CapeCodToday – Cape Cod DART seeks emergency volunteers

Posted on March 26, 2014

Cape Cod DART seeks emergency volunteers

Cape Cod Disaster Animal Response Team (CCDART) will begin a six-week basic responder class on Saturday, March 29 at the Dennis Police Station. CCDART, which is comprised solely of volunteers, works closely with the Barnstable County Regional Emergency Planning Committee (BCREPC) in the event of an emergency or disaster here on the Cape.

CCDART was created in 2008 in response to the Federal Pets Act of 2006.  The act was an amendment to the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act which made it mandatory for state and local preparedness plans to acknowledge and address the needs of citizens with household pets and service animals in the event of a disaster or emergency.

According to a BCREPC release, qualifying jurisdictions must address the needs of pet owners in order to remain eligible for FEMA reimbursements.

The act was put into law after it became evident that pet owners did not seek emergency assistance or go to shelters where their animals would not be welcomed, according to BCREPC.

In the event of a declared emergency, BCREPC may call upon CCDART to provide rescue, triage and temporary sheltering for household pets. CCDART volunteers might also be prevailed upon to transport animals to the vet or alternate boarding facilities. BCREPC is made up of police, fire, health and municipal representative from all but one town on the Cape (Falmouth) and Nantucket. BCREPC is responsible for opening and running the seven shelters across the Cape and Nantucket, most of which accept pets.

The course begins on Saturday, March 29 and will be held each Saturday for six weeks from 2:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. at the Dennis Police Station, 90 Bob Crowell Road in South Dennis.

Volunteers need only share a love and concern for animals. A volunteer application and handbook is available on the CCDART website here. Applicants are asked to review the handbook and sign page 8 after reading the “release of liability” information on page 7. The completed application, signed page 8 and a check made out to CCDART (non-refundable, tax-deductible training fee) must be mailed to CCDART, PO Box 325, West Barnstable, MA 02668 or brought to the first class on March 29. If you are bringing your application to class, please arrive by 2:15 p.m. Volunteers must pass a CORI check.

More information is available on the CCDART website or by calling 508-737-9467.

See the original article here

Cape Cod Times Opinion: Animal response team offers emergency pet care

Posted on January 25, 2014

Animal response team offers emergency pet care

Thank you for your great coverage of the recent blizzard, especially of the Cape’s emergency response. Great effort has been put into the development of a regional emergency plan for Cape Cod. However, I was disappointed that you did not mention the involvement of Cape Cod Disaster Animal Response Team, which is an active and important part of this plan.

Over 100 animals — 78 dogs, 34 cats and four birds — were co-sheltered with their owners at all the shelters. The CCDART volunteers provided a safe and comfortable environment for all these animals where their owners could both visit and provide care. For those who were too infirm to come to the animal shelter area, we provided their animals’ care.

One of CCDART’s main missions is to provide this service so that people, especially the elderly, might be more willing to come to shelters knowing that their animals are nearby and accessible as opposed to refusing to leave their cold houses without their pets.

Jane Ferguson

West Barnstable

CapeCodOnline

Cape Cod DART puts the focus on pet safety during storm season | CapeCodToday.Com

Posted on January 25, 2014 Updated on January 25, 2014

Cape Cod DART puts the focus on pet safety during storm season

Getting your pet to safety too

Four paws and big brown eyes took the lead during the latest in National Preparedness Month’s brown bag lunch series at the County Complex in Barnstable Village. Brodie, a striking Chesapeake Bay retriever, supported his human partner Holly Rodgers to share the essentials of getting your pet ready for an emergency.

Rogers (the human member of the team) directs the volunteer organization Cape Cod Disaster Animal Rescue Team (DART). The group coordinates with regional emergency organizations and handles setting up evacuation areas for pets in five of the Cape’s six regional evacuation shelters.

It can happen here

Brodie, a Cheaspeake Bay Retriever, keeps a close eye on his human partner Holly Rodgers, director of Cape Cod DART, as she shows some of the items in his “Go Kit” including lead, food, vacination records, toys/comfort object, and a reflective vest. In an emergency, a pet owner can pick up the already-packed Go Kit and have everything the animal needs for several days. Photo by Teresa Martin.

Storms, fires, and other disasters happen and they can happen here and now. Images from the recent Hurricane Isaac on the Gulf coast provide a stark reminder that evacuees aren’t just human. In just one day during the storm, the National Humane Society reported it transported 133 dogs and 67 cats out of the area to emergency shelter.

