When night falls at the D.C. Armory’s shelter for Hurricane Katrina evacuees, the Georgetown Emergency Response Medical Services team comes on duty.
Since Sept. 16, GERMS has been manning the night shift of the Red Cross First Aid Station at the Armory.
With the majority of its trained personnel serving victims in the disaster area, the Red Cross’s few staff members remaining in D.C. were forced to work overtime shifts to take care of the Armory evacuees, GERMS member Erin Barbato (CAS ‘06) said. GERMS stepped in to help fill the gap.
GERMS volunteered its services once the extent of Hurricane Katrina’s devastation became apparent, GERMS Director of Public Relations Becca Danis (SFS ‘06) said. The group joined a list of other D.C. area organizations eager to do their part in helping Katrina victims.
Several GERMS members had been planning to offer their services on site in the areas hit, but a three-week-stay requirement prevented the effort’s feasibility, Barbato said. When the D.C. Department of Health turned to GERMS for assistance in relieving the shelter’s strained Red Cross volunteers, the Georgetown students answered the call.
“We had been waiting to find out how to help,” Barbato said. “We had always been wanting to help.”
They received a notification on Sept. 15 requesting their aid. The next day, GERMS members, using a GU HERE van for transportation, visited the shelter to establish contacts and organize their participation.
That evening, a small group of GERMS members stepped in for the United Healthcare of D.C. physicians and nurses who staff the First Aid Station by day to continue addressing the medical needs of Katrina evacuees.
Barbato explained that running a First Aid station is standard procedure in a group of several hundred people.
Equipped with their backup ambulance, GERMS volunteers have since manned the station every night from 9 p.m. until 8 a.m.
No single GERMS member has been to the Armory more than once, Barbato said, noting how willing the entire group has been to offer its services.
Likewise, many GERMS members have volunteered extra hours on campus to maintain the group’s primary services to the Georgetown community. With a GERMS team serving Katrina evacuees each night, remaing GERMS teams have increased the hours they work on campus.
“It’s been amazing seeing different organizations coming together to help,” Danis said. She described the diversity of services at the shelter, which include everything from free hair cuts to housing and job placement.
“We are glad to help,” Barbato said. “It’s why we are GERMS.”
GERMS plans to continue its volunteer support through Sunday evening.
*The Sept. 29 article “GERMS steps in for Red Cross,” should have stated that GERMS received the request to staff first aid station at Armory on Sept. 22, not Sept. 15, and began serving shifts on Sept. 23, not Sept. 16. While the shelter was run under the auspices of the Red Cross, GERMS crews actually replaced employees from the DC Department of Health, not Red Cross staffers as printed.
