Local residents assisting in the Hurricane Gustav relief effort said they had a busy weekend.
Action Ambulance crew member April Reed of Howland, reached Tuesday by cell phone in Beaumont, Texas, said when they arrived at a nursing home there, the nurses and staff were in tears since they needed to evacuate more than 30 residents.
''They were told to evacuate the nursing home but were worried how they were going to do this,'' she said.
The Action Ambulance was among 16 that helped with the evacuation, carrying two to three people per ambulance to other nursing homes some 140 miles away. Reed said one of their transports was an elderly woman who needed oxygen.
Action Emergency Ambulance and Trumbull-Mercer Chapter of the American Red Cross were dispatched to Gulf Coast states to help.
Jack Popadak, president of the local Action Emergency Ambulance in Warren, said Reed and Matt Biviano of Niles left Friday morning with an ambulance to join crews and more than 230 other ambulances from across the nation in helping to transport people in the wake of Hurricane Gustav. The ambulances were deployed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
''They are all on stand by and go wherever they are needed,'' Popadak said.
Biviano and Reed arrived at Kelly Air Base in San Antonio, Texas, where they were stationed along with other ambulances and many coach buses.
The Emergency Medical Service Strike Force teams will be strategically re-deployed as needed. They may be used to evacuate nursing facilities, hospitals and home-bound invalids in the land-fall target areas, Popadak said.
Reed said she and Biviano originally were given dismissal papers and scheduled to stay seven to 14 days, but then were told by FEMA officials not to leave in case they needed to begin transporting the nursing home patients somewhere else.
''We are not sure where we will be going. FEMA will let us know where they need us next,'' she said.
Reed and Biviano both are marking the first time to help in a hurricane. Reed said her husband, Thomas, went to the southern states when Hurricane Katrina hit.
Popadak said Biviano and Reed have described the area as very windy with hazy, gray-colored skies.
Christinia Gargas, director of development and public relations for the local Red Cross, said Kathy Balko, emergency services coordinator for the Red Cross, and Bonnie Sweitzer left last Thursday for Montgomery, Ala., for 21 days.
''When I spoke to them Monday, they were being moved to Louisiana. There have been more evacuees coming from Louisiana so they were moved there to help,'' Gargas said. The two will be stationed in Slidell, La.
Balko, reached by cell phone Tuesday, said 57 shelters were set up in Alabama for 11,000 evacuees. The help needed in Alabama was primarily for people whose homes had suffered flooding damage.
Balko on Monday was working on providing food, mass care and other services out of the Alabama State Emergency Operation Center. She said she and Sweitzer has been working with families who had to flee their homes in providing shelter, mass care, and food.
Tuesday, she said the two were driving to Covington, La., where more than 100,000 homes were without power.
The two had provided disaster relief assistance before with Balko helping following Hurricane Rita.
''For us it is like Katrina all over again. It may not be as devastating as Katrina and Rita, but people need our help,'' Gargas said.
Balko said she and Sweitzer were in Montgomery, Ala., over the weekend at the staging area waiting for an assignment.
''We basically were helping wherever we were needed. There was a lot of work that needed done,'' she said.
Balko said except for very hot and muggy temperatures, the areas they have been at have not been affected by the hurricane
Being at hurricane sites also is nothing new to Action Ambulance's Popadak, who helped during hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
''I spent 18 days in New Orleans. It's a hard situation to describe when you see the devastation,'' he said.
Action was deployed for 39 days in 2005 working the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
In addition to Hurricane Gustav, forecasters are also keeping an eye on what Hannah and Ike are doing off the East Coast.