Originally posted in May 2024 Medicine Man Plant Co. Newsletter
"Well dark clouds are rollin' in Man
I'm standin' out in the rain
- Stevie Ray Vaughan
May started out pretty rough here in the Houston area. Areas to the north and east received around 20” of rain, necessitating opening several dam flood gates to protect these dams from catastrophic failure. This resulted in flooding downstream along the rivers, rendering many people homeless. It was a case of the needs of the many outweighing the needs of the few, where flooding some homes prevented the loss of many more.
I got the call Thursday morning that the Red Cross shelter at which I volunteer as dormitory manager was being activated. I walked into the shelter at noon and, along with fellow volunteers, began prepping it for “clients”. At 2:30pm the first busload of clients arrived – a group of teenagers from a school that had been flooded, along with school staff. I finally left that night a bit after midnight. The next three evenings I was there 11pm-7am where my job as dormitory manager was to do what I could to make people’s stay in the shelter as comfortable as possible, resolve conflicts, and keep the sleeping area, bathrooms, and shower areas clean and stocked.
This was my fifth disaster response activation by the Red Cross – two floods and three hurricanes. The purpose of a Red Cross shelter is to give clients a safe place with food, water, bed, and access to resources to help them start the recovery process. It is not designed to be a comfortable place, not by choice but by necessity.
If you choose to go to a shelter, you’ll have to fill out some basic paperwork, followed by receiving a small bag of toiletries (toothbrush, toothpaste, comb, washcloth, etc), then be shown to your military-style cot. On the cot will be a pillow and a single blanket. Family members will be grouped together with their cots touching, and the cots of strangers will be approximately three feet away. There will be between 100 and 1000 cots around you, depending on the size of the shelter. There’s no privacy in the shelter.
There’s always a table of snack foods, coffee, and water available, but meals are served on a precise schedule three times a day. Food is catered by local restaurants when possible (yum!), delivered from restaurants outside the affected area, or a pouch of military MREs (Meals Ready to Eat) if things are really bad. For hygiene/food safety reasons, clients are not allowed in the food preparation area, nor is the shelter allowed to serve food brought by well-meaning people trying to help us. Food safety is critical because a shelter overrun with food poisoning during a disaster can lead to tragedy.
If you ever end up in my shelter, I’ll do my best to make you comfortable in such a terrible situation, but generally I’m limited to a roof over your head, a bottle of water in your hand, and (hopefully) hot food in your belly. Entertainment, spare clothing, phone chargers, etc will be up to you.
Depending on the emergency, you may or may not have much time to grab things before you evacuate. First and foremost, you need to bring any prescription medicines you have. Also, right this minute use your phone to take clear photographs of the label on each showing all the details. If you don’t have time to grab your meds, the shelter medical staff will be able to use those pictures to get you replacement medicines. Note, glasses and contacts fall into the prescription medicine category. Keep a copy of your eyeglass/contact prescription on your phone, too.
In addition to your medicine, also grab copies of important papers such as insurance policies, banking info, birth certificates, passports, driver’s license, and other important paperwork you think of. And yes, take pictures of those things now, too.
As mentioned earlier, upon arrival you’ll be given a small bag with gender-neutral, travel-sized toiletries for use while in the shelter. You may want to rescue your expensive hair/skincare products, makeup, and perfumes, but your storage space in the shelter will be limited to the space under your cot. Grab feminine hygiene products instead. You may be limited to a shower just every other day or more, depending on shelter resources. Bring at least two extra sets of clothing, especially socks and underwear. Some shelters have partnerships with donated clothing organizations that, upon request, will bring you some clothing in your size, but you won’t have much say in the style/type of clothing, and do you really want to wear someone else’s used underwear?
The shelters are set up for safety, not comfort. You will be given a cot, a single blanket, and pillow. Quiet time starts at 8pm and lights out is generally 9pm-6am. Because of the number of people around you, you’ll appreciate comfortable earplugs to reduce the noise (people snoring, children crying) and even a sleeping mask if you don’t want to be woken up when the morning lights come on.
During the day, options for entertainment are very limited, so something to pass the time helps a lot – books, a deck of cards, games without a lot of pieces, and other non-electronic entertainment are smart choices. Do NOT assume you’ll have fast (or any) WiFi available to watch movies or scroll through social media. Also, options to recharge your phone or other electronic devices will be limited, so even though you had better bring charging cables, you may not be able to plug in anytime you want. Note, you will be most beloved person in the shelter if you show up with a multi-outlet power dock so more people can charge their devices off a single wall outlet!
God willing, you never need to use this information, but as a shelter manager let me add that having these things makes my life easier, which will really make me like you. That’s a good thing!
Go Wild. Get Healthy. Be Prepared.
-Mark “Merriwether” Vorderbruggen, Ph.D. Chemist and Herbalist
Thenk you for sharing. Hopefully people won’t need this option, but if they do it’s good to know in advance how it works. I’m sharing this with other.