Fayette woman lends a hand
A Brownsville resident will head to the Gulf Coast to aid the victims of Hurricane Katrina after floodwaters saturated the region, toppling homes and leaving numerous people without life’s everyday comforts. Driven by her want to help others, Peg Redmond, 51, will take the next available plane to Montgomery, Ala., to assist victims of Hurricane Katrina as a volunteer with the American Red Cross.
Redmond will leave her husband, Keith, and her two dogs behind and take a break from her job as a nurse’s aide. She has already packed her sleeping bag and raft along with her rubber boots for the trip.
“I can’t picture not doing it,” said Redmond, of her motivation to volunteer.
Redmond is one of 100 active Red Cross national disaster team volunteers from the southwestern Pennsylvania chapter.
She should be gone for three weeks, but she has the chance to return, as Red Cross volunteers did in the months following the Sept. 11 tragedy.
Redmond cries as she watches and reads the coverage of Hurricane Katrina. And that’s good for her, she said, because she needs to get all the tears out before she is faced with true tragedy in the faces of the victims.
Although she won’t be entering into the areas that suffered the most damage, Redmond will be working in shelters, caring, feeding and distributing bulk supplies to the victims, some of whom may be traumatized from the tragedy of losing their homes, possessions and even loved ones.
“I want to get it all out now so I don’t just explode when I’m there,” she said. “I need to prepare myself mentally and physically.”
Despite the horrific conditions she is preparing to face, Redmond said she wouldn’t have it any other way.
“We are all people and we all have to help each other,” she said. “If we don’t help each other, we might as well forget it here in America.”
Redmond has kept active and updated in the Red Cross’ system, ready and willing to respond when disaster strikes.
In fact, she said when she heard the hurricane was poised to hit the Gulf Coast, she knew she would be called to duty.
Redmond assisted victims of last year’s hurricane in Florida.
“It’s good to see a smile on an elderly person or child’s face. It makes is worth all the effort,” Redmond said, recalling when she received a hug from an elderly woman after handing her needed supplies. “The woman said, ‘I thought everyone forgot about me.'”
And she said she expects the same personal fulfillment from her service in the Gulf Coast.
Upon seeing the faces of those who are suffering, material possessions become immaterial, she said.
“You learn to appreciate things in life and set your priorities,” she said.
“You learn good health and family are it, and nothing else matters,” added Mike Adametz, Red Cross director of emergency preparedness.
Adametz works in Fayette, Washington, Greene and Allegheny counties. The Red Cross has deemed the Gulf Coast area struck by flooding and devastation as under extreme hardship.
“‘Horrific’ is how they described it,” Adametz said.
“I thought the tsunami was bad. This is going to top that,” he added.
Adametz said communication will be sketchy from where Redmond will be stationed, while Redmond is unsure if her cell phone will work.
Adametz said the Red Cross plans to establish satellite communication centers so the volunteers and victims can contact their families.
Redmond’s husband, Keith Redmond, said there isn’t much he can say to his wife before her official sendoff except, “I love you, take care,” and “don’t worry about the dogs,” he said.
Adametz added that Redmond is an exemplary volunteer.
“She dedicated herself before a disaster struck, and that is the message we try to get across: to get training and be prepared, whether it’s in a case of a tragedy in your family or a natural disaster such as this, and the best time to prepare is before a natural disaster is going on,” Adametz said.
Adametz said the Red Cross has set up training stations in Allegheny and Washington counties, but those centers have reached near full capacity. He said a training stations should be established in Fayette County within the next few weeks.
“We want to get as many people as possible to receive their training and get into the Red Cross system,” Adametz said, adding that training takes some time.
Red Cross volunteers require disaster training as well as First Aid and CPR before being deployed in time of a disaster.
Adametz said he expects Red Cross relief efforts in the Gulf Coast to continue for months.
For more information, visit www.swpa.redcross.org or call a local Red Cross agency.
Donations will be used to buy bulk supplies and to funnel support directly into the hardest hit areas’ businesses and companies, said Adametz.