Behind the Scenes

Issue Date: 2010-01-22

Bob Tippett, your intrepid Pender reporter

There When It Counts

A fire, a lost person, a boat disaster, a plane down, possibly an earthquake. All are typical of events which could call the Pender Islands Emergency Program into action.
The Emergency Program on the Pender Islands is coordinated by volunteer Pat Haugh who has had training in emergency preparedness and response through programs conducted by the Justice Institute of BC. The Justice Institute also trains police, fire personnel, and paramedics.
The Emergency Program has been in operation on Pender for about 20 years. Pat has been coordinator for the past 10 years. She is aided in this position by four deputies, two from North and two from South Pender. In the case of an incident, the Emergency Program is requested by the Fire Department or the RCMP and sets up a Community Coordination Centre to assist as needed.
A very important branch of the emergency program is Emergency Support Services which is coordinated by volunteer Carolyn Canny and her four deputies. ESS has a core of 25 volunteers who are ready to act during any major emergency.
Did you know that Pender has three Emergency Reception Centres - the Legion, the Anglican Hall, and the community room of the South Pender Fire Hall? Also on-island is a 75 bed emergency Field Hospital which can be set up at the school. This consists of beds, blankets, and pillows along with some intravenous fluids but absolutely no drugs.
The ESS volunteers are responsible for manning the reception centres. One of the things they do quite often is support the local and off-island fire/police/rescue teams with hot food, transportation, and accommodation. Also, they supply necessities such as food, shelter, and clothing to people evacuated from their homes in such events as fires.
Another branch of the Emergency Program is the Neighbourhood Program. There are over 90 neighbourhood contacts on Pender, each having an organized phone tree to contact people within their neighbourhood within a short time. The telephone trees have been used for power problems, major snowfalls, and for water problems in Magic Lake. Each Neighbourhood Contact also has a first aid kit and a radio for maintaining contact should the phones fail.
All of the above is paid for by a very small portion of your property tax. The entire program has only one paid person who coordinates planning, resources, and actions for all of the Southern Gulf Islands (including Piers Island). Everybody else is a volunteer.
Pat estimates that one in ten people on Pender is directly involved in some aspect of “being prepared.” She invites you to contact her if you would like to volunteer in any area of support.