volunteer with the red cross

That was a real dragon country. It was night time when the Red Cross truck went to the countryside of Casiguran to distribute dust masks. The almost full moon made banana and coconut leaves silvery… and the gray volcanic ash snow-white.

Every barrio that we passed, we gave out boxes of masks. The air was thick with ashes and smelled of rotten eggs or burning tires. Sulfur.

Most farming villages were advised to get ready for evacuation anytime. That means packing up personal essentials, chickens, and pigs.

Schools outside the 4-kilometer radius automatically prepared to receive evacuees should the need arise. Back in the Red Cross Headquarters, we packed rice, canned sardines, and instant noodles for distribution.

Alright, all that practice to time rescue breathing perfectly (exactly 60 seconds) has made my mouth sore. Pumping dummy chests for CPR made the heels of my palms black and blue. Enough for the day.

April 29

How to transport patients/injured persons using your body? That’s what we did the whole day. Cradle carry, pack strap, fireman’s carry, limb carry. The objective is to make carrying second to your nature that you simply do it when emergency time comes. You shouldn’t think about how fireman’s carry is done; you just do it when taking a person out of the highway (where the accident happened) into a safe place.

I can carry children and people below one hundred pounds while walking a 20-meter distance. That’s all. I refused to carry weights more than that. I have sore muscles the rest of the week.

April 24, 2006

Training begins. So far so good. Good classmates. We are all from different professional backgrounds. Lecture started at 9.
In the afternoon, the instructor gave us a sampling of how to conduct scene survey, activating medical assistance, and assessing the patient/victim.