“The effectiveness of any Operational Area during an Incident or local Disaster is directly related to knowing your available resources and how to deploy them”.
“Volunteers” are the greatest single resource available, and the one resource sometimes misused, misunderstood, and improperly managed and valued. This article is intended to shed light on volunteerism and hopefully encourage greater appreciation and participation in our communities.
Without our volunteers, in many cases we would have to close offices or substations, reduce office hours, and not provide certain services that sometimes do not seem important, but are very important to the inner workings of any business. It”s a simple fact, “Without volunteers today, a lot of public agencies and private companies would come to a screeching halt. We must encourage and value those who dedicate themselves to serve others, for free”.
You may have said, or heard someone say; “What can I do to help, what can I do now that I”m this old or that old”? Everyone can help, somewhere. Sometimes you need to just volunteer at different places, organizations, and businesses in order to see if you”ve found your “niche” your place, your forte. Schools need volunteers, Law Enforcement needs volunteers, Churches need volunteers, Fire Departments need volunteers, and your community needs volunteer
Who and what is DART? A local resource, seldom seen, seldom used but, not for long.
The Lake County Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) Program educates people about disaster preparedness for all hazards that may impact our communities and entire operational area and trains them in basic disaster response skills, fire safety, light search and rescue, team organization, and disaster medical related operations. DART members are trained to assist others following an incident, disaster or event when professional responders are not immediately available to help. DART members are encouraged to support all Lake County local, tribal and community emergency response agencies by taking a more active role in emergency preparedness projects and/or presentations in their communities as directed, requested and authorized by and through their Coordinator and Team Leaders. DART members are an established local, state and federally recognized resource registered with Citizen Corps at www.citizencorps.gov . All this and it doesn”t cost the taxpayer a dime.
Lake County has other interesting and exciting volunteer programs available that hopefully will be featured in future issues. If, you are interested in a local volunteer organization or program, have information about one and/or are interested in becoming a DART Member, please feel free to contact me at 262-4090 for details. Don”t forget to look for our other articles about “Volunteers” in the near future and find out where you fit it!
Christopher Rivera is a sergeant with the Lake County Sheriff”s Office. He heads the LCSO”s Office of Emergency Services, http://lakesheriff.com/oes/oes.asp.