We live with hurricane season, blizzards, high fire risk, and a myriad of other potential disasters every day. It may not have happened here this year yet, but if it does, no one wants their pet to have a starring role in “dog clings desperately to floating branch” news photos.

As Rogers told the group during her presentation, “Our animals can’t prepare for themselves. We need to do it for them.”

The Go Kit: Cats

Preparation takes just a few minutes of organization. DART calls the result a “Go Kit“, a collection of packed essentials for your pet that you can keep in the garage or near the pet food and grab it to go if you need to evacuate your home.

For cats, this includes you cat’s carrier, with a copy of his or her vaccination, vet, and address information and a photo of kitty attached to the carrier. Inside, stash a bag with a small cardboard box and a baggie with a few scoops of kitty litter- just enough to get kitty through a few days. Add in another baggie with three days worth of food, and a few cans of kitty’s best treat, along with a food and water bowl. As a final touch, drop in three packages or bottles of water.

The Go Kit: Dogs

For dogs, follow a similar process. Gather together vaccination records and photo, a non-retractable lead, a toy or comfort object, a treat or two, and three days of food and water and a food and water bowl. A reflective vest or collar makes another good addition to the kit.

Rogers also suggests adding some dry rice that you can cook up and feed Fido as an alternative in case your dog develops a bit intestinal distress, as can happen to stressed pups.

Ensure your dog has a collar and tag or is otherwise marked by name, as well. If you need to evacuate, you can easily grab Fido’s crate or carrier and his Go Kit, and he’ll have what he needs to survive for several days.

Vaccine data

If you end up in an emergency shelter, the vaccination sheet becomes invaluable. As anyone who has ever boarded a pet knows, pets kept in proximity require certification of vaccination, and even in an emergency the rules hold.

Undocumented dogs and cats typically end up in a segregated section of an evacuation shelter; having documentation attached for your pet make his, and your, life easier. Your vet can print or email you an update sheet at your request, but the time to get it is now … not in the middle of a hurricane!

Pets on Cape have a place

In many regions, evacuation shelters have no provision for companion animals, but the Cape is different. Since DART launched in 2008, it has created a network of volunteers who, in coordination with regional emergency response, can create animal-friendly areas of the region’s evaluation centers.

In fact, five of the Cape’s six shelters have the capacity to take in animals along with their humans; only Barnstable lacks this ability. The actual number of animal areas open depends upon volunteer response in any given emergency.

The regional shelters also use an approach called “co-sheltering” which means you continue to take care of your pet yourself. Even though your pet stays in the animal section, you still feed and visit and take care of him or her — and you keep custody of your furry friend.

Common sense equals good sense

Rogers points out that preparedness really falls firmly into the category of common sense.

“Do you have a personal plan for your pets and your family if you had to leave your home on short notice?” she asked the group.

“What do you need to take? Where would you go?”

—-

Upcoming Events in National Preparedness Month:

• Lessons Learned from 9/11
  With Chrystal LaPine, Barnstable County Sheriff’s Office and responder on 9/11
  Tues, Sept 11, noon 1-pm
  Barnstable County Complex,  Department of Health & Environment (top of the hill), 3195 Main Street, Barnstable Village
• Family Emergency Preparedness
  With Touch-a-Truck Fire Trucks and Smokey the Bear. Build your family’s 72-hour emergency kit and more.
  Friday, Sept 14, 2-6 pm
  Old County Jail, 3195 Main Street, Barnstable Village

For more info on pet preparedness or to become a pet emergency volunteer: Cape Cod Disaster Animal Response Team (DART), 508-737-9467

Cape Cod DART puts the focus on pet safety during storm season | CapeCodToday.Com.

MSPCA-Centerville and Cape Cod Disaster Animal Response Team Join Sandy Relief Efforts

Posted on January 25, 2014 Updated on January 25, 2014

MSPCA-Centerville and Cape Cod Disaster Animal Response Team Join Sandy Relief Efforts

November 16, 2012

Centerville, Mass., Nov. 16, 2012 – On Saturday, Nov. 17 The MSPCA-Centerville and the Cape Cod Disaster Animal Response Team (CCDART) will be collecting donated pet food and supplies to ship to New Jersey, where they will be distributed to areas in the state that have been hit hardest by Hurricane Sandy, the two organizations announced today.

