Back During this week of Thanksgiving, Karen Proffitt is thankful for many things, including clean drinking water and simple meals – even shelter food. Proffitt, a retired school counselor, recently returned home to Ferguson after 15 days in Florida’s hurricane ravaged areas. Proffitt is an American Red Cross volunteer. She began thinking about ways to occupy her time before she retired. “Since I’m volunteering, the Red Cross struck me as a place with a wide range of opportunities,” Proffitt said. “It seemed like a good way to make an impact. At that time I also heard about the mental health aspect of Red Cross work. I really love counseling but I also love not working for a living and this allowed me to stay involved in counseling.” Proffitt departed for Florida in late October to help those affected by Hurricane Wilma. It wasn’t her first experience with national disasters. “I went out to help with a national disaster in 2002 – also hurricane related – and then again after Frances and Jeanne hit Florida last year,” she said. Her very first assignment in 2002 was one of the more adventurous things she’d done. “It’s all adventurous when you haven’t done it before,” Proffitt said. “You get a phone call and you have to be ready in 24 hours. They give you a number to call to get the details on the disaster and what you’ll have to bring. When you’ve done that once you kind of know the program, I think. I know the Red Cross has been doing this for a very long time and I never thought they would leave me stranded in the airport.” Proffitt added that the organization does a great job of supporting volunteers. “They offer a lot of moral support and the encouragement to take on more responsibility if you want to,” she said. “The American Red Cross is able to change operationally within the organization during a national disaster. It’s a major undertaking and I’m pretty impressed. I’m still a little bit in awe that it all works. It isn’t always totally smooth but they are very flexible.” Proffitt operated out of a work site in Belle Glade, Fla., on the southeast corner of Lake Okeechobee. She was there under the umbrella of mental health. “The mental health aspect was initially created for staff,” she said. “I look out for staff; make sure they’re doing o.k.” Proffitt said 95 percent of the people involved with the Red Cross are happy to help, but sometimes volunteers and staff overwork themselves, and they can overdo it mentally, or just get worn down. “I just keep an eye on them, make sure they’re getting enough water and taking their breaks like they’re supposed to,” she said. “I make sure they have a chance to talk, change pace and get some perspective on what they’ve been doing or been through.” She also helped hurricane clients find mental health services. Proffitt worked in a shelter part of the time, and it was there people affected by Hurricane Wilma would come to see if they qualified for emergency aid, including mental health services. “One of the biggest things for the victims is to help them understand that the feelings of hopelessness and despair are normal feelings, and they’re not over the edge or going crazy…it’s a normal reaction to a major disaster,” Proffitt said. “Sometimes you have to deal with other things, too. Many of the clients are in some kind of a treatment program, or some type of therapy that involves medication. Those things are disrupted when they come to the Red Cross station. We want to make sure they get back to their normal routines, including medication and therapy. They may have lost mediation in the storm, or lost access to refilling those medications, and sometimes it seems that our main job is just finding answers for people.” She added that clients eventually get to a point where there will be deeper emotional issues that do need to be addressed, but her job is to get them connected to the local resources. Proffitt doesn’t provide clients with formal counseling, but the help she does provide is therapeutic to her. “This kind of event puts life in perspective for me,” she said. “That’s something I really get out of volunteering. It makes some of the smaller stuff pale in comparison to the larger things. I like to be reminded to be more non-judgmental. I really do love the challenge of changing someone’s perspective when they’re having a difficult time – helping them feel more empowered to handle their own situation.” And that is one more thing she’s very thankful for during this holiday season, along with food and water. “Shelter food is great when you’re not sure what you’re going to have that day,” Proffitt said. “I appreciate the opportunity to interact with the people down there. I appreciate being a part of their lives and knowing their stories. I really value those connections. It’s so different than being a tourist. I like that too, but this is a great way to get to know an area and the people there.” This story may be available for an Adobe Acrobat PDF download. Click on the link below to visit the site download center. If a PDF is available, the file will automatically open in your browser.

Print