 Back |
 Volunteer ‘Victims’ Help in Red Cross Drill
About 60 people spent a crowded night Wednesday and Thursday on cots in a grade-school gym. Some had medical problems, one lost his glasses, another had two dogs outside in a car. One family could speak no English.
They were volunteer “victims” playing roles as homeless refugees from a hypothetical major tornado, all to help Red Cross volunteers and staff practice for the real thing. The drill ended Thursday afternoon in the gym at St. James the Greater Catholic School in the Dogtown neighborhood.
The amateur actors were given instructions on what kinds of troubles they should bring to the shelter. They did, for real, have to spend the night on cots.
“It was a typical night in a shelter, and that’s what we train our volunteers for,” said Mary Anderson, disaster readiness director for the Red Cross St. Louis Area Chapter. “We had things and problems going on all night. We want our people to be ready for that.”
This story may be available for an Adobe Acrobat PDF download. Click on the link below to visit the site download center. If a PDF is available, the file will automatically open in your browser.
|
|
|