MOUNT VERNON — During a disaster such as the recent hurricane, one of the major cogs in the local disaster response mechanism is the American Red Cross. Helping serve those who are in need, the Red Cross provides food and shelter for those displaced from their homes.

Dan Werner, head of the local Red Cross, said there is a disaster protocol his organization follows in the event of a wide-spread emergency.

“The first notification comes to the Red Cross from the EMA,” Werner said. “At that point we will begin our shelter operations. That can include the comfort stations.”

Werner said they meet in the office and determine where the damage is and where shelter and/or comfort stations need to be placed. Shelters generally provide overnight capabilities for those who have been displaced — be it from a major storm or a house fire. A comfort shelter will provide meals and a place to stay for a while for those who do not have power and other utilities but do have an intact place to stay.

Werner’s next step was to put together a volunteer force.

“Next we started finding out what volunteers we had available and what resources we had available,” Werner explained. “And we looked at where we could get them. And could we get everywhere by ground vehicle. Fortunately, we could.”

When the initial determinations were done, the next step was to implement a plan.

“The next step was to determine where we were going to set up,” Werner said. “Bob Bender (Salvation Army) came down. We had a memorandum of understanding that when something happened we were going to come into the Salvation Army. So we moved into there, the First Presbyterian Church and the firehouses (for shelters). Normally the firehouses are a really good place to go.”

During the week following the storm, the Red Cross opened comfort stations in four locations. They were in Martinsburg at the fire house, Mount Vernon at the Salvation Army and the Red Cross training room, Howard at the fire house and Fredericktown at the Fredericktown Presbyterian Church. The stations provided a place for people to go who were without power or other utilities but otherwise had a habitable place to live.

After the sites for shelter are determined and set up, the Red Cross sends the volunteers. When the volunteers first go into the shelters they go with water and snacks like packaged cookies and crackers.

Damage assessment is always an ongoing process. Initial damage reports help determine the organization’s plan of action. The Red Cross provides relief for anything from a house fire up to major storms. Hurricane Ike’s damage covered the whole county making relief efforts much more complex than the normal situations faced by the local organization. Most of what they face are localized events.

“During the whole thing we have someone out doing damage assessment,” Werner explained. “We had Keith Hughes out doing that. Keith is certified in that. What that does is gives us the scope of the disaster. That gives us an idea of how long this is going to last.”

Once the scope is determined the Red Cross can start to make more long-range plans. If the assessment determines the problems will last several days, as in the case of the recent event, they can begin to determine such things as whether to provide overnight shelter, how long comfort stations will be open and how long they will be in place.

“We determined we were going to be open in most of the comfort stations until 7 p.m.,” Werner said. “That was for Monday night and Tuesday night and into Wednesday. Then we would back off some of those hours as the stream of people began to drop off. What was really interesting is that we were busier Wednesday and Thursday than we were Monday and Tuesday because of the duration of the event and people’s realization that they were going to need help.”

The Red Cross also had many calls from people seeking help. Werner said they got calls for such things as getting water to flush toilets to help for food spoilage.

“We can’t help with things like that,” Werner explained. “But if we can’t do it ourselves we know where to direct them.”

Werner said the work of many volunteers helped them get through the week. But he did want to single out some whose help was above and beyond the call of duty.

“I want to especially thank Bob and Cathy Lynch, Linette Porter and Darlene Theophilus for their efforts,” he said.