William Hetzer, Sr.
June 1, 2007
Gerald Hite, Sr.
June 8, 2007
Still relieved about last year’s uneventful hurricane season, the Bayou Region American Red Cross is hopeful for another quiet year along Louisiana’s coast.
In the meantime, officials aren’t taking chances.
“We can never be overly prepared for a natural disaster,” said Julie Barrilleaux, volunteer service coordinator.
The 2005 hurricane season, she said, taught area American Red Cross officials that “patience is a virtue.”
“We need to know that help will come,” she said.
The region is a functioning portion of the Southeast Louisiana American Red Cross, which is based out of New Orleans. The Bayou Region is comprised of four parishes: Terrebonne, Assumption, St. Mary and Lafourche.
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita posed a number of stumbling blocks for the Bayou Region group, which have been corrected in time for the 2007 hurricane season, Barrilleaux said.
The first problem in 2005 was pre-positioning needed supplies. The region was unable to get supplies to closed areas, she explained.
Since then, items that were purchased with donated dollars have been located in Lafourche, St. John and a parish in northern Louisiana.
The ultimate change for the Bayou Region is the working relationships it has with local parish government.
“We needed to work closer with other organizations. It’s important because it takes a community to respond to a disaster. It’s not just up to one agency, we all have to do our part,” Barrilleaux said.
“Opening shelters is not a responsibility of the American Red Cross,” she added. “Each parish government has the task of finding shelters. They just call is if they need us.”
One problem certain to arise again should a storm hit the Gulf Coast region will be having to call upon volunteers affected by the storm respond to assist other victims.
“When you have people living in disaster areas it’s hard because they want to know how their property is holding up as well try to help others in need,” she said. “We find ourselves looking outside for help.”
As in 2005, the Red Cross will look to volunteers from the north for the needed manpower.
Just as the agency continues to refine its response plan, Barrilleaux is hopeful residents in the Tri-parish region have examined their hurricane response plans following the 2005 season.
The American Red Cross distributes evacuation maps and offers classes for shelter preparation, mass care feeing, first aid and CPR.
“The Hurricane Evacuation Maps tells you about contraflow; and gives you checkpoints for shelters, important phones number for the parish, evacuation plans for the parish and how to make a disaster kit,” the coordinator explained. “It also gives helpful information to people living in FEMA trailers.”
The key, Barrilleaux said, is not waiting until a storm enters the Gulf of Mexico to begin planning and purchase supplies. And most importantly, “listen to local officials; when they say go, go!” she said.
For the American Red Cross planning for natural disaster is year-round task. The coordinator said volunteers are given assignments and training, and equipment is stocked in areas around the region.
Since last season, the local region has been compiling supplies like water, cots, blankets, comfort kits that include personal care items, “meals ready to eat” otherwise known as military-style MREs, medical supplies and small snacks.
Two days before the 2007 hurricane season began, nearly 100 Bayou Region volunteers gathered to finalize their disaster response assignments, Barrilleaux explained. “The agency wants to make sure the volunteers have adequate training before the storm season.”
The region is highly in need of volunteers. “We can never have too many,” the coordinator said. “It doesn’t cost anything to have volunteering training but a few hours of your time.”
Among those needed are information managers, volunteers who take general impact assessments, which are used to direct the agency’s services and manpower. The information compiled is passed on to the mass care workers responsible for finding shelters and distributing food, she explained.
“Once the area is clear, we can place our client case workers in a position to handle individual cases. We come to the aid of the victims with food and clothing,” Barrilleaux said. “And if we don’t have it, we can get it from other state in a matter of hours.”
On an average, she said mass care workers can feed more than 10,000 people a day.
In addition, there are two Bayou Region workers that are a part of a Hurricane Recovery Team. Their sole jobs are to assist with community and client recovery; they help after victims have exhausted all other resources.
The Bayou Region American Red Cross can be reached at (985) 447-3229.
