[ARRL-OK] Convergent Volunteers

[Lloyd Colston]

> I recognize the value of emergency preparedness training
> during the calm times between emergencies.  I recognize the
> value of a well-coordinated group who have a well-rehearsed
> response they're ready to provide at a moment's notice.  I
> applaud those who devote themselves to making that sort of
> thing a part of the amateur radio hobby/service.  However, I
> reject the notion that only those who belong to groups which
> focus on emergency preparedness are doing their part to help
> keep the amateur radio hobby/service ready to be useful in
> emergencies.

Jim, 

While I applaud your efforts with the Red Cross in May, your
thoughts speak volumes and makes some assumptions.

1) Convergent volunteers are no longer the rule in disasters. 
The only convergent volunteer on the plate any more is the
Community Emergency Response Team.  The disaster preparedness
folks learned too late on Twin Towers Day that convergent
volunteers were a liability, rather than an asset, when scores
of off-duty firefighters converged on the World Trade Center to
pay the ultimate sacrifice.  

2)  Your experience with Red Cross is because Red Cross has
their own rules and guidelines.  When they ask for volunteers,
you certainly have the right to step up to that plate.  Anything
you do brings glory or shame to them.  With lawyers waiting in
the wings to bring shame to everyone, I can't afford convergent
volunteers.  

3)  Speaking of liability, were you a volunteer with Mayes
County Emergency Management assigned to your Red Cross post and
had been injured, would Red Cross insurance have paid for your
medical care?  Mayes County covers all their volunteers, hams
and non-hams alike, because it's the right thing to do.  I can't
insure convergent volunteers.  That's just one more reason for
registering before hand.

3)  I am surely saddened to hear that an "ARES-sponsored net"
turned you down.  There are too many hams, I am sure, just like
you.  Move to Mayes County and apply
(http://lloyd.colston.com/application.htm).  After the
background check, we'll plug you in somewhere, unless, of
course, you are proven to be a terrorist.    :)

Having said that, it sounds like you have found a niche.  I know
that Red Cross needs capable volunteers.  I know a number of my
friends ... that I'd like to have in EM ... are too busy helping
Red Cross ... because they took the time to get the training
that Red Cross expects of its volunteers.  You opened to the
door.  I hope you walk through it.

4)  Your post assumes that I don't value those who "belong to
groups which focus on emergency preparedness".  That is an
incorrect assumption.  However, I build teams as I can build
teams.  If you don't want to help with EM, go enjoy DX, kit
building, scuba, anything that makes you happy.  I, myself, have
a life outside EM (most folks think otherwise though, though my
email alone would prove differently).  While I hope you would be
a part of the emergency communications programs such as the
Military Affilate Radio System, Amateur Radio Emergency
Services, or the Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Services, there
is no intent to disparage anyone for what they do or don't do,
until the issue of liability arises (and it won't arise from me,
unless I am damaged <G>).

5)  Personal issues do keep folks from being involved all the
time.  Boy, do I ever know that!  I am not expecting everyone to
be their county EM director.  There's only 77 of those in the
State <G> and I know quite a few of those slots are covered by
hams.  I know I would have a hard time pulling this job along,
if I did not have the support of my wife, my family, Jesus, and
friends who help me deal with all the other stuff life throws at
me.  I know I could have forgotten about serving at the Olympics
had my coworkers not pitched in to help me with my job while I
am gone.  Your folks expect to eat; so do my clients.   :)

6)  While others are able to serve in a variety of manners,
which is just another way of saying "Being a member of RACES,
ARES, etc. simply isn't the only valid way to support amateur
radio's emergency preparedness role", certainly as a Citizen you
expect some degree of preparedness by those you expect to serve
you.  For example, if you fell off the roof and broke your leg,
you'd call 911 expecting someone to answer the phone and
dispatch competent help to assist you.  Then when they show up,
you expect them to do no harm (at least that's what I taught my
medics).  How do you know if someone performs to standards? 
Training and credentials.  Therefore, when I call for ham radio
operators from Woodward to come to Pryor because I don't have
time to find the local guy to help the Red Cross, they will, I
am assured, be trained and credentialed.

7)  You assume there is time to build a team during a disaster. 
That is rarely the case.  I can cite more examples than not of
when that assumption failed.

I don't harp the amateur radio involvement in Emergency
Management because I am a ham.  I do it because it's right.  The
"marriage", if you will, has fallen on hard times over the
years.  EMs are told the hams don't want to play, don't see the
need to play, and when they come to play don't follow the rules.
 The hams are told the EMs don't want anything to do with them. 


I am here to prove both camps wrong.  I think I am making some
progress.  Please prove me right.

Let me know how more I can help.



Lloyd Colston    Mayes County Emergency Management
Pryor, OK  USA    http://www.geocities.com/mccem
   Vigilance is the keystone of preparedness