Ready for the big one?
Presbyterians are beginning to develop a new culture of disaster preparedness
By Evan Silverstein
 When Patricia Gleich was a high school student at the height of the Cold War, she was the only teenager in small-town Lancaster, Ky., whose home included a fallout shelter. The concrete, underground bunker, designed to protect the Gleichs from radioactive fallout from a nuclear explosion, stayed stocked with food, water and first aid supplies.
Fortunately, decades of tension between the United States and the Soviet Union never escalated to apocalyptic proportions, and the shelter was not put to its ultimate use. And that was fine with Gleich’s father, Pete, who as the county’s civil defense director practiced a philosophy of constant preparedness.
“The fallout shelter was part of his basic mode of operating, which was, ‘You prepare. You try to survive scary events by getting ready for them,’” says Gleich, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s associate for National Health Ministries.
Today, with natural disasters constantly in the news—and with dire predictions of a deadly global flu pandemic — her father’s standard for readiness remains important.
Such a culture of preparedness is starting to emerge throughout the denomination. Congregations are adopting procedures and protocols — often first drafted by the presbyteries — for serving church members and their communities in times of crisis. Also, Presbyterian overseas mission personnel are being trained on how to respond to widespread disasters.
Faith-based organizations are essential in preparing for disaster response and in protecting the public’s health and spiritual well being, says Kristine Holmes, faith community (parish) nurse for First Presbyterian Church of Howard County in Columbia, Md.
“Where’s the first place people turn when there’s a major crisis?” Holmes asks. “After 9/11, the people went to their congregations. That is where they found support. That is where they turned to look for hope.”
To prepare for community-rending disasters, a number of presbyteries have drawn up plans for everything from evacuation procedures to delivering basic needs to the most at-risk members. Churches are also looking at steps for keeping vital ministries — such as feeding programs and homeless shelters — operating during an emergency. Some are educating members about disaster preparedness, even for responding to possible threats like a global outbreak of avian influenza or “bird flu.”
Photo © istockphoto.com/Jurgar.In Baltimore Presbytery former emergency room nurse Holmes refers to the biblical story of Noah — “the first disaster emergency preparedness person” — while discussing the threat of a deadly flu outbreak that health officials fear could sweep across the globe like the rising waters of the Great Flood.
Influenza pandemics occur when a new flu virus emerges among humans and spreads quickly. Because the virus is new to humans, people have little or no immunity to it. The current concern is that a strain of avian flu, which primarily affects domestic and wild birds, will reach pandemic proportions, killing 40 to 60 percent of the people it infects. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that a severe pandemic could affect 90 million people and cause nearly 2 million deaths in this country.
With influenza pandemics occurring three times in the past century — 1918, 1957 and 1968 — leading public health experts agree that the question is when rather than if the next one will hit.
Holmes says now is the time to plan. The most important step a church can take to get ready is to consider how it would keep functioning in the event of a deadly outbreak, during which many routine activities — such as going to work, shopping, to church and other social gatherings — would be disrupted.
“The first thing is to identify the flow of leadership,” she says. “We have people [at First Church] who are pretty well cross-trained in knowing how to run the day-to-day kinds of things.”
She also suggests engaging the “creativity and resourcefulness” of the congregation and working with the local health department to learn its plans and procedures for responding to a pandemic. Well-meaning volunteers need to be aware of the risks the flu poses for them and those they serve.
Identifying which congregation members are most at risk — to bird flu or any disaster — is important, says Gleich. This includes those who have a medical condition that requires ongoing treatment or are older and frail, and often living alone.
“This identification process, along with collecting emergency contact information, names of physicians, pharmacies, etc, is really important,” she says. “Congregations are uniquely poised to provide a communication and safety net. Among older adults, the affiliation with a congregation is often the strongest and longest-lasting social network.”
An Associated Press story published in May highlights one of the key ethical issues involved in responding to a pandemic. The story reports that a high-level task force of physicians has developed guidelines for U.S. hospitals on which patients would not be treated in the case of a flu pandemic or other widespread disaster. Among those excluded would be people older than 85, those with severe dementia and those suffering from severe trauma or chronic disease.
Since Presbyterians are older than the general population, many members would not receive health care if this kind of rationing approach were implemented, Gleich says.
Others say this approach would disproportionately affect the poorest, most disadvantaged people, those who already fall through the cracks of the nation’s health care system. The report underscores the need for churches, with ministries among society’s most vulnerable citizens, to be preparing to confront these issues.
After 2004’s Hurricane Charlie tore a trail of destruction across southwest Florida, the state’s six presbyteries formed the Florida Presbyterian Disaster Assistance Network (FLAPDAN). The network focuses on strengthening disaster preparedness, response, recovery and rebuilding efforts, and equipping Presbyterians statewide to better serve their communities.
Photo © istockphoto.com/Michael Utech.In times of disaster the network would serve as a communication link between the presbyteries, the Synod of the South Atlantic and Presbyterian Disaster Assistance. It would address common issues of long-term recovery, advocate for specific needs in affected presbyteries, identify and develop resources, and support training for disaster preparedness and response for presbyteries and their congregations. FLAPDAN also shares vital information with other relief groups and interfaith agencies around the state.
“The Baptists come in with the chainsaws. They have that great chainsaw ministry,” says network coordinator Kathy Broyard. “Some people have case managers that are trained [in disaster response] and others are very good at the rebuilding, the actual construction, that kind of thing.”
Catholic Charities of Central Florida sports an emergency mobile communications vehicle. The self-contained, generator-powered trailer is capable of providing Internet and telephone communications via satellite link and can be transported to a disaster site to serve as an incident command center.
Each of the six Florida presbyteries has also developed its own response plan, says Broyard. “Some have more extensive plans than others, and it’s really cool because everyone shares information.”
Peace River Presbytery’s plan includes step-by-step preparations for churches, the presbytery office and members in their homes. Churches are advised to place sensitive papers inside a waterproof container stored above flood level, and to back up important computer records regularly. Many disaster relief officials recommend using a secure, Web-based database for storing copies of documents that can be retrieved from any computer via the Internet.
Some Florida churches are mapping out members’ homes using a special computer program. They then can use a global positioning system to direct care teams to the homes, which might be hard to locate in the aftermath of a devastating storm.
Being prepared has also become more important to residents along the Gulf Coast who suffered when hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit there in 2005. A well-rounded response plan is crucial in caring for church members, says Jean Marie Peacock, associate presbyter pro-tem for congregational development and disaster recovery for South Louisiana Presbytery, which includes the New Orleans area.
“If you don’t plan, then you don’t have a way to communicate with each other after the disaster,” says Peacock, a former PC(USA) General Assembly vice moderator. “During Katrina churches were not prepared in even knowing emergency contact information of where members of the congregation might go, and how to reach them when they were evacuated.”
She says a solid emergency plan can do the thinking for members when a speedy departure is critical.
“When the event is upon you, it’s hard to think clearly about what you should be doing,” Peacock says. “If you thought it through in advance and have things prepared and ready — if you have an emergency kit that you can take with you — then at the last minute, when you’re trying to think of everything you need to gather, you’re not doing it in a rush when it’s easy to forget things.”
Preparation is the key.
Evan Silverstein is a reporter for the Presbyterian News Service. |
