Special volunteer opportunity in Gulf Coast

bstone

bstone

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Howdy, folks.

In August of this year (2007) I am headed down to Waveland, MS in order to volunteer with the fire service doing EMS. Waveland was entirely and completely destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in late August 2005. Their entire medical, fire and EMS infrastructure was as well entirely destroyed. I spent 3 months in Waveland right after Katrina where I volunteered in a free, tent-based medical clinic. You can read about that in this article

Anyhow, Waveland (which is in Hancock County) has become very close to my heart and I feel the pain and plight of the kind people of this area who lost everything. In addition, most eyes turned to New Orleans where there was flooding but the buildings remained standing. I go back every summer to volunteer in some capacity or another, this time on their fire service doing first response EMS.

If any of you are interested in this opportunity, please let me know.

Thanks,
Stone
 
Are you flying there or driving there? What are the expenses like?
 
Yeah, this does sound kind of interesting. More details? :P

I'm only a Basic, though.
 
I am most likely driving down from Boston. I have done the drive a few times. About 2 days long from Boston.

Both West and East Hancock FD are in need of help. Both FDs were ENTIRELY wiped out from Katrina. Check it out here:
http://www.east-hancock-fd.com/index.html
http://www.westhancockfirerescue.org/Home.html

Literally, after Katrina all that was left of the East Hancock FD was two large tents, one quickly donated engine and 2 fire fighters living in one tent. It was terrible. You can see it here: http://ashevillecommunity.org/hawker/katrina/images/wavelandrfd.JPG

When I spoke to them, they told me that their FDs to 1000 calls a year. 200 fire, 800 medical. They also don't do their own ambulance transport but wait for AMR to get there from 20+ miles away. They are a BLS only service, so even if you're a medic you'll be doing BLS only. Thus, this is EMT-Basic friendly.

Lemme know.
 
Hey Bstone,

Fellow Boston resident here. If I weren't slated for medic school at NEU in July, I'd be more than willing to go down with you. Good luck and stay safe down there!
 
Oh, one more thing. This regarding licensure in MS. The FD said that since they are still under a state of emergency they can allow us to volunteer as first responders. However, not wanting to risk anything I contacted the MS Board of Health who referred me to AMR. In MS you have to be associated with an EMS agency in order to get licensed (weird, huh?) and AMR is the local one. I called AMR and they said if you are National Registered then you're good to go and they'll give you a card there and then. If you're not, well, you have a bit of an issue.

SO...if you're not NREMT certified and still want to go then you should contact AMR and/or the FD and weigh your options. I am glad I got National Registered certified just last week.
 
I would go but I am stuck in class this summer. I live in NY so if I did go Id hitchhike with you...I guess. :)
 
Bstone,

It just hit me that I could probably volunteer between Early may until the end of May. When are you going to drive down?

-SwissEMT
 
Swiss,

I won't be headed down until August as I have summer school (8 weeks of biochemistry with lab) that I need to accomplish. However, that does only start in mid June and school here ends in mid May. However, I would very much like to have a vacation before I start summer school as the school I am in is very bad when it comes to giving us vacation during the year, making the students stressed out, burned out and generally feeling frustrated.

So, I don't think I'd be changing those plans but you never know. I also have some vauge memory that the Hancock FDs are getting volunteers in May and seem to "be set". Don't quote me on that, however. Instead you may want to go to their websites (above) and give them a call. Let me know what they say.

Stone
 
Would love to go down and help out. Unfortunatley im booked up with classes for the entire summer and semesters after that. :glare:
 
bstone said:
In MS you have to be associated with an EMS agency in order to get licensed (weird, huh?) and AMR is the local one.
Click to expand...

It's the same in my state (Washington) There are so many different agencies, civil, county, volly and career doing EMS that before the state will certify you, they want to know where you are getting your training and who is going to make sure you keep up your skills. The big issue is over the local protocols. We operate under the license of the local Medical Program Director and he/she determines the protocols for the agencies under him. There have been issues in the area north of Seattle where medics from one system are not allowed to work as medics in adjoining systems.

Good luck with your trip. My husband was a FEMA volunteer right after the event and worked out of Biloxi and Gautier. Take lots of pictures and post them for those of us who can't go!
 
So.. they only need people for 3 month gigs? ;)

Drat. I don't have 3 months of vacation time. :|
 
Heh, not 3 months. They'll take people for a day or a month. However long you want or can.
 
bstone said:
Heh, not 3 months. They'll take people for a day or a month. However long you want or can.
Click to expand...

Now that is a lot more appealing. I'm kind of limited as to how many days I can get away from the day job without getting fired.. that's the problem..

Let us know what kind of opportunities are still available down there! :) Email me if you'd like, too!
 
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Bossy, how long was your husband down there? We pulled out of NOLA in October, then were down in Pascagoula at the end of October.
 
Luno said:
Bossy, how long was your husband down there? We pulled out of NOLA in October, then were down in Pascagoula at the end of October.
Click to expand...

He was there just before you I think. Worked out of a P.O.D outside of Pascagoula supervising a bunch of FF from Texas who took off for home when the second hurricane headed inland towards their state. We were both on the list, but with kids at home, decided the first one called got to go.. damn him!!!
 
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