Hurry up and wait

Last weekend the inner city-based Sydney Personal Support teams were put on standby for the possible activation on Sunday and Monday in preparation for the massive storms hitting the NSW south coast. This was in response to the Police’s fear that many people would be displaced and require assistance hence activating the Public Information and Inquiry Centre (PIIC). The PIIC is a call centre for people who are displaced and need assistance, or others requiring information about friends/family in the affected area, or even general road conditions. Whilst in operation the PIIC operates 24 hours a day.

 

As the deputy team leader for the new Red Cross Inner West Personal Support Team (formerly the Burwood, Ashfield, Canada Bay, Strathfield Team) my role at this point is to canvas my members to find out who is available for activation and then put them on standby. Like many other teams we operate a phone tree which spreads the responsibility of contacting members between the team leader and deputies. With nearly 60 members in the Inner West Team alone no single person could contact them all in a short space of time.

 

Due to the fast action of me and my team leader we were able to fill the first two shifts within hours of asking our members. It does take a little longer sometimes as often our members are away from their phones and hence we have to leave messages and wait for a reply.

 

Thankfully the storm wasn’t as bad as expected and we were told to stand down. The same however, can’t be said about the massive storm that hit Lennox Head in NSW North Coast earlier this week.

 

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