Four Part Series: USING OUR VOCATIONS TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE: Ida White

 A Four Part Series: USING OUR VOCATIONS TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE: 

        Part: I Bringing Dignity Amidst Death and Destruction

                    Disaster Specialist Rotarian Ida White                

"I  don't know what to do I lost everything ..."

CNN! ABC NEWS! USA TODAY!
" My blood pressure has gone up; my mother has a fragile heart and the stress of not knowing where my son is is making me sick...I dont know how to find him... I go dizzy every time I turn on the TV and see those horrible images...
WE'RE THE CITY COPS! WE'RE THE STATE POLICE! WE'RE ARMY NATIONAL GUARD!
 " I don't have any extra money ... before this disaster,  I mean my hours were cut; my husband's hours were cut and now this thing has wiped us out....what , what are we going to do?"
WE'RE DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS!  I NEED TO GET TO MY BELOVED FIDO!
“I have nowhere to go, I don't know anyone...my family was killed when our house collasped...I don't know where I am going to sleep tonight ; how am I going to buy food; my boyfriend paid all the bills, all my neighbors' homes were leveled; I feel like lying down and never waking up...

When people are faced with natural disasters they are thrown into confusion. Mass panic, chaos, death and disease reigns.  Rescuers scramble to the scene and juggle over jurisdictions and egos. Who restores order and comforts the distress?

Rotarian Ida White currently is on call as Chief of Staff for Region II of  FEMA, Department of Homeland Security.  Following her retirement from the VI Department of Education, Rtn. Ida joined the FEMA workforce as an Equal Rights Officer. Initially, it was to be short term employment, however, it has evolved to be a vocation in which her job has been to smooth the path for disaster survivors as well as provide training and affirmative action support for employees. She started working for FEMA in the aftermath of Hurricane Marilyn's destructive force in the Virgin Islands and has since been deployed to heartbreaking disasters  such as 9/11 and Katrina. She has traveled across the US from California to New York. As Chief of Staff for a disaster, Rtn. Ida is responsible for the FEMA staff  along with being  responsible for the smooth coordination  of services with local, state, and private entities. She is a skillful administrator who endeavors to get the job done while being cognizant of egos as well as the broken hearts of the disaster survivors.  She must also be politically correct and savvy as she is reponsible for speaking to the media as well as local, state, and federal officials.

An impeccable Rotarian, Ida has used her vocation to serve humanity on an individual basis as well as within Rotary.  She continues to give back to the community, and render assistance as it is needed bringing calmness to confusing situations and comfort to the distressed. She has volunteered to teach children and teens disaster preparedness techniques in the community. She is an accomplished speaker who does presentations throughout the community, her most recent centering on Tsunamis.

 Currently as the Area Disaster Chair of Rotary for USVI North.  Rtn. Ida's excellence in her profession is a great asset to Rotary II and Rotary.  Now in the event of an castrophic emergency in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, Ida has put together an (EOP) Emergency Operation Plan  in place  whereby Rotary Clubs can check on fellow Rotarians after a disaster.  It  includes an efficient procedure  whereby damage assessment of fellow Rotarians can be made quickly and reported to the club’s officials, the District and Rotary International. Then logical plans with targeted resources can be requested and disbursed . Rotarians near and far will be able to help devastated fellow Rotarians and their communities.  In addition, Rtn Ida has been working on the creation of a Rotary decal for the purpose of identifying fellow Rotarians, theirs homes and property.

I asked Ida three questions. These are her own words:

What advice can you give to Rotarians who are helping people who have gone through trauma? 

My advice is to be there for them as a listener.  People who have been traumatized want to tell the story.  They want to talk it out.  Sometimes its their disbelief that they survived.  Nonetheless no matter how long it takes my suggestion is to listen and offer them words of comfort, sometimes a hug is needed, and other forms of support, but folks want to know that you care about what happened to them.

You have a vast amount of experience with disasters and have been deployed to many disasters over the years. Which one haunts you the most?

During Katrina, when we had to provide housing to folks who were without housing, my direct concern was to provide some oversight to those persons with disabilities to see that they received their housing timely.  As we provided trailers, I became conscisous of the fact that sometimes husband and wife were both wheel chair bound and our trailers had to be safe and adequate for people who had such issues, and as well we had to address the problem of providing trailers which were adequately built for the wheel chair bound .  That was a major effort.

Currently as the Area Disaster Chair of Rotary for USVI North you are using your vocation skills to benefit Rotary. Tell us about your position as chair and the kinds of things you are doing.
 
As area chair, I have visited the clubs in USVI Rotary North and reviewed the EOP.  I have made myself available to give any additional assistance as needed.  For Rotary II, we have continued to review our EOP as a work in progress.  After Hurricane Earl, it was obvious that we could add or enhance our Buddy Plan area wise.  Suggestions have been made to club members that all Rotarians keep a cell phone auto charger.  Use of Smart phones, that allow emails is certainly an asset.  Now a project that I am working on is a Rotary Decal that allows our local club members to detect areas that Rotarians live.  Since St. Thomas is often difficult to locate homes, etc., this decal on mail boxes or utility poles will be helpful.