Day 7: Transfer Day

When I woke up yesterday, I treated it like one more day in Nassau County and as if I would be there for another week with Holly, Jenna, Dani, and Crystal. Little did I know that wouldn't be the case.

I got up early and showered.Then toasted some cinnamon raisin bread for breakfast. It was a really nice change from some of the trash I have been eating for the last week.

After we loaded everyone in to the van Holly realized that she had forgotten her phone on the table in the staff shelter. She was in the middle of the back seat and I was right by the door so I ran up to grab her phone. The floor and my shoes were wet and on the way up I slipped and hit my elbow and cut my finger. Thankfully I grabbed a few bandages before I left because it ended up bleeding quite a bit.

When we got to the staff shelter, I changed my bandaid and we headed to the staff meeting. They announced a town meeting / ice-cream social that they were going to have that night to kind I organize things better and start getting people out of the shelter and in to apartments and homes so that they can move on with their lives.

Afterwards Jenna Holly and I restocked the staff room snacks and then kind of just looked for odds and ends to do. We ended up downstairs in the cafeteria helping the activities department color signs and put some things together. I was able to chat with a few of the clients which was nice. While we were there Dave came down and said that he needed two of us right away. All three of us followed him out and he explained that he needed 2 of us to go to another shelter to help load cots in to a truck. We asked if all 3 of us could go but the guy who was directing it said that only 2 could go and they would be gone until 6. I immediately volunteered Jenna and Holly because I figured they could both use the day out of the shelter.

They took off and I continued to help with the jobs that I could. I cleaned up some of the cots outside and filled the hand washing stations with soap and paper towels. I also helped Dave "inventory" the trailers which mostly meant that we opened up each one, looked in, he made some notes, and that was it. While we were going around we ran into Kendra who is over staffing. She asked Dave if we were still overstaffed in logistics and he said yes. She asked him to pick one person to be transferred. Not to another area in the shelter, but to the shelter in Staten Island. Dave really wanted to go so be submitted his own name and I was sent to go work on another project so he could figure out what he needed to do before be left. A few minutes later Dave came up and said that he recommended that I be transferred. I kind of didn't understand what he was saying so I said "okay, that's fine" and then I realized what I had just agreed to. I felt pretty good about it though and there wasn't anybody else in our department that could be sent without splitting up people who came to the disaster response together (Jenna and Holly, Demarco and Berry). I was told that I would finish up the day and then leave tonight or tomorrow for the new shelter and work the 11pm to 7am shift. Only 8 hours which will be really nice. I ran into Crystal and told her about 20 minutes after and then Dani found out within the hour. I didn't text Jenna or Holly because they were on the road and I figured they would find out when they got back. I ran into Crystal again just before lunch and she asked if I wanted to go sit outside and eat lunch. It was nice to talk to her for a while and to be outside in the warm sun. I told Holly and Jenna that I was being transferred when they came back about an hour or so later.

Just after that Dave came up to me, handed me a piece of paper, said that I was leaving, and then walked off. I opened it up and sure enough I was supposed to leave right then to check in with headquarters and then head to the new shelter. I set up transportation to take me back to the shelter to pick up my stuff and then drop me off at the train station. I tracked down Dani, Crystal, Jenna, and Holly to let them know that I was leaving and we took one more picture, exchanged hugs and I headed out.

I arrived at the station at 5:20 and my train left at 5:34. While on the train I saw an official train ticket puncher. Just like on polar express they click their puncher a ton between one ticket and the next and they still wear funny hats. (See picture below) It was not European train, because in stead of minding the gap, I just had to "Watch The Gap". It was a cool experience though.

When I arrived at Penn Station I made it up to the streets and hailed a cab to take me to the Red Cross Chapter. I checked in there and they assigned me to stay in The Milford hotel for the night and then work my first shift tomorrow night. It looks like I will be lodging for the next week on a submarine that is parked just off the coast somewhere. There are only 7 other people from the Red Cross sleeping there, but there are several Americorps members and a bunch of people from FEMA. It should be quite the experience.