CCDART has rented a large van that will be parked outside the MSPCA-Centerville adoption center on Saturday between 2:00p.m.-4:00p.m.—during which time donated supplies will be packed and loaded.  On Sunday, Nov. 18 the CCDART team will drive the supplies to the St. Hubert’s Animal Welfare Center in Madison, New Jersey, which will direct the supplies to families in need as well as local pet food pantries.

The MSPCA has already pulled together a large and growing assembly of much-needed supplies to send including:

• More than a dozen cases of canned cat and dog food
• More than a dozen bags of dry cat and dog food
• 17 bags of cat litter
• More than 50 leashes, collars and harnesses
• 20 bags of cat and dog treats
• A big box of towels, bags of puppy pads and various cat toys

In addition the Cold Noses Foundation, an organization that offers grant programs to animal welfare charities, has donated $1,000 worth of pet supplies including dog and cat food, litter and toys.

Said Holly Rogers, President of Cape Cod DART: “Since our founding in 2008 we have assisted on the front lines of countless disasters, providing  food and care to animals in distress.   Our response to Sandy—and this partnership with the MSPCA—is one of our biggest and most challenging, given the enormity of the disaster and the number of animals in need.  We are so thankful to those who have already donated and ask everyone on Cape Cod to please help by donating food and supplies to our cause.”

While it is impossible to know exactly how many companion animals have been killed, injured or displaced by Sandy, MSPCA and CCDART officials believe there are likely hundreds—if not thousands—of pets rendered homeless by the storm across New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.

How to Help

Supplies that are most in need include Nylabone dog toys, cat food (both wet and dry), cat litter and gift cards to major pet retailers (such as PetSmart).   Anyone who wishes to donate may bring supplies to the MSPCA’s Cape Cod facility at 1577 Falmouth Road in Centerville.  The center will be accepting donations during its business hours today (12:30p.m. – 3:30p.m.) and tomorrow from 12:00p.m. until 4:00p.m.

Anyone who wishes to donate money to fund CCDART’s ongoing mission to educate the public about disaster preparedness for companion animals, and supply trained volunteers to respond in times of crisis, can click here.

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The MSPCA-Angell is a national and international leader in animal protection and veterinary medicine and provides direct hands-on care for thousands of animals each year. Founded in 1868, it is the second-oldest humane society in the United States. Services include animal protection and adoption, advocacy, humane education, law enforcement, and world-class veterinary care. The MSPCA-Angell is a private, non-profit organization. It does not receive any government funding nor is it funded or operated by any national humane organization. The MSPCA-Angell relies solely on the support and contributions from individuals who care about animals. Please visit www.mspca.org and like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/mspcaangell

Truro Animal Control to host Cape Cod DART seminar December 14 | CapeCodToday.Com

Posted on January 25, 2014 Updated on January 25, 2014

Truro Animal Control to host Cape Cod DART seminar December 14

Brodie, a Cheaspeake Bay Retriever, keeps a close eye on his human partner Holly Rodgers, director of Cape Cod DART, as she shows some of the items in his “Go Kit” including lead, food, vacination records, toys/comfort object, and a reflective vest during a 2012 seminar. Photo by Teresa Martin.

Truro Animal Control will host a Cape Cod DART (Disaster Animal Response Team) informational seminar on Saturday, December 14 from 12:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Truro Police Station.

Cape Cod DART is Barnstable County’s domestic animal response team in the event of a disaster. According to the DART website, the organization was founded in 2008 in response to the Federal Pets Act of 2006. In the event of a declared emergency, DART provides an array of emergency pet services including rescue, triage and temporary sheltering.

Made up completely of volunteers, DART follows FEMA’s Incident Command System.

During Saturday’s seminar, attendees will learn about the pet aspect of emergency planning and response, what DART members do and how to become a volunteer.

Anyone interested in attending is asked to either call or email the Truro Animal Control Officer at 508-246-5225 or animalcontrol@truro-ma.gov.

Learn more about DART, emergency preparedness and preparing an emergency go-kit for your animal on the DART site here.

Read Teresa Martin’s 2012 story about DART here.

Truro Animal Control to host Cape Cod DART seminar December 14 | CapeCodToday.Com.

Cape’s emergency planners learn from mistakes | CapeCodOnline.com

Posted on January 25, 2014 Updated on January 25, 2014

Cape’s emergency planners learn from mistakes

By Patrick Cassidy

As a massive snowstorm threatened Cape Cod in early February, local emergency planners chose to open only three of six regional shelters.

