2012-08-23T20:00:00Z When disaster calls, Edna answersJAMIE MUNKS - [email protected] The Post-Star
Edna Quesnel has been deploying to natural disaster zones as a relief worker for 17 years, and on Friday, she’ll travel to Florida to prepare to respond to Tropical Storm Isaac.
Over the years, Quesnel has deployed as a relief worker with the American Red Cross for Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Floyd, 9/11, flooding in Texas, tornadoes in Oklahoma and wildfires in California, she said.
“I’ve been everywhere,” Quesnel said Thursday. “I think Hurricane Katrina is the worst I’ve done. Right along with that, I’d put 9/11. It wasn’t a natural disaster like we’re used to, and it was very heartwrenching.”
Quesnel, who is retired and lives in Ticonderoga, was notified at about 10 a.m. Thursday that the Red Cross needed relief workers to go to Florida.
By early afternoon Thursday, she was in the Glens Falls Red Cross office on Warren Street, filling out paperwork. She flies to Tampa on Friday.
“It’s very quick,” she said. “Once I’m notified, I tell my family where I’ll be and then I’m pretty well packed to go.”
If an emergency response is required, it’s usually a three-week assignment. But sometimes relief workers are sent to a location and a storm doesn’t require the emergency response that was expected. In that case, the workers are sent home, Quesnel said.
As of 2 p.m. Thursday, the National Weather Service had issued a tropical storm warning for Turks and Caicos and the southeastern Bahamas, and a hurricane warning for Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the British Virgin Islands and the northern coast of the Dominican Republic.
The Red Cross sends relief workers before such storms make landfall because they don’t want workers traveling during the storm, said Caroline Boardman, American Red Cross communications director for the northeastern New York region.
“Especially during hurricane season, the most important part of dealing with a natural disaster is being prepared,” Boardman said. “Sometimes storms miss where they’re expected to land, and sometimes they’re much bigger than we ever anticipated.”
Quesnel’s responsibility on this trip will be mass care, which could mean managing a shelter or driving a vehicle around that contains food for workers and people who are part of a cleanup effort.
“I enjoy helping people in a time of need,” Quesnel said. “I’ve been there and helped get them back to a normal state of living.”
Edna Quesnel has been deploying to natural disaster zones as a relief worker for 17 years, and on Friday, she’ll travel to Florida to prepare to respond to Tropical Storm Isaac.
Over the years, Quesnel has deployed as a relief worker with the American Red Cross for Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Floyd, 9/11, flooding in Texas, tornadoes in Oklahoma and wildfires in California, she said.
“I’ve been everywhere,” Quesnel said Thursday. “I think Hurricane Katrina is the worst I’ve done. Right along with that, I’d put 9/11. It wasn’t a natural disaster like we’re used to, and it was very heartwrenching.”
Quesnel, who is retired and lives in Ticonderoga, was notified at about 10 a.m. Thursday that the Red Cross needed relief workers to go to Florida.
By early afternoon Thursday, she was in the Glens Falls Red Cross office on Warren Street, filling out paperwork. She flies to Tampa on Friday.
“It’s very quick,” she said. “Once I’m notified, I tell my family where I’ll be and then I’m pretty well packed to go.”
If an emergency response is required, it’s usually a three-week assignment. But sometimes relief workers are sent to a location and a storm doesn’t require the emergency response that was expected. In that case, the workers are sent home, Quesnel said.
As of 2 p.m. Thursday, the National Weather Service had issued a tropical storm warning for Turks and Caicos and the southeastern Bahamas, and a hurricane warning for Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the British Virgin Islands and the northern coast of the Dominican Republic.
The Red Cross sends relief workers before such storms make landfall because they don’t want workers traveling during the storm, said Caroline Boardman, American Red Cross communications director for the northeastern New York region.
“Especially during hurricane season, the most important part of dealing with a natural disaster is being prepared,” Boardman said. “Sometimes storms miss where they’re expected to land, and sometimes they’re much bigger than we ever anticipated.”
Quesnel’s responsibility on this trip will be mass care, which could mean managing a shelter or driving a vehicle around that contains food for workers and people who are part of a cleanup effort.
“I enjoy helping people in a time of need,” Quesnel said. “I’ve been there and helped get them back to a normal state of living.”