I arrived at the hotel, checked in, and then headed out to find something to eat. I found a place called Shake Shack and went in. They have shakes hamburgers and hotdogs as well as a menu for dogs...ya. Dogs (picture below). I ended up getting a hamburger and a strawberry shake. Then headed over to time square to eat it.

Time Square is so bright! There are so many lights and so many people! I ate and then wandered around for a while to see what I could see. I went in the MnM and Hershey's stores and then stopped near the middle to look something up on my phone. I stood there for a few minutes and then some guy turned around and started talking to me. Weird.

He was really nice and we ended up chatting for a few minutes. Then He asked me if I wanted to hang out and go listen to some live music. I told him that I was going to the the huge tree that they lit last week and then heading back to my hotel. He kept asking if we could hang out but I was kind of taken back and kept saying no. Then I told him that he was welcome to come with me to see the tree and he agreed. We walked the few blocks to get there and kept talking about life and who we were and where we were from. We got to the tree and we each took a picture of one another and then together (see below). The whole time I was kind of blown away that I was in New York City and wandering around with a stranger. Weird.

After we saw the tree we wandered back to time square and he asked what I do for fun. It came up that I didn't drink at all, ever, like never ever and never would. He was surprised and impressed so then he suggested we go to like 10 different places all of which sounded sketchy to me and required a ride on the subway or train which I was also not down for. Finally he suggested cheesecake at the Marriott hotel just across the street. I figured that was safe enough and we headed over. We took a glass elevator (my first ride in one) up to the 8th floor. We sat and talked and ate cheesecake for like an hour. It was pretty cool.

After cheese cake we exchanged phone numbers and went our separate ways. I got back to my hotel and totally crashed. It was so nice to sleep in a bed with a pillow instead of a cot.

Tomorrow should definitely be an adventure!

Just another day in New York!

Day 6

I am sure that you will all be super happy to find out that there was no cot cleaning today! Yay!!!

The first assignment that we received this morning was to turn the old isolation room into the new staff break room. We swept the room, cleaned a bunch of chairs and tables and stocked it (heavily) with snacks, juice, and water. We took a few minutes to enjoy the snacks and headed off to our new project.

Instead of doing the same thing over and over again like we have the last 2 says I had a lot of random projects in lots of different areas. Our second project was outside! Everything was so foggy that for most of the morning you couldn't really see more than 50 yards away. (Picture below). We moved the cots from the isolation room that Holly and I had sprayed down with Lysol twice on to a pile of cots that still needed to be cleaned. We were super grateful that that was not our responsibility. Afterwards we wiped down the portable showers, and moved all of the used and contaminated Red Cross blankets into black trash bags and out to the dumpster. Usually Red Cross blankets are donated to animal shelters, but because of the high risk of contamination and disease everyone felt it would be better to dispose of them. We agreed.

We (Jenna, Holly, and I) had the opportunity to move more cots! Yay!...? Leila, our supervisor didn't want us to have to clean any more because she knows it is a miserable job. So she is trying to find another solution but wanted all of the cots moved over by the trailers so that they are out of the street and out of people's way. It took some time, but we were able to finish it fairly quickly.

Our next task was to move 4 pallets full of water bottles from the back of the shelter to the food dock entrance. Thankfully we had those nifty machines that allow you to lift up a pallet by pumping the handle so that you can easily pull it to where you want it to be. Demarco and his brother Berry helped us and they pulled while we pushed the pallets down the ramp to the food dock. For the second trip Holly pulled one and I pulled the other. Everything went pretty smoothly until Holly accidentally steered her pallet on to a pot hole in the middle of the ramp. It got stuck and took several of us to pull it out. After that we took a short break on the grassy hill where we were later joined by Dani and Alex, the head of security. (Pictures below)

After our break Demarco, Holly, Jenna, and Berry borrowed a car and went to Target. I, of course did not go partly because it was Sunday and also because I am here to work, so that is what I did. I kind of wandered around the building finding odd jobs here and there to help with. I retrieved, cleaned up, and set up several cots for some of the clients. I also visited with Joanne again because she needed help from the bathroom back to her room and I talked with several staff members about their deployments and what I can do to make my experience as successful and positive as possible. It was fairly productive.