Power outages and cold weather continued in the days following the storm, stretching volunteer ranks thin and prompting increased criticism by residents in areas where shelters were left shuttered, especially in Hyannis.

“There were some concerns raised,” Barnstable Deputy Police Chief Craig Tamash said.

And despite a relatively quiet hurricane season so far this year, officials have redoubled their efforts to be better prepared.

One of the problems at the time of the February storm was that the regional shelter at Barnstable High School in Hyannis was not equipped to take pets. In addition, the school’s generator was not adequate for a shelter scenario, according to local officials.

Since then, the regional shelter in Hyannis has been moved from the high school to nearby Barnstable Intermediate School, volunteer recruitment efforts across the Cape have increased and emergency planners implemented a policy to open all six regional shelters during any Capewide events.

“We won’t make that mistake again,” Michael Whalen, Dennis police chief and co-chairman of the Barnstable County Regional Emergency Planning Committee, said about limiting the number of shelters open during emergencies that affect the entire region.

The February storm showed the capabilities and shortcomings of Cape’s 5-year-old regional shelter system, Whalen said.

The storm tested planners’ assumptions about who would use the shelters. Many needed medical or other assistance, Whalen said.

Another big lesson was that generators at schools aren’t necessarily sufficient for a long-term sheltering situation, he said.

Rachel Potts with the American Red Cross recently arranged for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to inspect and report on the capacity of each generator being used at the shelters, Whalen said.

The regional planning committee is also trying to assist at satellite shelters that may be opened in Bourne on the other side of the Cape Cod Canal and in Provincetown, which could be cut off because of low-lying geography on the Lower Cape, Whalen said.

EMERGENCIES RAMP UP VOLUNTEER INTEREST

There were successes during the February storm.

An agreement with the Dennis-Yarmouth Regional School District to provide food services, including for other shelters as necessary, worked well during the last storm as did transportation assistance provided by the Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority, Whalen said. AmeriCorps volunteers and the National Guard were crucial in the response, he said.

The volunteers who responded were heroes, sometimes staying on the job for days without relief, according to Whalen and other emergency officials.

But more are always needed, according to the leaders of the agencies which staff the regional shelters.

Ironically, they say, disasters help.

In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, the February blizzard and the Boston Marathon bombings, the American Red Cross saw a 180 percent increase in volunteers across the organization’s eastern region.

There are now 2,048 Red Cross volunteers available in the eastern region, which includes 181 communities, Red Cross spokeswoman Kat Powers wrote in an email to the Times.

On the Cape, the Red Cross established recruiting teams and the recent string of emergencies helped boost interest, said Hilary Greene, Cape Cod and Islands chapter executive director.

“Last year was quite a year,” she said.

Cape Red Cross volunteers increased from less than 200 to 265, in addition to volunteers available off-Cape, Greene said.

But the Red Cross needs volunteers 24 hours a day, seven days a week to respond to house fires and other, smaller, emergencies, Greene said.

“It’s a different type of volunteer,” she said about volunteers needed for longer-term events like storms.

TRAINING UNDERWAY

The Red Cross on Cape Cod has reached out to specific groups, including starting a training program for employees of large businesses on how to prepare for an emergency, starting with a partnership with Cape Air, she said.

“We are looking for more companies like that,” she said.

There is also a need, based on the experience in February, for more volunteers with backgrounds in health and mental health, she said.

Of the 1,153 people who came to shelters during the storm, 90 percent were over 80 years old, said Cape Cod Medical Reserve Corps director Jean Roma.

“We had the World War II generation,” she said, adding that the demographics at shelters off-Cape were more balanced.

And volunteers on the Cape may not be around during the cold months, she said.

“They’re here for hurricane season, which has always been wonderful, and after the holidays they tend to leave,” she said.

The Medical Reserve Corps, which provides medical and nonmedical assistance during emergencies, has about 300 volunteers but typically only about 100 are active, Roma said. During the storm, she had about 29 nurses working 12-hour shifts, she said.

The group has added 37 volunteers since February but she can always use more, Roma said.

Those who do volunteer give it their all, she said.

Many of the volunteers are emergency room or practicing nurses and during the February storm they would often come to a shelter to help after a brief rest following their regular job, Roma said.

Although she tries to have volunteers on duty for only 12-hour shifts, in at least one case in Orleans a nurse worked for 52 hours with little rest during the storm, Roma said.

