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Ten from Martin, St. Lucie head north to help recovery
By Michael C. Bender, Jim Reeder

Palm Beach Post Staff Writers

Thursday, September 01, 2005

An 82-year-old World War II nurse, an amateur radio operator and a
former Los Angeles paramedic were among the several Treasure Coast
residents leaving Wednesday for the northern Gulf Coast to offer
food, help and better communications to those devastated by Hurricane
Katrina.

"It sounds like where we're heading is 10 times worse than what
(Hurricane) Charley was," said Rob Stoll, a 41-year-old Red Cross
volunteer headed toward Mobile,
The Stuart resident is trained to drive a mobile food truck, assess
damage for the Red Cross or supervise individual cases.

"I'm definitely expecting to see a lot more traumatic injuries,
people with a lot more mental stress, a lot more devastation," said
Stoll, a former Los Angeles paramedic. "But I just feel as though I'm
a little better prepared this year than I was last year."

Five men and two vehicles packed with electronics left St. Lucie
County to assist rescuers with communication equipment that was
damaged or destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.

The equipment will serve as a switchboard for emergency workers with
different types of radios.

"If you had a citizens band radio and somebody else had an 800 MHz
radio, we can help you talk to each other," said Greg Bunting of the
St. Lucie County Public Safety Department.

Bill Sinbine, an amateur radio operator who works at the St. Lucie
Nuclear Plant, will make the trip on loan from Florida Power & Light.
He went to Arcadia last year after Hurricane Charley struck.

"It worked great in Arcadia," Sinbine said. "This (trailer)and
amateur radio was the only communications they had for a while."

Eight antennas can be raised and lowered on a 35-foot hand-cranked
mast.

The group expects to be sent to Mississippi today after spending
Wednesday night in Tallahassee.

Five Martin County Red Cross volunteers will help with food, damage
assessment and necessary paperwork.

Jean Smith, an 82-year-old former World War II nurse, will make her
46th trip to a disaster area when she goes to help with record
keeping.

"I've earned these wrinkles," said Smith, of Hobe Sound. "I can do
most everything, just not as long as I used to 25 years ago."

This is just the start of Treasure Coast residents headed to the
disaster area, officials said.

"I've got people begging to go up there," said Maj. Mike Monahan,
director of law enforcement for the St. Lucie County Sheriff's
Office. "Every time you turn on the television, things are worse than
they were two hours before."

Mary Sawyer, director of the American Red Cross Martin County
Chapter, said more than a dozen Martin County volunteers are waiting
for assignments.

"This job is going to last for months," Sawyer said. "It's going to
be similar to what happened here last year and for Hurricane Andrew.
After Andrew, we were still feeding people out of trucks at
Thanksgiving."

For those interested in volunteering, the Martin County Red Cross
will hold a disaster relief training course at its Kanner Highway
chapter from 1 to 4 p.m. Wednesday.

Fund-raising efforts are under way locally with Core Communities
promising to match the first $25,000 residents donate at its
Tradition Welcome Center in Port St. Lucie. Checks made out to the
American Red Cross, Salvation Army or Catholic Charities of New
Orleans can be mailed or delivered to Core Communities, 10489 S.W.
Meeting St., Port St. Lucie, Fla. 34987.

In addition, proceeds from admission to Friday night's St. Lucie Mets
game against Vero Beach will be given to the relief fund.

The St. Lucie and Martin County school districts have several fund-
raisers planned for the next several weeks, officials said.

"We want to reciprocate what was done for us last year," St. Lucie
spokeswoman Ginger King said.


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09/01/m1b_tcrescue_0901.html