Just after that Leila met up with me and she and I worked in the sleeping area to move several cots around to make sure that our fire escape routes and pathways were clear so that we didn't get I trouble with the fire Marshall. It was nice to work with her and I think it helped her trust me more.

The rest of the day was eating dinner, helping Joanne again and then getting ready to leave for the day. About half of the staff shelter went out to a bar around the corner tonight and you can bet that I was invited. You could also bet every dime you own (unless you are LDS) that I also did not go. I stayed at the staff shelter and played scrabble with a few people and won! (Those scramble and words with friends games are finally paying off) Then Dan, our friend who sanitizes everything found out that I was "Mormon" and that sparked a rather deep religious conversation. I told him multiple times that we aren't polygamists but I'm still not sure if he believes me.

Everyone came back from the bar and headed to bed fairly quickly. Overall and really quiet and much needed night.

I totally missed being able to go to church today, but I did find out that Thursday is my day off and I am hoping really hard that I will be able to meet up with missionaries or even go to the New York temple! It would be so cool!!

I'll definitely keep you all updated. Until tomorrow, happy sabbath!

Day 5: Hazmat Day

Saturday. I can't even begin to think of where to start as far as stories today. There were so many things that happened and a lot of really good stories.

This morning we woke up at 6:45 and were ushered out the door at 7:15 to make it to the 7:30 meeting at the shelter. We met with the shelter manager and were updated about recent goings on in the shelter including the fact that the elevator was no longer working and we were moving the people in the isolation room (who have Noro) downstairs in to a more enclosed and isolated room. This means that everything had to be moved. I'll tell a Story about that a little bit later.

When Jenna Holly and I woke up this morning we knew that we would be working on cots all day today. So we dressed as warmly as we could and then headed out to work on more cots. We had a super efficient system and were able to get a lot done in the time that we worked on them today. We did take a break to go inside and get warm but most of the morning was spent outside. I was able to talk a lot with Holly while we were taking down and packing cots which was really cool. That was the start of some of the random things that we would do together that day.

Dave, our supervisor helped us work outside today. Which we appreciated a lot. It helped us get things done faster since he was an extra pair of hands. Demarco also helped throughout the day and that was super helpful.

We took a break for lunch at about 1 and were able to meet up with Dani and Crystal before hand to take a few pictures and have a group hug. It was pretty funny and I am glad we documented it.

We aren't usually if ever able to eat meals with Crystal because she is in dorms and they rotate lunch shifts which means that she usually eats by herself. It was nice to talk and laugh with her and have her there. She is doing a great job in dorms and I am sure they all appreciate her there.

After lunch we worked in the room on the lower floor that was going to be changed into the special needs / isolation room. We cleaned out all the boxes and threw away quite a bit of trash. It was so nice to be inside for a while.

Our friend Demarco has a brother name Berry who is also here as a volunteer. Berry had very extreme chest pains earlier today and the paramedics came to take him to the hospital to make sure he was okay. There was some initial concern that it may have been a heart attack but it was just a pulled muscle. It was a pretty scary experience at first as we searched for Demarco so that he could go with his brother to the hospital. They have been trying to keep better care of all the staff because that was the 2nd of 3 injuries that would take place within 24 hours.

After that scare we all headed out to work on cots. Leina who is our supervisor for logistics came out and said that she had a project for us that would bring us inside for a little bit and hopefully warm up. We quickly agreed and started following her inside the building. When we got inside she began explaining that the Hazmat team came through and wiped down what had been the isolation room and that we needed to clean the small bathroom tent and two portable toilets so that they could be used again for the next isolation room. We were fairly disappointed that we were assigned to walk in to a room that less than a few hours ago had been drenched in the Noro virus and touch 3 objects that most certainly came in contact with the virus to take them outside and wash them. Dang. We were also told that it was safe to go inside without any additional protective gear besides latex gloves.

Genevieve, you may want to skip over the next paragraph.

