In the Spirit of Volunteerism

I recent years, disasters worldwide seem to be occurring not only more frequently but also in densely populated areas. The United States’ experiences with the man-made “911” disaster in 2001 and with Hurricane Katrina in 2005 tested our disaster systems and responses. The identified deficits gave rise to significant increases in federal funding targeted toward enhancement of disaster planning, training, and increases in equipment and supply caches. As a result, many health care professionals have received disaster training in recent years. The catastrophic earthquake in Haiti on January 12 left more than a million homeless and countless injured or dead. More recently, the Chile earthquake in February prompted large numbers of nurses, physicians, and other health care workers to seek volunteer opportunities to help. Some with no disaster experience and/or a sponsoring agency have taken great risks by traveling alone to ravaged areas without structured plans or resources. Some were able to link with disaster teams/agencies once in the disaster area and some were not. Nurses, especially trauma nurses, have important skills to offer, but most professional relief organizations require or give preference to those who have had formal disaster training/experience and are credentialed in advance. Volunteers with disaster training have the greatest chance of being selected. Volunteers with language fluency of the area will also be shown preference. Relief organizations initially rely on an existing pool of health care workers