Before a strong hurricane hits, millions of people are evacuated from the area. Why would anyone deliberately head into the danger zone?
That is exactly what Red Cross volunteers do. I interviewed Stephanie Gilstrom, an Olympia resident who is a licensed mental health clinician. Since retiring six years ago, she has volunteered five times as a disaster mental health volunteer after an earthquake, a tornado, two wildfires, and a hurricane. The Red Cross trains volunteers for the three phases of a disaster – prepare, respond, and recover. Stephanie has always volunteered during the “respond” phase.
Stephanie’s most recent assignment, from October 8 to 21, 2024, was as a responder to Hurricane Milton, which hit only two weeks after Hurricane Helene landed in the same area. One million people evacuated from the storm-hit area, and hundreds of shelters were established. Later estimates for the two hurricanes combined were an economic loss of $250 billion dollars and a considerable loss of life — 600 people.
To be ready to work in the area as soon as Milton was to hit Orlando, Florida, on October 9, Stephanie flew into Orlando the night before. She had to be there by 6 pm because the airport closed the next day. Then she “stood by” in a hotel for three days as she waited for her deployment.
Milton made landfall along the Gulf Coast as a Category 3 hurricane. When Milton arrived in Orlando twenty-four hours later, storm winds had lessened from category 3 to category 1. Unlike in other assignments, Stephanie was not in danger during her time in Florida.
However, the hurricane still caused considerable damage in the area from tornados, winds of 74 to 95 miles per hour, storm surge, and flooding. During the hurricane, 3.5 million people lost electricity. The shelters were full of people who fled before the storm or were later forced to leave their homes.
Stephanie’s Job After Hurricane Milton
Because so many volunteers were needed immediately to respond to Milton, Stephanie volunteered as a “shelter associate” instead of as a disaster mental health volunteer. Her assignment was in a state-designated mega-shelter of 1,000 people in the Tampa area for twelve hours per day – 7 am to 7 pm. The bunk trailers for volunteers were a 45-minute commute by car, so she only got about six hours sleep each night. Volunteers and staff ate the shelter food – for the first seven days for three meals a day that was cold turkey sandwiches and oranges.
Stephanie’s work as a shelter associate was to do whatever was necessary to help people in the shelter: she loaded food containers out of trucks; served meals, snacks and beverages three times a day; set up, took down and sterilized cots; moved people’s belongings out of the shelter when they found alternative housing; and helped run a children’s corner to entertain dozens of children with arts and crafts, games, and talent shows.
During Stephanie’s ten days in the shelter, there were a number of incidents: drug overdoses, assaults, heart attacks, mental health emergencies, and so on. Security officers, health personnel and others were there to manage those issues. This particular shelter was donated as part of the Seminole Hard Rock Casino. The casino ran on generators and continued to be open 24 hours a day for drinking and gambling. This caused noise and some disruption for shelter residents and staff who were housed in huge adjoining conference halls.
Another peculiarity was that this shelter was co-managed by the county and the Red Cross. While in general the shelter was well-run, there was conflict between the county and Red Cross management about some procedures, such as registering shelter residents, space allotment around cots for families and individuals, and care for families’ pets. The day after Stephanie left the shelter was shut down, and the shelter residents were moved to a Red Cross shelter.
What’s Next for Stephanie?
This deployment was so physically demanding that Stephanie does not intend to respond as a shelter associate again. Even though she is a healthy and fit person not yet 70, the work was too tiring. Instead, she will opt for assignments as a disaster mental health volunteer (DMH).
DMH help people on a short-term basis and generally meet with them no more than three times. DMH do not diagnose people or offer therapy. Instead, DMH work with people to find resiliency and make a plan to normalize their situation. However, DMH can refer people with severe problems to mental health agencies outside of the shelter. DMH mostly work with people referred by shelter staff. When not busy with referrals, DSM walk through the shelter and talk to people who need a friendly word or counselling.
DMH work is not physically demanding but is stressful. Many people’s problems are worsened or triggered by the disaster trauma or by not having access to their medications. Plus, volunteers must be patient about administrative problems, especially in the early days of responding to a disaster.
In addition to the stress of the environment and the work itself, volunteer deployments can be extremely dangerous. For example, during the Dixie Wildfire the shelter had to be immediately evacuated because a raging, fast-moving wildfire was an immediate threat. In Tupelo, Mississippi, a tornado passed over Stephanie’s hotel in the middle of the night and hit less than a mile away, destroying part of a highway and a warehouse.
Why keep volunteering?
Given the stress and possible physical danger, why does Stephanie want to keep volunteering for the Red Cross after disasters?
First, in addition to her training as a mental health clinician, Stephanie is well-trained by the Red Cross. She had 30 hours of online preparation and two day-long “live” trainings on what to expect in a shelter and as a DMH. For all volunteers, training includes the Red Cross’s cardinal rule that volunteers must show care and concern for all disaster victims. Unlike in most other jobs, volunteers learn that their foremost task is to be a comforting presence.
Second, volunteers make life-long friendships with other volunteers during their deployments. Red Cross responders come to the disaster zone because of intrinsic, not extrinsic, motivation. Also, people form strong bonds with their colleagues who are with them 24/7 in stressful environments.
Third, because the Red Cross has more than a century of experience responding to disasters, their systems and procedures are quite robust. Volunteers can rely on the organization.
Finally and most important, volunteering in disasters is a chance to help people when they most need it—in the worst circumstances they will face.
Stephanie urges readers to contact the Red Cross for volunteer opportunities, and not just in disasters. She says, “Your time and talent can make a real difference in people’s lives.” To learn about volunteering, see https://www.redcross.org/volunteer/volunteer-opportunities.html
For more on Stephanie’s experiences as a DMH see https://www.redcross.org/local/florida/central-florida/about-us/news-and-events/news/red-cross-disaster-mental-health-volunteer-stephanie-gilstrom-se.html?srsltid=AfmBOorQGTTaJOVBJCD_DeX868H5zHeYqMXmbXQJUYF_ui-8LUvoAc3B
Charlotte Persons is a WIP volunteer who has submitted articles for three years.
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