DECATUR, Ill. --An American Red Cross Emergency Response Vehicle was sent out from Decatur on Sunday to help with Hurricane Laura relief in Baton Rouge, La.
The ERV is maintained by Dean Otta, a lead volunteer.
Otta has volunteered at American Red Cross in Central Illinois for over 10 years. He works in the disaster relief division and knew he wanted to do that after witnessing the aftermath of 9/11.
“I had retired for less than a year from Caterpillar when 9/11 happened. I was telling myself this is what I want to do. I want to be a first responder and help people with disaster relief”, Otta said.
He has been on around 12 relief trips himself, but could not go this time due to family commitments.
“I have never [been a] part of it where I can sit back and take care of the Decatur part of the deployment, virtually. And I'm enjoying it, just as much as hands on like I usually do”, Otta said.
He is able to track the vehicle virtually to see how the over 600 mile trip is going. There are 39 other emergency response vehicles in Illinois, and the two people who went from central Illinois on Sunday will join 37 others in feeding, sheltering, and offering health and mental health services. The reason they are able to do this is because the ERV is maintained throughout the year, ready to take off to an emergency scene at any moment.
“My main job is to make sure (the) emergency response vehicle is in tip top shape, where (at) the drop of a dime when it's called for (an) emergency, it's ready to go," Otta said. "It is not a last minute thing … it's maintained every day, if something goes wrong with it, it's up to me, as the lead, to make sure this thing is ready."
Donna Gaik and Anita Zeken, the volunteers who left from Decatur on Sunday, are from northern Illinois. They are finishing the trip today.
They will get supplies and orders as soon as possible and go from there. They will be there for two weeks.
