The volunteers and staffers at the American Red Cross’ Imperial Valley Service Center do great work on a shoestring budget, with limited means and help, all out of an office that is as far away from high tech as one can get.
In an isolated area like ours, director Sylvia Preciado, her office staff and the dedicated volunteers might be the only relief provided to firefighters and other first responders at the scene of a huge blaze or disaster, providing drinks, food and comfort.
During a time of duress, like a family being displaced after a house or apartment fire, the Service Center is there to provide blankets, clothes, kind and caring words and vouchers for a place to stay.
These services are integral to the local Red Cross’ mission to help others during some of the lowest points in a disaster setting. So, it makes us wonder just what the Imperial Valley office and staff will get out of the new $700,000 disaster operations center that just opened in San Diego. After all, the American Red Cross local chapter is identified as serving San Diego/Imperial counties.
Recently the American Red Cross made a big production of showing off its operations center in San Diego, with bells and whistles that include real-time visual mapping software and other state-of-the-art technology. Red Cross officials said it will help the organization better respond to emergencies.
They then cited the San Diego County wildfires of 2003 and 2007 as large-scale disasters as examples in which this new center would have been best utilized.
What struck us as strange is there was no mention of the magnitude-7.2 earthquake that rocked Imperial and Mexicali valleys. There were no widespread casualties or injuries, but if that doesn’t merit a mention as a potential disaster situation, we don’t know what does.
We’re not saying Imperial County needs the same level of technology, but Imperial Valley does need acknowledgement beyond a few localized facts and quotes in a San Diego-based effort.
It shows what we see as a disconnect between what we need locally and what we actually receive in services when tied together with a larger metropolitan area. We don’t want to make comparisons that don’t exist, but a defined history has shown this happen in several cases, including with the San Diego Blood Bank and other organizations that had regional shared governance.
The Imperial Valley Service Center officials and volunteers need resources, too. More important, the Valley residents who will eventually need the services of the Red Cross, should be assured they are not an afterthought.
THE ISSUE:
New American Red Cross disaster center opens in San Diego.
WE SAY:
Imperial Valley Service Center needs resources, too.
WHAT DO YOU SAY?
Send us your thoughts on this topic to www.ivpressonline.com/letterstotheeditor
In an isolated area like ours, director Sylvia Preciado, her office staff and the dedicated volunteers might be the only relief provided to firefighters and other first responders at the scene of a huge blaze or disaster, providing drinks, food and comfort.
During a time of duress, like a family being displaced after a house or apartment fire, the Service Center is there to provide blankets, clothes, kind and caring words and vouchers for a place to stay.
These services are integral to the local Red Cross’ mission to help others during some of the lowest points in a disaster setting. So, it makes us wonder just what the Imperial Valley office and staff will get out of the new $700,000 disaster operations center that just opened in San Diego. After all, the American Red Cross local chapter is identified as serving San Diego/Imperial counties.
Recently the American Red Cross made a big production of showing off its operations center in San Diego, with bells and whistles that include real-time visual mapping software and other state-of-the-art technology. Red Cross officials said it will help the organization better respond to emergencies.
They then cited the San Diego County wildfires of 2003 and 2007 as large-scale disasters as examples in which this new center would have been best utilized.
What struck us as strange is there was no mention of the magnitude-7.2 earthquake that rocked Imperial and Mexicali valleys. There were no widespread casualties or injuries, but if that doesn’t merit a mention as a potential disaster situation, we don’t know what does.
We’re not saying Imperial County needs the same level of technology, but Imperial Valley does need acknowledgement beyond a few localized facts and quotes in a San Diego-based effort.
It shows what we see as a disconnect between what we need locally and what we actually receive in services when tied together with a larger metropolitan area. We don’t want to make comparisons that don’t exist, but a defined history has shown this happen in several cases, including with the San Diego Blood Bank and other organizations that had regional shared governance.
The Imperial Valley Service Center officials and volunteers need resources, too. More important, the Valley residents who will eventually need the services of the Red Cross, should be assured they are not an afterthought.
THE ISSUE:
New American Red Cross disaster center opens in San Diego.
WE SAY:
Imperial Valley Service Center needs resources, too.
WHAT DO YOU SAY?
Send us your thoughts on this topic to www.ivpressonline.com/letterstotheeditor
