Help is here: Red Cross launches small-disaster response team for Flin Flon region

Flin Flon area residents devastated by house fires, sewer backups and other small-scale disasters have a new ally.

The Canadian Red Cross has initiated its Flin Flon Personal Disaster Assistance (PDA) team, which will provide complimentary food, clothing, lodging and other necessities to individuals and families with a sudden need.

“Our local Red Cross Personal Disaster Assistance team looks forward to serving our communities,” Audrey Neufeld, a PDA supervisor, told a team-launching ceremony on Tuesday.

Neufeld and other PDA volunteers joined area first responders to cut a ribbon at the Flin Flon Fire Hall in honour of the team’s activation.

Firefighters, police officers and paramedics will play a vital role in the program by informing the PDA of people in need of emergency assistance.

PDA teams will operate around the clock with trained volunteers to cover Flin Flon and a 100-km radius (by road) around the city, including Creighton, Denare Beach and Cranberry Portage.

Teams of two volunteers each will respond to disasters for up to 72 hours after the incident. In addition to the basics of food, clothing and lodging, they will offer personal-hygiene items, blankets, plush toys for children, referrals to other agencies and all-important moral support.

“Everything is based on the need of the client,” said Beverly Erickson, community outreach coordinator for the Red Cross.

Erickson spent 16 months assembling the PDA, garnering eager endorsements from area municipalities.

She said support had previously been available to Flin Flon area communities, but it was hit and miss.

“If a citizen in the community knew that there was somebody who had a disaster and wasn’t able to help themselves completely, and it got out there, people brought stuff, right? And I think these northern communities are excellent for that neighbourliness,” Erickson said. “Now what [the PDA] does is it covers everybody. Who knows more than the fire department or the ambulance service if there’s been a small disaster? And they’ve got all our contact information, so if they know that it’s happened and someone’s needing [help], they just put that call out and we approach.”

As Flin Flon fire chief, Chad Cooper knows just how valuable the PDA will be to the area.

“Most of the time, families escape out of the house [after a fire] without anything, and it could be two o’clock in the morning or on a weekend, so it’s nice having that support for families,” he said.

The Flin Flon PDA team currently has nine members in supervisors Audrey Neufeld and Amanda Larsen, and members Lori Stevens, Lisa Sicotte-Schanowski, Leslie Beck, Jean Champagne, Sandra Trottier, Laurel Mackie and Lannie Bosman-Leptick.

The Red Cross is hoping to find another six volunteers, giving the PDA program its ideal roster of 15 individuals who can be called upon.

“These are great people who are selfless and caring, and I know we will have many more individuals who come forward and are interested in making a difference by stepping forward and joining the Red Cross,” said Neufeld.

The Red Cross invites anyone interested in learning more about volunteer opportunities, with the PDA or in another capacity, to contact their office at 204-982-7334 or email [email protected].

While first responders will generally contact the PDA on behalf of people in need, the Red Cross also accepts calls from the general public at 1-888-800-6493.