“We lost your home”. Those are the words I heard Sunday night as I held the hand of my husband on one side and my neighbor on the other. Fifty-seven families from my neighborhood received that same news from the local fire chief, who was fighting back tears.
These types of things do not happen to us… until they do. In 30 minutes a fire tore through my neighborhood; it flattened the land, blackened our community, and left us homeless. This was after 8 days of evacuation, where firefighters from around the US prepared our homes for the worst. But the fire won this fight – there was nothing anyone could have done.
I realize I am not the first nor the last who will deal with a tragedy. I imagine we all know someone dealing with some form of loss, stress, or circumstance beyond their control. In a way, I am lucky – I have a very strong community, an awesome spouse, a wonderful employer, and a fabulous professional association. I had time to gather a car full of mementos. Others are not so lucky. They had no time, no warning, no insurance.
I have been asked numerous times what people can do to help me. The answer is simple – be informed, be prepared, and give to the people who carry us through disaster.
The AMTA Disaster Fund has helped me to get some basics that I need to move forward. AMTA has also provided support and guidance throughout this ordeal. With your support, this fund will continue to help music therapists who are faced with disaster.
The support of the Red Cross has been immeasurable. They have provided a listening ear, numerous hugs, meals, clothing, and support. In a time where you forget to eat, you have little clothing, and you feel lost – this support is essential.
There is light within a sad situation. I don’t think I will ever forget the man from National Guard loading donated towels, sheets, blankets, and pillows from IKEA into my trunk. Getting a beer with my neighbors after learning we all had a “total loss” – crying and laughing together. Receiving numerous emails, texts, facebook postings, and tweets wishing us well and offering help. Our journey is just starting. For now, all I can say is thank you. We are strong, we are okay, we are grateful.
Below is a message from Barb Else, with AMTA’s Disaster Response. I encourage you to think about these things now. You may only have a few moments to think about them later. And for me… I’ll get back to reading research soon
In preparation for possible and probable weather events this summer, AMTA wants you to be prepared. This summer’s fire season in Colorado already is epic. We have several members and students seriously affected by the wildfires. And, wildfires are active in other states nearby. On top of this, a heat wave is affecting a good portion of the country, including the Midwestern Region. As of this writing, our colleagues in the Florida Panhandle are dealing with the opposite problem and have excessive rain and flooding! This is all to say severe weather happens with a vengeance sometimes and we must be prepared and ready to manage this to remain as safe as possible and as part of our professional activity.
The Red Cross is happy to receive donations. AMTA also welcomes donations to the disaster response fund. Funds go directly to music therapists directly affected by disaster.
Music therapists are exceptional in that they always stand ready if the need arises. And, given AMTA’s ongoing program for conducting welfare inquiries and outreach surrounding disaster events, we are like no other profession we know of in this regard. Thank you once again for stepping up during this challenging time. Our main messages are straight forward:
1) Have an emergency readiness plan in place and take precautions to protect yourselves and your family.
2) Establish a simple plan to communicate (telephone, internet, mail) with family and important contacts. If you have to evacuate register with the Red Cross `Safe and Well’ database and contact AMTA, when able, to let us know your status.
3) Conduct and document an inventory of your home contents. Store that information in a secure safe location.
4) Conduct a similar inventory for your professional materials and supplies.
5) Keep your insurance information (homeowners, renter, etc.) in a safe accessible location. Know and understand your coverage for high value professional music instruments.
6) Make use of emergency evacuation checklists available from the Red Cross and your area emergency management office.
7) If you are under pre-evacuation alert orders, take the order seriously and prepare to evacuate whether you need to or not.
8 ) If air quality is poor and/or you are prone to asthma and respiratory issues, keep high quality masks on hand and consider evacuating earlier than ordered.
9) Have a plan ready for your pets and contact the Humane Society for referrals.
10) Be prepared to have supplies on hand to tide you over for longer than you think you might have to evacuate.
11) Prepare your clients, as needed, should you have to take time off to deal with a weather emergency.
12) Check in with AMTA through the Region or the National Office and let us know how you are doing and any needs you may have.
Be safe. Be prepared. Be informed.
Links:
American Red Cross http://www.redcross.org/
InciWeb Incident Information System http://inciweb.org/
FEMA http://www.fema.gov/
Red Cross `Safe and Well’ International Database https://safeandwell.communityos.org/cms/
Questions, concerns, need information? Contact the AMTA National Office and ask for Barb Else, 301-589-3300 or else@musictherapy.org.