So we walked in to the room and started gathering stuff and moving things out of the way so that we could get the items out if we needed to. It smelled pretty nasty and so we tried to hurry so we would not have to be in there for very long. We grabbed one toilet which had been emptied of its contents, but the next one had not. Yuck. So we took the one toilet and the tent while another last cleaned the other toilet. We went outside trying really really hard not to touch anything and sprayed down both items with A LOT of Lysol. Then I went back inside to try and get the other toilet but was told that I could not go in to the room without having a protective gown on because it was still infected. Say what!? So I talked to Holly who had just walked up to tell her what was said and then Leila came up as well. We discussed the situation and then she asked Holly and me to go ahead and put on the gowns and everything so that we could go in, get the toilet and also spray down any and all cots in the room. Dang. We went outside and grabbed lots of Lysol, trash bags, and towels. Then we put on our lovely gowns (see image below) grabbed some face masks and headed in. It was all pretty nasty. We sprayed down all the cots and then took them outside to be sprayed again. We passed so many people in the hallway and their facial expressions ranged from pure fear to being on the verge of uncontrollable laughter at how we looked. It didn't take too long to finish the job and we laughed through most of it. Then we carefully took everything off used a ton of hand sanitizer and went downstairs to eat dinner.

There is a little girl in the shelter who is probably only about 3 years old but she is extreme friendly. She will sit on anybody's lap and LOVES to give high fives. I saw her at least twice today which was really fun!

After dinner I headed over to the bathrooms and on my way out found an older lady with another older lady who was in a wheel chair. They asked for help getting in to the shelter so I helped open a door and then push her in. They asked if I could continue to help her and I so I pushed her over to the stall and then waited for her to finish. She is very much a talker And I ended up spending the next 45 minutes with her. She talked almost the entire time but I appreciated it. She told me that she had been trying to locate her "husband"(they arent married) for several days but had been unable to. I guess that they had recently been separated for a couple weeks since he was sent to a hospital and then To rehab for injuries that he has sustained during the storm. About 3/4 of the way through the phone call she told him that she loved him, missed him so much and in an awesome New York accent said "and you know what, I think we should get married"! It was adorable. There were about 5 people standing in the area, including Dani, who turned to look at her with a dropped jaw but a smile on their face. It was adorable!

While that lovely conversation was going on there was also a couple of situations happening by the information and registration desk. One younger man who was trying to get in to the shelter didn't qualify for assistance and so he was really upset. He said that he wanted to use the restroom and so Alex our head security guard (who was in special ops in the military) had to escort him to and from the bathroom. When they came back the guy started to put his sweaters and jackets back on and Alex was standing about 5 feet away because the man had been yelling and cussing quite a bit earlier. After about 30 seconds the guy turned around and kept asking Alex to "step back, please". Alex didn't move because he wasn't really in his space at all and the guy got more and more mad. Britt (another staff guy) was sent to get the police and the man kept pushing the threats higher and higher. He was definitely looking for a fight. The cops came and they surrounded the guy with one of them holding the door open so that he could leave. With a lot more yelling and cussing he eventually left the building.

The other issue going down by information was this homeless lady who came in asking that we let her take a shower. Obviously there are a lot of security issues with letting anybody in to the shelter who isn't staff or clients. So it eventually escalated to the Shelter Manager and he came out and talked with her and tried to help her settle down since she had been yelling as well. He left during the whole police showdown with the young man and she just sat in the lobby and yelled at anyone who tried to talk to or help her. I grabbed her a chair to sit on, but she didn't want any help with Anything. I'm not sure what eventually happened with her.

After I got back to the shelter I showered, which was so incredibly nice after all that went down yesterday. I played a few card games and talked with the guy named Britt who is incredibly nice and friendly but a pinch weird. He had been just kind of wandering around so I invited him to play. It was fun and I think he appreciated it. He trains service dogs at home in Washington.

All the girls and I sat up chatting for a whole and then we headed to bed. It was a super busy crazy day but so good!

