In order to provide these services, volunteers are trained and registered with the Red Cross for disaster assignments, responding primarily to local disasters within our communities such as home fires and floods. In addition, many of our disaster volunteers also traveled to other parts of the nation to help with large-scale disasters such as the recent flooding and tornados in the Midwest and the wildfires in Colorado.

We not only teach people of all ages how to prevent and prepare for natural and man-made disasters, such as fires, floods, tornadoes, heat waves and winter storms. Last year, over 25,600 individuals learned CPR, First Aid, took AED training, learned to swim or took Ready Rating training.

The American Red Cross is a member agency of the Volunteer Center of Cedar Valley. The VCCV works with the American Red Cross to secure volunteers in the Cedar Valley. The Volunteer Center of Cedar Valley has 120 member agencies with nearly 200 volunteer opportunities. To get involved with the American Red Cross call the VCCV at 272-2087 or visit www.vccv.org.

Save The Date!

The Volunteer Center of Cedar Valley in partnership with Black Hawk County Community Organizations Active in Disasters (COAD) is hosting a Volunteer Reception Center (VRC) training on May 20 from 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. (location to be determined). Anyone who is interested in participating can attend to learn more about how to manage spontaneous volunteers during times of disaster as well as run through the set-up and flow of a VRC.

The trainer is Chad Driscoll with the Iowa Commission on Volunteer Service.

Questions, contact Lauren at lauren_finke@vccv.org or (319) 272-2087.

The Black Hawk County Community Organizations Active in Disaster (COAD)

By Lauren Finke, Executive Director, VCCV

The Black Hawk County Community Organizations Active in Disaster (COAD) serves the entirety of Black Hawk County by providing a place to bring together voluntary agencies, businesses, and governmental agencies to foster a more effective preparedness, response and recovery to the people of Black Hawk County including the municipalities, as needed, in time of disaster through:

• Cooperation: creating a climate of cooperation, information sharing, and meeting together.
• Coordination: encouraging common understanding and providing a liaison with city-county government officials as well as resource management with the community.
• Communications: publishing and disseminating information.
• Preparedness: increasing mutual awareness and encouraging effective disaster relief and procedures.
  
  

One main component of the COAD and utilization of services during times of disaster and disaster recovery is the Volunteer Reception Center (VRC). The Volunteer Center of Cedar Valley plays a large role in the implementation of the VRC upon activation from the Black Hawk County Emergency Management Coordinator.

A VRC is a one-stop shop for volunteers to register and be placed with volunteer assignments to assist during these times of disasters. The main goal is to have volunteers accounted for and hours served tracked. This is important during disasters as volunteer hours can be counted towards matching dollars to receive disaster recovery dollars from the state and federal governments.

A VRC might become activated to assist with sandbag efforts or tornado debris pick-up, but it can also be utilized to assist with searching for missing persons, too.

Once activated, the VRC begins set-up at a variety of pre-determined and partnered locations (depending on the type of disaster and the availability of locations). As volunteers arrive in the intake area, contact information will be taken during a brief interview process, each volunteer will receive a scan-able bracelet; which will track volunteer from check-in to check-out; a quick training will occur, and volunteers will be loaded onto provided transportation to be delivered to various points in the community to provide assistance.

Upon completion of service, a volunteer will be loaded back on transportation and will be scanned out of the system.

Part of the Volunteer Center of Cedar Valley’s mission is to assist with the coordination of community partnerships and the Black Hawk County COAD and the VRC are just that – a huge partnership. For more information on the Black Hawk County COAD or to learn more about becoming part of the VRC team, contact the VCCV at information@vccv.org or (319) 272-2087.

Disaster preparedness and spontaneous volunteers

As spring approaches, it strategically becomes a time to consider plans if a disaster strikes. When disaster, whether natural or man-made, hits a community, specific emergency management and nonprofit organizations automatically respond according to a pre-established plan. Each of these designated organizations has a specific role to play in ensuring an effective response to and recovery from the disaster’s devastation. Yet one component within the system continues to create a challenge: spontaneous volunteers.

Spontaneous volunteers, our neighbors and ordinary citizens, often arrive on-site at a disaster ready to help. Because they are not associated with any part of the existing emergency management response system, their offers of help are often underutilized and might be problematic to professional responders. The conflict is clear: people are willing to volunteer, but can the system’s capacity to utilize them effectively work efficiently?

Black Hawk County has an established Community Organizations Active in Disasters (COAD) organization that is prepared to engage at time of disaster. One component of this organization is figuring out how to best manage and utilize spontaneous volunteers while activating the Volunteer Center of Cedar Valley’s Volunteer Reception Center (VRC). The management of spontaneous volunteers in times of emergency is guided by the following principles and values:

1. Volunteering and Community Life

Volunteering is a valuable part of every healthy community. Volunteers come from all segments of society and often provide essential services. Everyone has the potential to contribute strength and resources in times of emergency. Those interested in being ready for future disasters in the Cedar Valley should look to Black Hawk County’s COAD organization.

2. The Value of Affiliation

Ideally, all volunteers should be affiliated with an established organization and trained for specific disaster response activities. Plan to attend an annual VRC training to learn more about your role in disaster preparedness and management.

3. Volunteer Involvement in the Four Phases

There are valuable and appropriate roles for spontaneous volunteers in mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery.

4. Management Systems

Volunteers are a valuable resource when they are trained, assigned, and supervised within established a Volunteer Reception Center. Similar to donations management, an essential element of every emergency management plan is the clear designation of responsibility for the on-site coordination of spontaneous volunteers. A VRC is the mechanism for ensuring the effective utilization of this human resource.

5. Shared Responsibility

The mobilization, management, and support of volunteers is primarily a responsibility of local government and nonprofit sector agencies, with support from the state level. In our community this is the Black Hawk County COAD.

6. Volunteer Expectations

Volunteers are successful participants in emergency management systems when they are flexible, self-sufficient, aware of risks, trained, and willing to be coordinated by local experts.

7. The Impact on Volunteers

The priority of volunteer activity is assistance to others. When this spontaneous activity is well managed, it also positively affects the volunteers themselves and thus contributes to the healing process of both individuals and the larger community.

Contact the Volunteer Center of Cedar Valley to express interest in participating in plans for future disaster management or to secure additional volunteer opportunities at information@vccv.org or 319-272-2087. The Volunteer Center of Cedar Valley offers over 190 local volunteer opportunities from 112 nonprofit agencies. Volunteer opportunities may also be accessed at www.vccv.org.