CLEARLAKE — A federally chartered and 120-year-old nonprofit agency, the American Red Cross, is now under both national and local scrutiny.
The American Red Cross was fined $4.2 million Sept. 8 by the Food and Drug Administration for violations which included failing to reject blood donors who had traveled to malarial areas and for allowing blood to be distributed without proper testing, according to Margaret Glavin, FDA”s associate commissioner for regulatory affairs. The penalty is the largest blood-related fine levied by the FDA.
Following on the heels of Congressional hearings on the Red Cross” incompetence in a major disaster, last Dec. 14 the Homeland Security Committee issued a scathing report asking to take another look at the congressional charter of the Red Cross to see if the functions that are expected of it are beyond anyone”s realistic means of doing.
As recently reported in the Record-Bee, the Lake County Red Cross chapter lost its charter since the time Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast a little over a year ago.
According to both Executive Director of Yolo County Red Cross Donna Neu and Pat Hofmaster, service area executive for the American Red Cross Pacific Service Area (which oversees the 43 chapters in California and the Pacific Islands), the Lake County Red Cross lost its charter not due to a general downsizing of smaller chapters, but because the chapter “could not sustain the capacity to meet the American Red Cross chapter performance standards, including the capacity to raise the money necessary to meet the chapter”s self-determined budget.”
Neu said that Yolo County Chapter and its board were asked to be the custodians of the Lake County chapter and that this structure was deemed the most effective way to continue service to the territory at this time.
Richard Walden, president and CEO of Operation USA, a Los Angeles-based nongovernmental organization specializing in disaster relief as well as international health and economic development projects, warns that Lake County could be at risk by not having a local Red Cross chapter with a charter or a current contract with the Red Cross in place.
In regard to a possible countywide disaster, Walden said, “It certainly rings an alarm bell so that any local Lake County citizen has to wonder what might happen after the police, fire and ambulance have left. Using a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in larger counties means that emergency services personnel can call upon the local Red Cross to care for disaster-affected people. The Red Cross will say it can only give what its volunteers can provide nothing more but MOUs really delineate more responsibility than that.”
County Administrator Kelly Cox said the county has an MOU with the former chapter of the Red Cross to provide emergency housing services in the event of an emergency. Cox said Social Services Director Carol Huchingson administers this MOU for the county and is aware that the MOU needs to be amended in light of the local chapter recently losing its charter.
Walden said that in Los Angeles they are currently trying to get community health clinics and the county to sign MOUs so that in the event of another Northridge quake the clinics” work in triaging patients or providing direct care as a result of the quake will qualify for reimbursement from local, state and federal agencies.
In an e-mail sent to the Record-Bee on Sept. 14, Walden wrote, “If I were in Lake County, I would urge my state assembly and/or senate rep to have a State Office of Emergency Services staff person visit the county offices and work out something in case a huge disaster strikes … and I”d do it right away.”
County Office of Emergency Services Coordinator Sgt. Chris Rivera said, “Even though we don”t have anything in place I”m certain the county is working on one … As far as the Red Cross is concerned they are still going to provide services whether or not there is an MOU in place.”
When help
doesn”t come
Two local, recent occurrences highlight the Yolo County Red Cross lack of response and preparedness in Lake County: a displaced pedestrian whose home had burned hours earlier died in a vehicle accident while waiting for the Red Cross to respond; and a Lucerne family whose home caught on fire that received mixed messages regarding who to contact or how to contact the Yolo County Red Cross.
In Clearlake on Aug. 11, Fred Bospiech, 75, was struck by a vehicle and died while waiting for the Red Cross to respond and provide him with lodging. Earlier that day Bospiech was waiting in the lobby of the Best Western El Grande Inn on Lakeshore Drive, and was unaware that the help he thought was on the way from the Red Cross was not coming.
El Grande Inn receptionist Deana Tracy said that Bospiech came up to the front desk that afternoon and said his house had burned down and that the fire department had directed him to call the Red Cross. Tracy said Bospiech was visibly upset and told her he didn”t know how to contact the Red Cross, so she personally helped him do so.
“He had come in looking for a room and we called the Red Cross for him seven times. They give you a pager number,” she said.
Bospiech, Tracy said, waited at the hotel for almost an hour and a half prior to going across the street to The Caravan bar. Tracy said Bospiech returned again shortly and asked if she had received a response yet from the Red Cross. She informed him she had not.
“We were trying to figure out what to do myself and the bartender were going to give him a room even if we had to pay for it out of our own pocket because we knew that sooner of later we would hear back from Red Cross,” said Tracy. “He had nowhere to stay.”
Lake County Fire Protection (LCFPD) District Chief Jim McMurray confirmed they had requested the Red Cross respond to Bospiech”s case.
Said Battalion Chief Willie Sapeta, “We did request the Red Cross to come. The request went in from me to Central Dispatch and we did notify the Red Cross of a displaced individual.”
Lake County Sheriff”s Deputy Chief Russell Perdock confirmed the dispatch log indicates LCFPD attempted to contact the Red Cross, but was only able to leave a message at 6:20 p.m. The log did not indicate exactly which number was called, said Perdock.
Bospiech was fatally struck by a vehicle on Lakeshore Drive at approximately 8:25 p.m., according to Captain Ron Larson of the Clearlake Police Department.
“None of the volunteers received any communication,” said Diana Gustafson, emergency services director for Red Cross of Yolo County. Gustafson explained that their chapter had been in the process of switching from the pager system they had for many years to cell phones because “the pages don”t always go through.”
Gustafson would not release the information as to when the Lake County Red Cross made the switch from the paging system to the use of the new cell phones.
Roger Doncaster, director of disaster services for the Red Cross, who coordinates the disaster response, training and volunteers for Sonoma and Mendocino counties, explained that the new 800 number for the Red Cross goes into a call center located in San Diego.
“If a client phoned San Diego from Lake County then San Diego would take the information and then pass it on to the Red Cross responders that volunteer in Lake County,” Doncaster explained.
When notified that on two separate occasions local Red Cross office staff did not know their own emergency phone number, Gustafson sent an e-mail to the Record-Bee on Aug. 25 which said, “I understand your concern, but I want to let you know that this is not something that should worry you, as my volunteers receive the call from San Diego, not the other way around.”
Fabrizio Casini, manager of the Red Cross dispatch center in San Diego, said that the charterless Lake County chapter was recently added to the account of the Yolo County chapter. Before this, Casini said, “Apparently there was an old pager number they would call. I know if someone calls the 800 number it will work.
Regarding documented calls to the new 800 number from Lake County, Casini said, “There is nothing for the last month from Aug. 1 through Sept. 1.”
In another e-mail sent to the Record-Bee last Sept. 12 Gustafson said, “This is our final statement regarding this issue. Our after hours say they did not receive a call for assistance, our volunteers say they did not receive a call requesting assistance. Consequentially our volunteers cannot respond if they are not aware of the disaster. The Red Cross in Lake County has always had disaster response volunteers whether it be through pagers, or now through cell phones. That is all we have to comment on this matter.”
In Friday”s edition of the Lake County Record-Bee, a Lucerne family tries to get help after their home burns; and the Red Cross discusses after-hour contact protocol.
Contact Cynthia Davis at cdavis@record-bee.com.
