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Each year, the American Red Cross responds immediately to more than 67,000 disasters, including house or apartment fires (the majority of disaster responses), hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, tornadoes, hazardous materials spills, transportation accidents, explosions, and other natural and man-made disasters.
The Good News Is That We Can Help
Although the American Red Cross is not a government agency, its authority to provide disaster relief was formalized when, in 1905, the Red Cross was chartered by Congress to "carry on a system of national and international relief in time of peace and apply the same in mitigating the sufferings caused by pestilence, famine, fire, floods, and other great national calamities, and to devise and carry on measures for preventing the same." The Charter is not only a grant of power, but also an imposition of duties and obligations to the nation, to disaster victims, and to the people who generously support its work with their donations.
 Red Cross disaster relief focuses on meeting people's immediate emergency disaster-caused needs. When a disaster threatens or strikes, the Red Cross provides shelter, food, and health and mental health services to address basic human needs. In addition to these services, the core of Red Cross disaster relief is the assistance given to individuals and families affected by disaster to enable them to resume their normal daily activities independently.
The Red Cross also feeds emergency workers, handles inquiries from concerned family members outside the disaster area, provides blood and blood products to disaster victims, and helps those affected by disaster to access other available resources.
Filling a Need
By AMY WHITE
BEE STAFF WRITER
Red Cross workers are quick to respond, whether to vehicle pileups, devastating house fires or major disasters. They rush to provide basic needs for people left homeless or find out identities and families of those injured.
But in the immediacy of an event and efficiency of response, there has been a gap.
Often, as workers handled the details of a hectic situation, other people affected by the disaster were left alone. Sometimes all they needed was a shoulder to lean on or someone to say a prayer with.
That need is now filled by the Red Cross Spiritual Care Response Team -- 10 chaplains who volunteer with the Red Cross' Stanislaus County Chapter.
The five men and five women are ordained or licensed in their various faiths to minister. They are on-call 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to provide a "pastoral presence" at personal or large-scale disasters.
"It's a wonderful addition," said Jim Money, emergency-services director for the local chapter. "It's something else that we never had for the victims before that we have available to them now."
Stanislaus County was one of the first counties in the state to establish a Spiritual Care Response Team when it began training chaplains in January 2002.
The program grew out of the Aviation Disaster Family Plan Act of 1996, in which the Red Cross was designated to provide spiritual care in the case of aviation disasters. Spiritual counselors on standby with the American Red Cross were widely used following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Money said.
After the attacks, many Red Cross chapters nationwide became interested in forming their own Spiritual Care Response Teams, he said.
"I think 9-11 really opened their eyes for the need," he said. "There is a lot of religious background (in this country). It's still there and still prevalent. People just like seeing a chaplain around."
The goal of the team is to provide sensitive, spiritual care to those affected by a major incident or disaster, while respecting their cultures, religious traditions and beliefs.
Chaplains offer comfort and hope. They acknowledge grief, listen, touch or hold people, help them feel connected and pray when a person desires it. They may accompany someone during a stressful time, such as a death notification. Chaplains are prohibited from proselytizing their own faith.
"They have to kind of put aside their individual religions," Money said. "Chaplains have to serve everybody."
Currently, all chaplains on the team are from Christian denominations, but the Red Cross is seeking chaplains from all faiths and backgrounds.
"There are no barriers," said Rodd Booth, 45, of Modesto, a Red Cross team leader and volunteer who works with the chaplains. "If someone says they are a Buddhist, they (the chaplains)will still pray with them."
Booth said he hopes to one day see a diverse team of 100 chaplains working with the local Red Cross.
Chaplains attend an introductory disaster-services course, as well as a seven-hour chaplaincy training course. They receive materials on the bereavement practices for numerous religions.
They also are given navy-blue T-shirts with the American Red Cross chaplain logo and red windbreakers to wear to disaster scenes.
Susan Quillen, 51, of Modesto, pastor of Modesto's Victory Life Center with her husband, Jerry, acted quickly when she heard about the chaplain program.
"I knew immediately that it was something I wanted to do," said Quillen, who has been ordained in the Foursquare church since 1994.
When she gets to a scene, Quillen first observes what is happening and makes a needs assessment, she said. And she checks to see if there are any children. While there, she offers words of support and faith, if people want to talk.
Since Sept. 11, people seem more concerned about "life after death -- what it's all about," she said.
Fellow chaplain Sue Garcia, 53, of Modesto had thought about becoming a chaplain in the past, she said, but became committed to the idea after Sept. 11. She has been involved in hospice for 15 years as a bereavement worker and providing spiritual care.
"I think it is beautiful teamwork," Garcia said. "It is really similar to hospice work, with the grief and loss issues."
Chaplains may be called when a person requests one, or for incidents involving a religious group. They also may be called when multiple families are displaced, or when there is death, severe injury or multiple casualties, an airline or other large-scale disaster, traumatic child-related events, or any profoundly emotional incident.
Chaplain teams or individuals usually respond to three to four calls a month, Money said, even while they hold full-time jobs.
"Chaplains have to have a big heart and be gutsy at the same time," Booth said. "They have to be able to (approach people in unpleasant situations and) say, 'Would you like to pray?'"
"They will know what to do if we come onto a situation where there are deaths involved -- and not everybody can," he added.
Chaplains -- many of whom are cross-trained -- also help out with other volunteer tasks, from filling out paperwork to assessing damage or holding flashlights.
But their main job is to listen.
"While we are filling out the paperwork, the chaplain team comes in and takes over, keeps people calm, keeps the family calm, reassures them," Booth said. "As teams, it makes us better able to help."
Sometimes, people share more information with chaplains than with other volunteers, which also can help the team serve them better, Booth said.
"I'm glad they are there, not only for the families, but for us," added Red Cross volunteer Diane Call, 40, of Modesto. Red Cross chaplains also provide spiritual support for other volunteers, who are faced with traumatic incidents on a frequent basis.
"A few times, we prayed together and it helped," Booth said. "It's like a family. There's something comforting about having them here."
Red Cross chaplains generally do not provide long-term spiritual support for those they meet at disaster scenes. Because people are frequently displaced, it is hard to keep in touch with them, and often, victims aren't thinking that far ahead.
"People are pretty much in shock at the time," Garcia said. "They only care about what they have lost, where their children are."
Even so, Money knows of one chaplain who went back to her congregation to collect clothes for a displaced family.
Red Cross chaplains soon will be used to counsel families of people in the military going through emotional situations at home, Money said. He expects that program to kick off within a month.
He feels chaplains are helpful, no matter what a person's faith background.
"I think even people who have gotten away from their faith -- their eyes just seem to light up when we ask if they would like to pray," Money said. "They just say, 'Yes.' It just seems to complete the picture."
Bee staff writer Amy White can be reached at 578-2318 or awhite@modbee.com.
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