Disaster Volunteers Needed!

Your EPSC has been working diligently through 2016 assembling and outfitting the new Emergency Operations Center (EOC) located just off Sun City Boulevard between the Montecito Club House tennis courts and the All American Canal. As you drive by, you can see a tan colored structure with steel gates. Within the structure is a 40 foot, insulated container that has been air-conditioned and heated. It is equipped with storage shelves, lighting, electrical outlets, white-boards, flooring and other equipment necessary to perform emergency management should first-responders be unable to assist us.

The EOC’s purpose is most importantly to function as a gathering place for community members to gather and receive current information and to disseminate information pertinent to an ongoing disaster, and secondarily to act as an equipment storage center.

Undoubtedly, and in my nearly forty years of disaster management experience, volunteers will descend upon the EOC eager to help in any way possible, an admirable effort indeed! However, this begs the question: “Are these wonderful folks trained in how to assist during a real emergency?”

We are looking for folks who would volunteer to help their neighbors in an emergency- time-of-need. Full-time residents are preferred due to the training investment they will receive and their nearly continuous presence on the property. Previous experience with disaster management is not necessary; but, the more experience we can muster the better! Your time investment could be minimal.

If you are interested in volunteering as described, please contact me, Jeff Kirkpatrick, Best method: email at dprepjeff@gmail.com; or by dropping by the HOA office and completing a Volunteer Application and direct it to my attention. I will get back to you as soon as possible! In either case, please indicate the following:

  1. Are you a full-time resident?
  2. Do you have Disaster Management experience?
    1. What, when, where, etc.?
  3. Have you completed a CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) course of training and can you provide proof of it?
  4. Do you have Basic First-Aid and CPR training and can you provide proof of it?
  5. Are you capable of walking on both paved and/or uneven ground; lifting up to 25 pounds; and, hearing and speaking plain English into a portable radio?
  6. Do you require any special accommodation? If so, what kind of accommodation?
  7. Do you possess other skills you feel would be useful to the cause? If so, what would those skills be?
  8. Please provide your contact information:
    1. Telephone
    2. Email address
    3. Mailing address

Above all, thank you in advance for your interest and spirit of volunteerism!

 

BY JEFF KIRKPATRICK