Day 4x200 Cots = Pure Exhaustion

Today was a super busy day. It has been quite some time since I have been outside and on my feet as much as I was today. But I wasn't alone. Holly and Jenna were outside with me as well as we spent about 10 hours setting up, spraying, cleaning, drying, and taking down nearly 200 Red Cross Army cots.

We arrived at the shelter at 7:30 am and attended the staff meeting. Jenna and Holly headed out with one of our supervisors, David (who we have yet to see laugh), and were given our assignment to clean cots so that we could put them into storage for next time. I was about to join them when I was caught by Dan, the cleaning man, who spends all day every day walking around the entire shelter with Clorox wipes disinfecting EVERYTHING. He asked me if I could clean all of the girls bathrooms and so I did. It only took about 40 minutes because I am getting faster at it. I met one of the ladies in the shelter and her two daughters who are incredibly cute. They were in the bathroom on the lower floor getting ready for the day. The younger daughter who is only 2 was really quiet but so cute with her dark hair that was completely braided with beads on each end. We all talked and laughed for a few minutes which was a great way to start my morning.

After disinfecting the bathrooms I went outside to help Holly and Jenna with the cots. They were just getting started with the help of two older ladies, Vickie and Bobbie. We were supposed to use a Lysol/water mix in a large spraying container and spray the top and bottom of every cot and then use a sponge to wash off the metal legs and ends. The whole process started off fairly slow, but by the end I the day we not only experts, but we also never wanted to see another cot again in our lives. Unfortunately we are doing the same things tomorrow.

A few guys were assignment to being the pallets of dirty cots over to where we were cleaning them. There are about 10 pallets, each of them containing 50 cots. Yes. That is 500 cots total.

Like I said, things were kind of slow going at first because we were a trying to find the most efficient way to do it. It took most of the morning to set up, clean, dry, and take down the first 50 cots. By our last batch we were able to set up and clean 60 cots in lease than 2 hours.

Although we did have help from Vickie and Babbie, a majority of the work was done by Jenna, Holly and I. We worked so hard for so long and laughed most of the time. We made a lot of dumb jokes that if I even attempted to retell would probably sound like the more ridiculous things in the world, so I won't. But it was fun.

Finally at about 12:30 we headed inside for lunch with frozen fingers and aching backs. We sat with little more than a few words and lots of eating for about 40 minutes. None of us were looking forward to cleaning cots for the rest of the afternoon.

By the way. Jenna is from Wisconsin and Holly is from Michigan. If you know anything about either of these places you know that nearly everyone there has a slight accent. Instead of saying bag, they say beg. Instead of tag they say teg. Think of the Mom on Bobby's World, the super old cartoon, and the oh so famous phrase "don'chya know". Yep. Just like that. So instead of sayings "cots" it's more like "cawts". I think its funny.

I should also clarify how to say the name of the county that I am in. It is spelled Nassau but is pronounced "nah" (Nah like the first park of napkin) and then "saw". Nah-saw. Go ahead. Say it out loud. "Nassau County". Now realize that you did just sound like a hick and laugh out loud. Very good.

I don't think I have heard anybody here say it without sounding like a redneck, but if you figure out a way I would love to hear it.

Back to the cots. We were outside from 8:45 this morning until 5:30 pm in freezing cold weather cleaning about 200 cots. Needless to say we feel fairly accomplished but incredibly exhausted and sore. The picture below shows Holly walking with a major limp. She was not alone in that! The three of us were so excited to go to bed tonight.

Most of the Red Cross volunteers in the shelter are a little bit older, like 40's to 70's. Those of us who are young tend to naturally band together and talk. One of those younger people is Damarcus. He is in his 20's and is from North Carolina. He is a black guy who is really nice and way polite. He also has a brother here with him who is 19 and...I can't remember his name. But he is nice too, and incredibly quite compared to Damarcus. He does a lot to help around the shelter but also enjoys eating meals and helping all of us girls as well. He spent about an hour doing cots with us today which was a tremendous help.

