Needs From: United Way of South Texas

Disaster Health Services (DHS) Service Associate (SA) is a temporary position assigned to work in person before, during and/or after a disaster event this hurricane/wildfire season. Volunteers in this role provide assistance and healthcare to shelter residents as needed.

FREE CEU'S AVAILABLE FOR COMPLETING TRAINING

Red Cross volunteers who take on in-person volunteer activities must be fully vaccinated for COVID-19. Virtual opportunities available for those who are not vaccinated or who do not wish to complete the documentation process.

Key Responsibilities  Provide hands on care for shelter clients to include but not limited to assistance with activities of daily living, wound care, incontinence care, assistance with functional needs. Provide health education, health assessments and determination if a higher level of care is needed. Assist clients to replace medications, durable medical equipment or consumable medical supplies. Advocate for client needs with Disaster Health Services supervisor. Support maternal and child needs as necessary. Complete required virtual self-paced and instructor-led training required for the position. Complete required virtual self-paced and instructor-led training required for the position (9 hours total).

Time Commitment:

Hours vary depending on meetings, training sessions, and/or responses at the local chapter.

Qualifications:

Active and unencumbered licensure in at least one of the following:

Registered Nurse Licensed Practical Nurse Licensed Vocational Nurse Nurse Practitioner Advanced Practice Nurse Medical Doctor Doctor of Osteopathy Physician Assistant Emergency Medical Technician Paramedic Must be able to provide copy of license for verification.

Every day, the Red Cross responds to an average of 7fires a day in the Texas Gulf Coast. These fires are responded to by teams of volunteers who go and meet the family, within 2 hours, any time night or day.

How do these amazing volunteers get called out? By YOU - our newest Disaster Action Team Duty Officer. 

Purpose: Ensures timely activation and monitoring of local and regional Disaster Action Team (DAT) responses. The Duty Officer supports the DAT program either at the chapter/territory or region level.

Key Responsibilities: 

Leadership - 

May determine if Red Cross action is required; may decide if Red Cross will respond via DAT. Uses event triggers such as size, scope, and type of the event to direct the DAT response. Works with on-scene DAT leadership to support the response and provide technical guidance. Support and trains new Duty Officers.

Functional - 

Dispatch DAT members and monitor the response to ensure appropriate resources are made available.  Activate Disaster Health Services, Disaster Mental Health, and Disaster Spiritual Care, Public Affairs when requested. Documents incoming disaster notification and creates & verifies events in RC View, when applicable. Where appropriate, maintains access to and ability to use the Client Assistance System (CAS) to enter case data and load Client Assistance Cards (CACs). May be required to monitor activity across multiple DAT responses. Notify Chapter and Regional staff of significant events, and contribute to an Initial Incident Report, when appropriate. Attends monthly DAT meetings.

Time Commitment: At least one 12 hour on-call shift per week. Coverage of the night shift (6p-6a) and weekend shifts are CRITICALLY needed. Initially several hours on online training will be required in order to understand the role and the services provided.

Training: Training will be a mix of online and on the job. Duty Officers will need to go on a handful fire calls on scene to understand that experience. Once training is complete, you will not need to go on scene - unless you want to.

Disaster Action Team Member

Assist Red Cross in delivering mission by alleviating human suffering caused by disasters. Primary responses include single family and multi family fires.

Key Responsibilities

Provide timely response to disaster and assist those affected Respond to disaster scenes as assigned by Team Leader within two hours Meet the needs of those affected by disaster such as the need for shelter and food by providing Red Cross services Complete forms related to service Provide referrals to other agencies Communicate to Team Leader about availability and readiness on a regular basis Qualifications Demonstrated commitment to the mission of the American Red Cross Be able to follow chapter guidance and current Red Cross disaster guidance Time Commitment Choose your availability on an availability and rotation schedule A typical fire response lasts 3-4 hours depending on travel 

 

To join the Red Cross, follow this link: https://volunteerconnection.redcross.org/?nd=lead&a=761&h=172&p=122023 

The role of you - the Sheltering Volunteer - is to serve as a member of a temporary work unit on a disaster relief operation to successfully complete their assigned areas of responsibility on a disaster relief operation. They ensure safe sheltering at a single shelter throughout the cycle of the disaster.

Key Responsibilities:

Serve as a shelter worker on a disaster relief operation. Roles may include working in reception, registration, feeding, dormitory, information, or other areas within a shelter. Meeting disaster-caused sheltering needs of individuals, families, and communities. Providing services with kindness and compassion that are accessible and equitable to all clients. Maintaining clear communication and collaboration with supervisor and peers. Ensuring accuracy in all assigned tasks. Providing accurate reporting of sheltering activity as assigned.