Continued partnership development and activities including: 

These partnerships continue to allow us to build capacity by adding to our trained staff, additional material resources, policy and procedural guidance, and expanded mutual aid.

We have responded to the needs of disaster victims throughout the country, Iowa, Indiana, Tennessee, Louisiana, Texas, Florida, etc. To date we have processed over 25 deployments!  Awesome!  Currently our folks who are deployed are: Phil & Dene Shaver, Torrey Harris, Jose Reguiro, Mary Harris, Linda Baird, Frank Lembo, and Joe Lowery! Thanks to all of you and your families for your willingness to help!!
 
I was recently deployed to Mariposa for the Telegraph fire as the Operations Director. There were many challenges due to limited communications capabilities, lack of technology and forms, and most of the staff had very limited training. It was a great experience overall though and helped me to identify and address some challenges that we could potentially face here. It also gave me an even greater appreciation for our chapter and the organization and expertise we have through the hard work you have all put in. Truly, thank you.

We have a few staff updates to share:
Torrey Harris has graciously agreed to take the role as Health Services Lead! She and Larry Roberts will be working closely together to build capacity in this area by expanding the training program and developing and implementing strategic recruiting strategies as soon as she returns from Louisiana.

 

Larry Roberts is a DAT Captain the Health Services contact for Riverside office DAT
Bev Bakeman has graciously covered Health Services for the past month and will continue as the Health Services contact for the Temecula office DAT members
Kathy Diederich and Kathy Hudgins continue as Health Services contacts for the Coachella Valley DAT members.
 
Debbie Martin and her Mass Care team are still going strong! They are adding new shelter agreements and facility surveys regularly, developing partnerships to support feeding plans, etc.!
 
Our client caseworkers, Jackie Hill, Nancy Hatzidakis, and Ellen Hughes are top notch as always! Daphne Berlin, Lynda Shoemaker, and Mary Blanchard have all been wonderful to ensure coverage as our caseworkers are on vacation or deployed
 
Our Disaster Services Technology lead, Clint Dague and his team are really pulling together a great program. More to come from them soon!
 
Chuck McLoon will return next week as the Coachella Valley Area Duty Officer.
 
John Williams will be joining Paul Bakeman, Steve Koontz, Eric Letzgus, and Joe Lowery on the Partner Services, Government Liaison team!!
 
Thanks to each of you! The Riverside County Chapter continues to rock thanks to our whole team of volunteers and staff.

We now have 4 satellite phones that will be positioned throughout the county to insure communications in some of our more rural areas and for any event that disrupts normal phone services.
 
We participated in disaster exercises with the Morongo Tribe and the County of Riverside in preparation for the upcoming Golden Guardian statewide exercise.  Planning for Golden Guardian participation is still ongoing.
 
We continue to participate in the County Care & Shelter Task Force to facilitate coordinated disaster response activities throughout the county and the cities and special districts within. 
 
As always, in order to meet the demands for training we will need many more instructors!  Please check www.arcdro.info for Disaster Instructor Specialty Training (DIST) classes if you are interested in joining the Training teams!

 

Strategic planning for major and catastrophic events is continuing and we are making exciting progress in capacity building as indicated above. 
 
Currently I have been working on a regional response plan for CA that outlines ways for chapters to work together to maximize resources and response capabilities for times like now when we are sending so many people out to the hurricane relief operations.  I'll be attaching the talking points that outline what we have done.  This has been a great opportunity to work closely with other chapters and Red Cross leadership. The plans have been well received by our government partners at all levels and other partners as well.  The basic concept is that chapters throughout the area are designated for a role in a regional service delivery plan, some are prepared to open shelters, some to staff a local assistance center,  some to process and train spontaneous volunteers, some to support with material resources, etc. 
 
The volunteer appreciation event in Moreno Valley and the "Red Cross night at the Storm" were a blast! Thanks to all of you who were able to participate and for those who weren't able, I hope to see you at the next event! Kudo's to Pam, Lois, and Markettia for coordinating this and to all staff for your help and support to make this a success!

Our DAT members are amazing as always!  We have responded to multi-family fires, flash-floods, single family fires, in addition to the national requests for assistance!
Our YTD numbers are:
 
                   
OFFICE                     INCIDENTS            CASES                  ADULTS              CHILDREN
         
COACHELLA                   7                          13                            19                        8
         
         
RIVERSIDE                     7                          18                            37                      18
         
         
TEMECULA                     9                          10                            23                       6
          
         
CHAPTER                      23                          41                            79                      32