Red Cross Deployment to San Antonio

On September 10, 2008 about 3:30 PM Wendy from the Topeka Red Cross called and wanted to know if I could deploy for Hurricane Ike. I said I could and she said she would be sending me some e-mails on the deployment. I was to travel to San Antonio, TX and so I called the number provided to arrange for airfare. I was to fly out the next morning at 10 AM but first had to stop by the Topeka Red Cross Chapter for a credit card and further instructions. I met Wendy there at 7:30 AM and then headed for the airport in Kansas City. I flew on Delta from Kansas City to Cincinnati, OH, and then to San Antonio arriving there about 3:30 PM.

Upon arrival I had a number to call for further instructions but it was talking about Dallas. So I made about ten phone calls before finally getting a rental car and heading to Kelly Field, USA which is by Lackland Air Force base. I made additional calls to try to determine where the Red Cross was located and finally found them. All Responders stayed in the same building which was a huge warehouse with 2,000 cots 2 feet apart. The building was equipped with huge coolers with four 18inch hoses coming off each cooler. In this building there was a least 16 coolers and the roar of these was something you never want to hear. They blew cold air over us and if that wasn’t enough there were large fans to blow some more and then exhaust fans to suck the hot air out. It felt good when you walked in from the 100 degree weather outside but night time sleeping would be another matter.

Shortly after I arrived the Salvation Army and Southern Baptists began serving us the evening meal. There were probably 400 for that meal. Those staying in this shelter consisted of Army National Guard, EMT’s, bus drivers, Police officers, Red Cross, Southern Baptists who were cooking the food and others. There were probably never more than 1,000 in this shelter. After I finished eating I went to the car and brought in items for an overnight stay. I picked out a spot without others around since there were not that many staying yet. This sleeting area was about the size of two football fields. I went to where they were giving out blankets and got one thin blanket. I went in the dining area and some were watching TV but IKE was not close to land yet. I decided to try and sleep. I was about 75 yards from the bathroom and I can never make it through the night without getting up a couple of times and it was a long trek to the bathroom. During the course of the night I added 3 more blankets and was still freezing. About 2:30 I had enough and went out to my rental car to sleep. Of course it was humid and hot out yet, but better than freezing. I slept some and woke when it grew light out.

I went in for breakfast and tried to find out what work I was to do but no one seemed to know. I did help serve the noon meal Friday and we were supposed to serve dinner but there was a last minute change and someone else was serving. I brought a book and read it Friday afternoon and Saturday morning. You get tired of watching the Weather Channel seeing the same thing. I walked around and took some pictures of all the ambulances, busses, and buildings. The building I was staying in was at least ¼ mile long as was the one where the evacuees were staying. I found out the busses were being paid $1,800 a day per bus to sit there and many never moved for 10 days. There were probably 400 busses there. There were portable showers and porta potties set up at each location.

By noon on Saturday I was very dejected wondering what I should do. At lunch I sat down by three Red Cross volunteers and must have looked forlorn as they started asking me questions about where I was working. Come to find out I needed to go to the Red Cross Chapter across town in San Antonio to process in. Dan & Jeannie Lutz from Michigan were very helpful to me and got me headed in the right direction. They took me across the street to where all the evacuees were coming in and where they were staying. I went down and processed in and was assigned to work in the mass feeding and reported back to Dan. He put me right to work in the drink area which is probably one of the most demanding with the amount of work and heavy lifting. We ice down water, soda, milk and juice. We had about 30 coolers, some of which were very large and heavy. They were bending over filling these coolers so one of the first changes I made was to get some tables in there to set the coolers on. It made it much easier on the backs. The first day we tired serving soda and water at the meals but with so many choices it slowed the line down too much. Sunday we decided to serve only water at meals and soda and water between meals. This worked much better except they complained about not having sodas. I suggested we serve water and one Diet soda at the next meal and that went over well. They do not like diet sodas but when that was the only choice they would drink it. We had several pallets of diet sodas.

By Monday the shelter was really filling up and we hit a peak of around 6,000 persons at this shelter. This was the largest of the shelters in San Antonio and when they closed down a shelter due to fewer people the remaining ones were sent to our shelter at Building 1536. We had people coming and going at all times day and night. We worked 12 hour shifts with mine being from 7AM to 7 PM. By Sunday night I was coming down with a bad cold and it would continue to worsen as the week went by.

Now you try to imagine you are an evacuee from Galveston and it is 1 AM and you are brought to this shelter with your four small children with only the clothes on your back. You have been on the bus for several hours and as you come in the building you are searched, checked with metal detectors and wrist banded. You give all your information for you and your children and go through a line for water and food, if we had any. Then you have to go back in this room that is dark and filled with 6,000 cots and probably has 5,000 people staying there and you find a place for your family. What trauma!

We fed three meals a day and the Food Bank of San Antonio brought the cooked food. We never knew what we might get or when it would arrive. Sometimes it might be two hours late and people were standing in line the whole time. We had 8 serving lines for food and 2 drink lines. As they came in they were required to use hand sanitizer to clean their hands. We would go through 2 pallets of drinks per meal and another pallet between meals. I was really a lot of work to keep this all iced down and to keep the lines moving. We had many local San Antonio volunteers helping us as well as the National Guard. I made friends with many nice caring people. Most of the time we had coffee and we also served that. We could not let anyone serve themselves for fear of spreading disease. We struggled to keep enough milk for children and had to hide it to keep adults from drinking it. We received orange juice a few times. We did receive a lot of good fruit, apples, bananas, grapes, oranges, peaches, plums and strawberries. Between meals they would serve snacks so I imagine some of these people will go away weighing more than when the came.

The majority of the evacuees were Hispanic and blacks with a few whites. In the later days, as some were given hotel rooms, the ones that remained were the poorer ones and many were probably homeless before Hurricane Ike. Many were disabled either mentally or physically. Some could fly off the handle with just a touch or a look.

By Wednesday I was not feeling well at all. I had a sore throat, cough, cold and diarrhea and was becoming worn out. Many others were also sick. I stayed away from the food serving and we had hand sanitizer and wash stations to clean our hands. Everyone had to wear gloves and either hairnets or a cap. By Thursday I was able to get into a hotel, a Holiday Inn Select near the airport. I had a room mate and he worked nights and also we went to 8 hour shifts instead of 12 hours.

By Saturday we were down to 1,200 remaining in the shelter. Dan & Jeannie took the day off and I was getting sicker. I had diarrhea Saturday and was taking Sunday off. By Sunday morning I was still sick so I went to the Red Cross Chapter to see if I could process out and go home. I seen the nurse and was given some medication and I called to make flight arrangements. It took about two hours to process out. On Sunday I had a Snickers bar for the entire day. I drank some water. I flew out about 2 PM on American Airlines through Dallas and arrived in Kansas City about 6 PM.

Monday morning I was in the doctors office by 8 AM and seen the nurse about 9 AM. I was given some antibiotics and some tests ran to make sure it was nothing serious. I am writing this Wednesday morning and am starting to feel a little better. I sure sleep a lot though.

It was a great experience and even though I did not get to see the hurricane damage I seen what it does to the victims. Being a volunteer is not for the faint of heart and you have to be prepared to rough it. I am not sure if I will go again but we will see how I feel about that the next time a disaster comes. The Red Cross is a great group to work with and I have a much better opinion of them after my experience in San Antonio.