After we finally got back to the staff shelter Jenna and I and then Jenna, Dani and I talked for at least an hour. It was a lot of fun to get to know them better and to just chat about life instead of the shelter-as much as we love it. :)

Lights out was at 10:45 and we were all so ready for it! Thank heavens for sleep!

Another day of cots tomorrow! Enjoy the photos!

Always,

Kat

Day 3, a Couple Sweet Stories and an Uplifting Thought

Today was BUSY! I woke up at 6am to the smell of Coffee (yuck) and started getting ready for the day. We didn't have a ton of food here so I mostly just snacked before we headed over to the shelter. They had hot chocolate packets and hot water available, but the water was in a coffee mug and tasted like it was infused with coffee. So I threw away my hot chocolate.

We loaded up a few vans just after 7am and headed over to the shelter. It was a short 10 minute drive and as we drove we listened to one guy in the car talk about how women talk so much more than men. Ha. Ironic.

On our way there Dani saw some Geese and was so excited. I responded by saying "oh man, I just want to squeeze them" to make fun of Holly. It was funny and everyone laughed.

When we got to the shelter we entered directly in to the sleeping area. It was kind of overwhelming at first. There are around 250 people living here in the shelter and almost all of them were just waking up. Cots were everywhere. They filled up the entire gym. I didn't know whether I should smile or not when they all turned to look at us while we walked through.

We went down to the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) to meet the Shelter manager and receive our assignments. Dani was out on security. Crystal went to dorms. And Holly, Jenna and I were assignment to Logistics. We headed out for a tour of the shelter and then our first assignment was to help move boxes around in the kitchen so that more outlets would be available for cooking and coffee pots. Then we went upstairs and helped set up about 10 cots.

After that I was asked by Dan to go around to each of the women's bathrooms to wipe down door knobs, sink handles, stall doors and locks, and toilet seats and flush handles. There are 3 viruses that have been going around both the clients and volunteers. One is a really bad cold, the other is the common flu, and the last is the noro virus. At least 1-2 people on the day and night shift have been assigned to disinfect things all day every day to try and prevent it from spreading. All staff has been instructed to use sanitizer and wash our hands as often as possible. Most of us have latex Gloves on most of the day while we work with clients and equipment.

After cleaning I met up with Holly and Jenna and we set up another 35 cots. It took a while but we became champions at setting up cots. (See picture below)

After we finished I was sent to stand at the front door to check for wristbands as people came in. If they didn't have a wrist band or a badge they weren't supposed to come in. Basically I just stood there for 3 hours because who wants to sneak in to a shelter?

We had a meeting with our logistics supervisor about how to get everything done that we needed to and then I went and decontaminated all of the women's bathrooms...again. I did a few other odd jobs here and there and then I was time to head home. Most of the girls in the staff shelter took showers that night because we all felt so gross. The showers were super hot which I was grateful for. Then we went to sleep! I was so tired that I couldn't even finish my blog post for the day. But here it is now.

Story 1: I forgot to say that after the lady yesterday found out I was a Mormon she asked if I was going to pray for everyone there in the staff shelter. I enthusiastically said yes and then she walked away.

Story 2. While I was in line waiting to get dinner one of the clients in front of me turned, looked at me, and said someone is calling for you. Confused, I asked "me?" She explained that they were calling for a Red Cross worker. So I looked over to the tables where people were sitting just as someone yelled "Help! He's chocking! So I jumped over a table, pushed an old lady out of the way and....I actually just ran back to where he was sitting while thinking "I can't believe this is happening. I sure hope I can remember what I learned in First Aid". When I got there I said the First Aid "Sir, are you okay?" He was definitely frazzled but the lady next to him said that he was doing okay and he wasn't chocking anymore. Then he says "But I think I'm going to throw up". So I grabbed a trash can that was sitting 5 feet away and put it right next to him. He kept downing food and so I tried to get him to slow down and take it easy. He admitted that he hadn't been feeling well all day so I convinced him to let me go get medical services so that they could talk to him. He ended up being okay, thankfully, but it was quite the experience.



Uplifting Thought: Obedience Requires Faith, But It Is Absolutely Worth It.