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| Instructors teach the fundamentals of Disaster Assessment at the Disaster Academy in Grand Junction learn about Disaster |
The American Red Cross is always looking for dedicated volunteers to help carry out their mission to prevent and alleviate human suffering in the face of emergencies. Once enrolled a new volunteer needs to be trained so that they can respond when called. Training and recruitment are ongoing efforts at every Red Cross chapter.
In western Colorado those two efforts came together when they held Disaster Academy – 2014 in Grand Junction. During the weekend of Oct. 10-12 volunteers, both old and new, came together to learn how they can play a stronger role in the Red Cross mission.
Each day was filled with instructor led classes covering many different topics. Friday featured classes about shelter operations, supervision and public affairs. Saturday was a full day of workshops on topics like, Disaster Action Team, client casework, logistics and disaster assessment. Volunteers learned how the Red Cross is structured during a disaster response and how we collaborate with our community partners.
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| Instructor Bill Fortune presents the Intro to Public Affairs at the 2014 Disaster Academy |
Sunday, the final day, was packed with knowledge featuring classes such as psychological first aid, First Aid/CPR and training for our Red Cross nurses to better understand how they will participate in a disaster response.
This was the second Disaster Academy held in Grand Junction. The first was roughly a year ago and many of the attendees at this year’s academy were there as the experienced volunteers helping to train the “newbies”.
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| First Aid/CPR class was offered at the Western Colorado Disaster Academy to ensure that our volunteers are skilled and ready to respond |
Thirty volunteers attended the 2014 Academy in Grand Junction. There were 11 different courses taught with a total of 40 hours of instruction.
Many of the attendees were brand new volunteers and all were excited about learning new skills and meeting new people. “These training academies truly help build the capacity of the Red Cross to respond to emergencies,” said Eric Meyers, Executive Director for the Western Colorado Chapter. “The three days provided an opportunity for both new and veteran volunteers to gain the skills and training they need to be Red Cross volunteers.”