Volunteer Event Part III

Part I, Part II

Before we left, they asked for 20 volunteers, from the 40 or so pool of volunteers to be a worker, as opposed to a patient... Now.. I had been a part of a triage exercise while in the Air Force, some years ago, and they had us laying down on the ground in the woods, getting eaten alive by whatever critter might happen by, in most cases, it was chiggers... ugh.. it was horrible... so, I quickly imagined myself, laying down on the ground, the wet ground, since it had been raining, and in my shorts, and God knows what crawling up and around.. my hand went up pretty quick.... we were told we would be helping with registration... now, that sounded like a winner to me...

We finally arrive.. the first location we arrived at was some middle school.. there were several people milling about outside, none looked as tho they knew what was going on... we were told, somewhat reluctantly, to file into the school, and into the cafeteria... we were looking for a person in a orange neon safety vest.. as those were the people that knew what was going on.. we couldn't find one... we settle for a person in a blue mesh vest, with a cardboard placard attached to the back that read, Educator. Hmmm... She proceeded to gather up us 'workers', and leaving our 20 or so brethren behind, filed back outside, back on to the bus, and off to the second location.. which was only about 5 minutes away...

Once we got there, we had to fill out a couple forms.. one being permission for the media to take our pictures and put us on tv, and another to show we would be available, if possible, if this bioterrorism thing really did happen.. We would be receiving on the job training this day... this seemed like a huge responsibility for folks like me, and laying down on the wet ground, in the woods, was starting to sound like a better deal....

So, once we get our paperwork filled out, signed, and turned in.. we then sign a sign up sheet, saying who we are, and what time we got there... then off to another table to make our own name badges... then into the briefing room, and ah ha!!! here is the free food and beverages they promised.... a cup of coffee and some coffe cake was all I needed... they started to split us up into various different groups..

1) Educator
2) Exit Educator
3) Floater
4) some other one, I forget...

I ended up being an Educator, but, not just any Educator, a special Educator...

The Educator job was basically a greeter... the patient comes into the complex, you hand them their forms, find out how many in their family, and give a form for each family member, and breifly explain how each form is filled out...

The Exit Educator checked the form for completeness and HOW it was filled out, and based on the patients answers, sent them thru a YES line, or a NO line.

The Floater was basically a relief person, going whereever was needed...

Ok. There was no laying down on the wet ground, in the woods, for anyone... here is how it went down...and then I will tell you about my special position...

The used the High School/Civic Center as the main clinic... all affected families ( volunteers ) would congregate at their area high school, middle school, or church, and then be bussed to where we were... we had the nurses, the doctors, the police, etc.... once here, they would file off the bus, and for thier first go around, would have to go to the gym, register as a patient volunteer ( same thing we did as workers ), get thier T- Shirt.., then proceed to the auditorium in the CiViC Center.. to get thier orientation...The orientation how some chemical weapon, launched by some mean ol country went off near by and it would cause.. problems with the lungs... explained how there is an antidote and you just have to answer a couple questions, stand in line, and take your medication ( or not!!! )

Then they start into the main arena of the Civic Center, which looked to me as tho it is mainly used for rodeos... they had taken prolly all the cattle pens, which if your familiar with rodeos and ranches and stuff, they are modular... anyway.. they made this zig-zag maze line thing, of the likes you would find at a major theme park..... before that tho, the patients must stop at a table set up with forms and the Educators of the forms... get thier forms, clipboards, and a pen, and start the the cow pen maze.. filling out the form as they went.. once they got to the end, where the Exit Educators were.. they would then eithre go thru the Yes line, or the No line....

The form asked three questions...

1) Are you experiencing any problems breathing
2) Are you pregnant or in labor
3) Have you or have you ever had, asthma, ( and a bunch of other lung related thingies )

If all three answers are no, you go thru the No line.. if any ONE(1) of them is yes, then, you guessed it, its thru the YES line...

In addition, if you answer YES, there is a follow up question..

4)Do you wish to consult with a doctor before taking the medication

So, if your in the NO line.. your gonna take the medication whether you like it or not....but, if your in the YES line, you can opt to consult with a doctor and possibly take an alternative, or nothing at all.

Their were 700 patients... plus or minus a couple hundred or so, at any given time... they kept cycling them thru the process as if a town of 10's of thousands of people existed.. yes, they all went thru about 10 times....

Now for me and my special position, and I am sure by now you are prolly already wondering....

" What do they do about the people in wheelchairs, or the elderly, or the blind, or very pregnant ladies, or people who just had surgery? "

I, along with a somewhat attractive young lady.. only 2 of us.. just 2.. this is important for a lil latre in the story, there were just 2 of us....our job -- wait for it...

Special Educator for People with Special Needs.... we basically let you skip the cattle drive maze and head to the front of the line... we do the same thing with the forms, but also help with strollers, wheelchairs, whatever the case.... and there were two(2) of us... every other station had 6 or more worker volunteers.. we had 2. TWO.

Next installment will talk about the following along with why the number 2 is important to this story:

talk about different people encountered.. the kids.. the old folks. the assholes
lunch
t-shirt
sulpher springs
finally leaving
grabbing more lunch sacks
sleeping on bus
paying to much for cola at conv. store
being late to work