Now Roma says she’s looking for ways to schedule differently, including the possibility of short shifts to help relieve those who are on for longer stretches.

She’s also seeing neighborhoods preparing to help themselves and working with groups to ensure there are services at the shelter to assist people with special needs like the sight impaired.

Groups like the Cape’s Community Emergency Response Teams play a key role but with everyone looking for volunteers there’s a lot of competition, Roma said.

“We’re all struggling and there’s only so many volunteers to go around,” she said.

PROTECTING FURRY FRIENDS

Despite the challenges it faces, the Cape is far ahead of other parts of the state in working regionally to prepare for emergencies, Roma and other officials said.

“The resources are much greater than the town trying to do it themselves,” Barnstable Deputy Police Chief Tamash said.

This includes preparations for the peninsula’s furrier residents.

The Cape Cod Disaster Animal Response Team is holding six orientations in the next two months, said the group’s president and founder, Holly Rogers.

The group has between 30 and 35 volunteers, who help prepare the shelters so people can bring their pets, too, which is sometimes key to convincing them to come at all, Rogers said.

Volunteers train at area animal shelters but don’t necessarily have to work hands on with animals, she said.

Some man registration desks or help in other ways, she said.

Like everyone else who spoke to the Times for this story, Rogers said she could always use more volunteers.

Currently she has enough help, if all her volunteers are available, to man three of the six regional shelters for between 36 and 48 hours, Rogers said.

“The only thing that’s holding us back is a lack of volunteers,” she said.

In addition to all of the extra effort in the wake of the February storm, local emergency planners have done what they always do.

Supplies have been checked, cots repaired and inventories done, said Sean O’Brien, coordinator of the regional emergency planning committee.

“This is what we do every year,” O’Brien said. “It doesn’t matter what the storm is.”

Cape’s emergency planners learn from mistakes | CapeCodOnline.com.

Cape Cod Volunteers Rescue Pets | CapeCodOnline.com

Posted on January 25, 2014 Updated on January 25, 2014

During the recent historic floods in Tennessee, most residents near the swollen Mississippi River were evacuated to safety. But in the rush to get to higher ground, many had to abandon their pets, leaving volunteers — including many from Cape Cod — to rescue them from devastated homes and flooded streets. “The human element is bad, but there’s an animal tied to almost everybody,” Mashpee fire Capt. Joe Fellows said. Fellows, a 20-year veteran of the department and longtime volunteer with the Cape Cod Stranding Network, used vacation time May 9-17 to volunteer in Memphis, Tenn., with the American Humane Association’s Red Star Animal Emergency Services group. Organizations from the Cape also had a hand in saving the four-legged survivors of the floods, including the International Fund for Animal Welfare and the Cape Cod Disaster Animal Response Team (DART). Every morning, volunteers woke up with the sun and didn’t rest until sundown, Fellows said. “All we saw was the hotel, the highway and the shelter,” said Holly Rogers, president and founder of Cape Cod DART.  Rogers traveled with four other volunteers to Tennessee for a week, returning on May 21. Another DART volunteer went down three weeks ago, she said. Fellows and other search-and-rescue volunteers went through the neighborhoods north of Memphis, he said, sometimes checking homes based on neighbors’ tips that animals were still there. “We went from one place to the other, launching our little boats and basically going door to door,” he said. In the area he searched, which received the brunt of the damage from overflowing tributaries of the Mississippi, water reached up to first-floor windows, Fellows said. “It was mind-boggling to see a full bass boat just gunning down the street,” he said. Back at the makeshift shelter, housed in an office park she likened to Independence Park in Hyannis, around 35 volunteers from different organizations took care of about 170 animals that had been rescued, Rogers said. In the two weeks American Humane Association volunteers were in Tennessee, 192 animals were sheltered, spokesman Mark Stubis said. Of those, 50 were rescued by volunteers, including Fellows, who roamed the flooded streets of the Memphis suburbs, Stubis said. Happily, Rogers said, around a dozen pets were reunited with their owners while she was there, while others came to see their pets but chose to keep them sheltered while they found housing. Those reunions made the trip worthwhile despite difficult hours and sad times where sick or injured animals had to be euthanized, Rogers and Fellows said. “For some people, their pets were all they had left “» and they were simply overwhelmed that we were coming from all over the United States to help their pets come through this,” Rogers said.

SHELTERed

Cape Cod volunteers rescue pets | CapeCodOnline.com.