534
Chapter 12
American Red Cross, Carmel-By-The-Sea
2000 to 2001
My fi rst 100 days on the job at the Carmel-by-the-Sea chapter
of the Red Cross were busy. "Busy" is the one word that
describes working at the Red Cross. I should have known it
would be like this before I came to Carmel searching for a mid-
life career change after I had been the Disaster Coordinator
at the Pacifi c Grove Fire Department for ten years. I thought
that I knew something about the Red Cross. I began taking
Red Cross courses in 1989 since I wanted to invite Red Cross
participation in the State's annual earthquake exercise each
April. The Carmel-by-the-Sea chapter's activities helped the
Pacifi c Grove Fire Department to get national recognition
from FEMA twice: fi rst as a model city for earthquake
preparedness, and the next year for assisting the Naval
Postgraduate School in research on response to terrorism. My
Fire Chief had volunteered me to be on the Red Cross Tri-
County Community Disaster Preparedness Committee for
four years. I also was on the Board of Directors of the Red
Cross Northern California Disaster Preparedness Network
for two years. During the March 1995 fl oods, I was one of the
amateur radio operators at the chapter house on the 4 pm to
midnight shift.
I have been particularly busy with community disaster
education and community collaboration activities. I didn't
know that there are more than a dozen churches in the Carmel
area. I was going to each church to give talks on hazards we
should prepare for: earthquakes, fl oods, and fi res. I invited
the members to take basic Red Cross disaster courses, such
as Introduction to Disaster Services, Mass Care, and Shelter
Operations. We hoped that we could interest enough members
in each church in becoming volunteers that we could build
the nucleus of a shelter team there. We were also asking each