- A Red Cross volunteer from the greater Lehigh Valley just got back from assisting displaced people in Hawaii following devastating wildfires there
- Her job was to try and reconnect families
- The American Red Cross of Greater Pennsylvania still has a handful of volunteers in Hawaii assisting with relief efforts there
KUTZTOWN, Pa. — A local Red Cross volunteer who was deployed to Hawaii to aid with recovery from the devastating wildfires that ripped through Maui said residents there were grateful.
“People would stop us in the street and thank us for what we were doing," Susan West of Kutztown said. "That doesn't happen in every deployment, but it was very unique to Hawaii.”
West has been a volunteer with the Pennsylvania Rivers Chapter of the Red Cross, which includes the Lehigh Valley, since 2018. She has been deployed at least six times.
Nearly three weeks ago, wildfires ripped through Lahaina and killed at least 115 people.
The American Red Cross sent volunteers from across the country to the fire-ravaged island. The American Red Cross of Greater Pennsylvania deployed more than a dozen volunteers to Hawaii. West was among them.
Half still are there.
West said that over her two weeks there, her job was to try to connect families who were out of touch with one another.
"It was just a lot of difficult conversations with people who were searching."Lehigh Valley Red Cross volunteer Susan West of Kutztown
“There was a lot of combing through data, you know, so it wasn't all glamorous," she said. "But it was just a lot of difficult conversations with people who were searching."
Helping from across the country
West was not in the area of the actual fire damage, but on the outskirts, helping people find loved ones and shelter.
“That was the very first job that needed to be done there," she said. "People were looking for people.
“People don't realize there were virtual Red Cross workers taking calls, lots of calls, thousands of calls, from people in Maui or relatives of people in Maui, who had not heard from their loved ones and they were worried.”
She said those volunteers across the country were able to help the efforts in Hawaii without actually going there by connecting over the phone.
“One of the things we learned during COVID is that we don't have to send everyone to the disaster scene for them to be very effective in helping."Red Cross Pennsylvania Rivers Chapter Director Peter Brown
“One of the things we learned during COVID is that we don't have to send everyone to the disaster scene for them to be very effective in helping," Pennsylvania Rivers Chapter Executive Director Peter Brown said.
"So for example, over the weekend, we had a critical need in Hawaii for additional resources to reach out by phone to talk to families whose names we had, maybe they aren't in the shelter anymore or we need to do a follow up interview.”
Road to recovery not easy
West said many of the people in Hawaii have found stable temporary housing, but the road to recovery will not be easy.
"There's here's going to be a hangover effect for the people who live there and they're going to wake up and they're going to see their town is still destroyed," she said.
"And they're going to have to come up with a long-term plan for how they're going to live and make money."
"This was psychologically difficult. This was hard. Physically, I can handle all this stuff, but this was hard. "Lehigh Valley Red Cross volunteer Susan West of Kutztown
The people in Maui are not the only ones who need time to recover. West said this was one of the more difficult deployments she’s been on.
"I need to recover from this," she said. "This was psychologically difficult. This was hard. Physically, I can handle all this stuff, but this was hard. So, I need a little time to process."
Mental health recovery is a topic on which Brown said the Red Cross is increasing its training.
"One of the areas where we've really expanded our capacity and are looking to continue is in the area of disaster mental health, disaster health services and disaster spiritual care," he said.
"Focusing on the emotional toll that these types of events take on families, but then they also take on our volunteers who respond.”
Brown said Red Cross volunteers always are needed, whether it be for a two-week deployment or a day of service in a local town. He said the more volunteers it has, the more likely it is the Red Cross can continue to assist in disaster relief.
