Wednesday, September 3, 2008
By Thomas Caywood TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
WORCESTER—
Although Hurricane Gustav weakened before making landfall, the storm
damaged many homes, and more local volunteers are preparing to go to
the Gulf Coast to help with the relief effort, officials said.
Roughly 40 volunteers from Worcester’s and Boston’s Medical
Response Corps teams, which aren’t typically affiliated with the Red
Cross, were scheduled to be trained today in the city so they can
deploy to the hardest-hit areas as members of the Red Cross Disaster
Human Resource Team, said Nicole Valentine of the American Red Cross of
Central Massachusetts.
The volunteers will be available to deploy to the disaster area
within 48 hours of completing the seven-hour training course today at
the Worcester Senior Center, she said. They could pitch in to help run
shelters and feed residents whose homes were seriously damaged in the
storm, she said.
Worcester’s Regional Medical Reserve Corps is paid for by the state
Department of Public Health and operated by the city’s health
department. The volunteer members include doctors, nurses, EMTs,
pharmacists as well as other medical professionals and other volunteers
with no medical training.
The team is designed to respond on short notice to disasters in central Massachusetts.
Four Red Cross volunteers from central Massachusetts traveled to the Gulf Coast before the hurricane came ashore Monday.
Meanwhile, the state National Guard stood down yesterday afternoon
from plans to deploy nearly 800 soldiers and airmen to Louisiana. A
number of medical, logistics and security units — including an infantry
regiment with units based in the city and region — had been put on
alert to travel to the area on short notice. The alert was lifted
yesterday afternoon after national military officials determined no
additional forces were needed in the Gulf Coast, Guard officials said.