Last week we heard from our own Club member Sue Warmington as she gave us an insight into her experiences providing physiological first aid (PFA) to the people in Townsville following the floods in February this year.
While Sue arrived in Townsville after the worst of the floods had receded, the conditions were still bad. The streets were littered with mouldy furniture, the logistics to get around were stretched, the weather was hot and humid etc.
As a PFA person, Sue worked in an outreach centre with others from Red Cross along with other organisations such as Lifeline and the Department of Community Services (DOCS). Much of the work involved door knocking to see if people had the forms to get the support they were due. Red Cross also provided a link between those needing support and those that could provide it.
The whole work program was very well organised, but with lots of paperwork detailing what they had done.
She found that some of the support people were not professional emergency support people and were unprepared for what they found and Sue had provided support to them too.
Once home in Melbourne, Sue had to be debriefed on the project and later everyone involved received a follow up call to make sure that they were coping following their time in Townsville.