[BARC-List] [Fwd: [Fwd: [satlist] From Pioneer Press - Chicago Area {01}]]

[Michael Ardai]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: 	[satlist] From Pioneer Press - Chicago Area {01}
Date: 	Wed, 14 Sep 2005 22:47:13 EDT
From: 	WW9E at aol.com
Reply-To: 	WW9E at aol.com
To: 	satlist List Member <ka1tuz at rcn.com>



Local disaster center fields calls for help

BY PATRICK CORCORAN
STAFF WRITER

Calls from concerned relatives and neighbors started pouring in at 8
a.m. Aug. 29, and they haven't stopped.

More than 2,000 calls in just three days rang at Elk Grove Village's
Salvation Army Emergency Disaster Center immediately following Hurricane
Katrina's destructive march.

The center's phone number, 1-800-SALARMY (725-2769) has become an
important link between disaster survivors in Louisiana, Mississippi,
Alabama, Florida and their loved ones across the country.

Terry Tribble, a Salvation Army employee, said she's heard more tragic
stories than she can count working the phone banks. And the calls
provide a troubling snapshot of everyday life for people in the disaster
zone.

"They vary from people who refused to evacuate, people with medical
conditions and people who are just hysterical because they are looking
for relatives," Tribble said. "In some cases, family members left, and
one would stay behind and now that person is missing."

The dozen Salvation Army employees and volunteers -- including her
husband, Ronald -- compile the name, probable location and contact
information of victims and the name and phone number of the inquirers.
That information is posted on the Internet and will be distributed at
shelters, hospitals and population centers.

Tribble said this effort is unprecedented, even though the communication
burden is shared among other relief organizations such as the Red Cross
and Catholic Charities.

"We've never been involved in something like this. We've been completely
inundated," she said. "It's fair to say nothing compares -- so many
people are missing or dying."

Ronald Tribble said some conversations are chilling.

"One woman could see her relatives on the roof of their home on
television and wanted to know why they weren't being picked up," he
said. "In another instance, a man and his mother, neither owned a car,
swam from uptown in New Orleans to where there used to be a bridge and
then swam across the Mississippi River. When they called, they had made
it to a town called Algiers, but they were stuck, and the water was
getting higher. They wanted to know what they should do."

So what can the Salvation Army offer?

The knowledge that their missing loved ones will be sought out among the
storm victims, as well as hope and prayers, Ronald Tribble said.

"In a lot of cases, people call rather than file an application on the
Internet because they want to talk to someone. The way I can help is by
praying with the person on the phone so they can find peace in
themselves. I want them to be in agreement with me that their loved ones
will be found. I don't speak in the past tense, but in the present," he
said.

While she awaited a helicopter rescue, Jackie Walker, a 64-year-old New
Orleans resident, spoke several times with army volunteers over her cell
phone.

"It was a relief to be able to call someone. I've got two dogs here with
me and I'm still very worried about my friends. This was a last resort
for me during a horrible experience," Walker said in a phone interview.

In several cases, volunteers from the Salvation Army Team Emergency
Radio Network, were able to provide callers with immediate, tangible
support and information.

With conventional communication channels clogged or out of service,
volunteer amateur radio operators like Bill Davidson and Ken Panczyk are
among a few hobbyists who, from a remote location, help direct rescue
operations as needed in the disaster area.

The network -- which was created by Salvation Army Maj. Pat McPherson in
1988 -- is the only one of its kind in the nation.

On Aug. 31, phone bank volunteers responded to a call from Gary
Grimshaw, a Metairie, La., man who was stuck in the floodwaters.
Davidson sent Grimshaw's cell phone number and location to a radio
operator in the southeast who passed the victim's location to the U.S.
Coast Guard.

An operator in Portland, Ore., assisted a group of 15 people trapped on
the roof of a building in downtown New Orleans by bouncing the
information to the Coast Guard.

Davidson, a retired respiratory therapist, said the role of the roughly
2,800 national network members is only beginning.

To volunteer for the Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Network or the
Salvation Army, call the organization's Chicago offices at (773) 725-1100.

Staff writer Patrick Corcoran can be reached at
pcorcoran at pioneerlocal.com <mailto:pcorcoran at pioneerlocal.com>.