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Community College of Rhode Island
Hurricane relief efforts bring out humanitarian spirit, giving
Hurricane prompts CCRI community into action
Few Americans have remained untouched by the wrath of Hurricane Katrina as it pummeled the Biloxi area and virtually submerged New Orleans. Many at CCRI quickly organized to help by donating their time to raise funds for relief agencies such as the Red Cross. Several student organizations and classes have held drives that raised a combined total of nearly $2,000 as reported to Currents staff. Still, some members of the CCRI community have gone a step farther, by aiding in the actual recovery efforts.
Jarrett Devine and Ann Balboni are both instructors in the Emergency/Disaster Management Certificate Program at the college, so it is not surprising that their expertise would be needed during this national crisis. Just days after Katrina made landfall, Devine could be found in Baton Rouge, heading up the logistics for a 25-member Emergency Response Team. Devine spent a good portion of his time stationed at the airport, where he helped organize the evacuation of thousands of displaced residents.
Devine adds that while a lot of Louisiana residents “made a bad decision” by not choosing to evacuate before the storm hit, he is very empathetic to difficulties they have since encountered. “You just can’t wrap your head around it. It’s just so big,” he says.
“It’s so busy that you don’t have time to think about how mentally draining it is,” he told Currents staff. “There are so many people who get down on their knees and thank me for taking them out of New Orleans.”
Devine, one of thousands of first responders trying to impose order on the hurricane’s aftermath, is just the type of worker Ann Balboni is trying to help. Balboni recently traveled to Texas as a representative of the International Critical Incidence Stress Management organization (ICISM), offering recommendations for the care of the police officers, nurses, EMTs and other first responders in disaster situations.
“We worry about vicarious traumatization,” said Balboni, who explained that this secondary traumatic stress occurs when caretakers take on the concerns of the people they are helping. “You can only listen to so many stories for so long before your empathy just overtakes you,” she said. Among the recommendations Balboni shared as part of the five-day strategic management process were offering on-scene care for first responders to make sure that they take care of themselves, and holding small group discussion sessions where caretakers could “defuse.”
Back in Rhode Island, Bruce Herrick of the CCRI physics department was helping to organize the care of 100 relocated evacuees flown to Quonset Air Force Base two weeks after Katrina had made landfall. When RI Governor Carcieri offered former Navy housing in Middletown to Katrina victims, Herrick worked with the Rhode Island Emergency Management Agency to coordinate the logistics of the relocation. “I tried to anticipate their needs and to think of things they didn’t think of,” said Herrick, whose duties included setting up a makeshift office for 20 human service workers and arranging for a reception area for hundreds at the airport.
Herrick also worked with Red Cross volunteers who helped the evacuees acclimate to Rhode Island and introduce them to their new neighborhood. “It’s an amazing thing when it all works,” he said.
The highlight of his experience was when the evacuees deplaned at Quonset to the applause of their fellow Americans. “People seemed kind of overwhelmed with the reception they got…. They were so happy to be received the way they were received,” he said.
The evacuees’ new home, the Anchorage Housing Project, is located just down the street from CCRI’s latest addition—the Newport County Campus. Already, the Student Nurse Organization is planning an event in November to help the evacuees weather their first New England winter. Those interested in participating in the SNO effort may attend a planning meeting from 1 to 3 p.m. on October 19th in the new campus's auditorium. For more information, please call Julie Richardson at 851-1676 or Dina Levitre at 851-1692.
