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<DIV>Hi all,</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Has anyone done emergency service volunteering like at a disaster site or
event administering first aid?</DIV>
<DIV>Perhaps someone has taken community emergency response team, cert, training
which is part of citizen corps.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Has anyone volunteered in a fire department in their office?</DIV>
<DIV>Well, tonight I tried to get into the fire department as an administrative
volunteer. I felt this is a good way to serve my community.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>So I go to the orientation and chat with volunteers and hear the briefing.
Then in the end, we split into groups.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I spoke 1:1 with the chief. At this point, I hear his concerns and he was
noncommital. He acknowledged I have some skills and was a bright person; he said
he’d ask around to see if they had work I could do. He said they did not have
much admin work being a fire department and thought I’d be bored. The lack of
admin work is understandable. But his concerns seemed overdramatic.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I think sighted people are overly concerned for us. His concerns was that
there are hazardous equipment around; he would not want me to stumble on them
and there was swinging doors I could be hit by. I explained that I’d learn the
area and could walk around with my cane and that I would stay away from rooms
with equipment or hazardous materials. For the doors, I' said I’d probably see
them moving or just be far enough away so as to not hit them. </DIV>
<DIV>I did explain what skills I had to contribute as well as my vision
since he asked. My tunnel vision may help some in getting around, but I think
I’d use more nonvisual skills.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Anyway, he said he’d let me know if he could find an opportunity. </DIV>
<DIV>I don’t know if I sold my skills enough or provided enough education to
them to ward off their concerns.</DIV>
<DIV>We’ll see. I still see few barriers to being an administrative volunteer. I
just hope they come around.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I’m always concerned when people begin conversations with saying “I have
some concerns about you doing this.”</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I read an article about an individual being a cert coordinator after taking
cert training and he also volunteered with the fire department. I’m hoping there
are more doing that work. It’s a good area for community service.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Ashley</DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></BODY></HTML>