To provide relief for those in need
So today was Day 2 of working at the American Red Cross Call Center. On Friday, we were trained on how to answer the phones, where we can find resources, and how to best give assistance to those in need who were affected by Katrina. It's a lot of stuff to digest, no question about it. While the immediate emergency is over, people are still in desperate need of assistance- financial, medical, food, how to find missing loved ones, a place to stay while they get their home in order, etc.
The Red Cross has two main phone numbers for disaster victims: get info and get cash. The info line is exactly what it sounds like: victims call up with questions and Red Cross employees refer them with names, numbers, and locations. The financial assistance line is set up to conduct phone interviews with victims to determine if they are eligible for immediate financial aid. Each interview can take anywhere between 20-55 minutes, depending on the number of people in the household, and how detailed the caller gets with his/her story.
Since the line opened up for Katrina victims, it has been logging 15,000 calls every 15 minutes or so. Think about that. That's 1,000 calls per minute; 60,000 per hour. Think about how many people were affected by this hurricane. And then think about how an average call can take 40 minutes. In one 8 hour shift, I have the opportunity to help maybe 10 callers. It may be a bit easier now to imagine just how difficult it was to coordinate and respond to a disaster of this magnitude.
We've been getting phone calls from people complaining that they've been calling the financial assistance line for days and weeks, and still can't get thru. And the best answer we can give them is that the Red Cross is adding more operators every single day, but the call volume is just tremendous and we need to be patient. Imagine telling someone who has just lost everything- their home, livelihood, all possessions, and maybe even a loved one- that they need to be patient. Now imagine having to tell them to be patient after they recount their harrowing tale of survival. In nutshell, that's my job.
At the end of the financial assistance interview, we determine how much money the household is eligible for. You should know that your donation to the Red Cross is going directly to the people in need of assistance. I'm not certain (though I'll know more tomorrow), but I believe the average level of assistance is around $1200. So far, the ARC has collected $50 million. That will serve approximately 41,500 households. Keep on giving.
By the way, Rita now has her eye on the Gulf Coast.
The Red Cross has two main phone numbers for disaster victims: get info and get cash. The info line is exactly what it sounds like: victims call up with questions and Red Cross employees refer them with names, numbers, and locations. The financial assistance line is set up to conduct phone interviews with victims to determine if they are eligible for immediate financial aid. Each interview can take anywhere between 20-55 minutes, depending on the number of people in the household, and how detailed the caller gets with his/her story.
Since the line opened up for Katrina victims, it has been logging 15,000 calls every 15 minutes or so. Think about that. That's 1,000 calls per minute; 60,000 per hour. Think about how many people were affected by this hurricane. And then think about how an average call can take 40 minutes. In one 8 hour shift, I have the opportunity to help maybe 10 callers. It may be a bit easier now to imagine just how difficult it was to coordinate and respond to a disaster of this magnitude.
We've been getting phone calls from people complaining that they've been calling the financial assistance line for days and weeks, and still can't get thru. And the best answer we can give them is that the Red Cross is adding more operators every single day, but the call volume is just tremendous and we need to be patient. Imagine telling someone who has just lost everything- their home, livelihood, all possessions, and maybe even a loved one- that they need to be patient. Now imagine having to tell them to be patient after they recount their harrowing tale of survival. In nutshell, that's my job.
At the end of the financial assistance interview, we determine how much money the household is eligible for. You should know that your donation to the Red Cross is going directly to the people in need of assistance. I'm not certain (though I'll know more tomorrow), but I believe the average level of assistance is around $1200. So far, the ARC has collected $50 million. That will serve approximately 41,500 households. Keep on giving.
By the way, Rita now has her eye on the Gulf Coast.
posted by elanit | 3:36 PM
1 Comments:
Right after the storm hit, in addition to the call centers getting overwhelmed, their website was getting swamped too. They had to more than double the amount of Internet bandwidth they had (my coworker Sam worked 60 hours straight on getting that part done - I got lucky and was doing shelter access design and IP telephony troubleshooting instead).
Thanks for doing good work :)
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