Murrysville woman aids tornado victims
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Once a year, retired nurse Barbara Spier clears her schedule for two to three weeks and offers herself to the Red Cross for disaster deployment anywhere in the country.
She has tended to the health needs of ice storm victims in Buffalo, N.Y., flood victims along the Texas-Louisiana border and hurricane victims in South Texas.
Last Thursday, Mrs. Spier, 69, of Murrysville, added tornado victims to her list. About a month after the first of a series of devastating tornadoes ripped through Alabama, Mrs. Spier flew south to assist with the final stages of Red Cross disaster relief at local headquarters in Birmingham, Ala.
Upon arriving at headquarters last Thursday afternoon, Mrs. Spier wasted no time getting busy.
"They checked my credentials -- I showed them my nursing license, they checked what classes I had -- and then she put me to work immediately," she said. "I didn't even have my hotel."
Staying at a hotel, Mrs. Spier explained, is not a luxury she has always been afforded on past deployments.
"In this disaster I have one roommate," she said. "In the last disaster, when I was in Harlingen, Texas, I had 200 roommates. The staff was staying at a shelter, which was a school, and it was wall-to-wall cots with other workers."
Mrs. Spier's living arrangements aren't the only difference that she said has made this deployment her easiest to date. Instead of tending medically to victims in the field or at a shelter, she's working in an office, checking by phone that the needs of victims have been met and performing data entry. She's also working 10-hour days rather than the 12-or-more-hour shifts she's accustomed to putting in on national calls.
"Coming in at the end of the disaster is much easier, less stressful than when you go at the beginning of a disaster," Mrs. Spier said. "Now they're well organized, and the people that I call are calmer."
Mrs. Spier said she's been trying to put victims in touch with agencies that can help them meet their health needs. Many have been without their prescribed medications or medical devices for a month.
But it can be difficult to reach victims, she said, because many lost everything in the tornado and are without permanent access to phones. For that reason, Mrs. Spier sets aside three separate days to place calls. When she is successful in getting through, she said she has been met with relief.
First Published June 2, 2011 5:25 am
