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Oak Bay Emergency Program volunteer awarded for two decades’ service

Deborah Reid collected two major awards for her outstanding efforts this year.
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Oak Bay Emergency Program volunteer Deborah Reid with the 2017 Vivian Robinson Award and the 2017 Emergency Management BC’S Volunteer of the Year Award. (Morgan Cross photo)

Oak Bay Emergency Program volunteer Deborah Reid collected two major awards for her outstanding efforts this year. The Vivian Robinson Award is presented annually in honour of emergency preparedness volunteer Vivian Robinson, who passed away suddenly in 2004.

The Award is given to one emergency response volunteer “who continually challenges her/himself to go beyond his or her comfort zone” – qualifications Reid meets daily in her many volunteer roles. Reid additionally received the 2017 Emergency Social Services Volunteer of the Year award, presented by Emergency Management BC. Singled out of tens of thousands of emergency volunteers, Reid said, “it was pretty humbling to be recognized at a provincial level.”

Reid first became a public safety lifeline volunteer in 1997 and has been an active aid since, on-call for local emergencies and provincial ones as part of a mobile support team for BC communities overwhelmed by disaster. She worked with Vivian Robinson during her 20 years of volunteering, recalling time spent together in Kamloops one year before Robinson’s passing.

“In 2003, we were both deployed to Kamloops … It means a lot more to me because I was able to work alongside her and get to know her better. She was an inspiring person and to be honoured with her award means a lot to me,” Reid said. “It’s really rewarding to go out to a fire in the middle of the night on someone’s worst day and be able to help them.”

Reid is prepared 24 hours a day, seven days a week to be called for a level one emergency in Oak Bay, which most often manifests in single family house fires with ten or less members. Level two includes more than ten people, while level three includes hundreds. “I report to house fires, apartment fires … anything that puts an individual out of their home,” Reid said. “It’s really rewarding to go out to a fire in the middle of the night on someone’s worst day and be able to help them.”

Reid and her emergency response team provide food, clothing and lodging to people forced from their homes. Emergency social services, she said, include volunteers all over BC “willing to step up and … give people that buffer to recover and think, what’s next? What do I need to do?”

On the provincial level, Reid has been deployed to Kamloops, Kelowna, Burns Lake, Merritt, Vernon, among others and repeat visits. She relieves communities struggling in wake of disaster and provides training for small community members, who can then take on her role as public lifeline volunteers in their own municipalities. “The shortest time I got was an hour’s notice to board a plane,” she said. But Reid thrives on deployments. She will return from a trip to Vernon Thursday, July 13.

Emergency response and emergency preparedness go hand in hand. As part of the education team of Oak Bay, Reid teaches grade three classes in the community about emergency preparedness, puts up public displays, and holds workshops, talks and training courses for BC communities.

Reid has participated in five conferences at the management level to date, primarily addressing mass care concept of operations, which includes planning for catastrophic megathrust earthquakes, commonly referred to on Vancouver Island as “the big one.”

As if those commitments weren’t enough, Reid is a member of the Canadian Red Cross. She helped Syrian refugees arrive in 2014.

“They call people that really involve their whole life around emergency management ‘disaster junkies,’” Reid said, with a laugh. “I’m a self-proclaimed junkie.”

For Reid, volunteering is a necessary part of life. “I have a strong belief at some point in your life, you should give back to your community in any way you can. In any volunteer organization,” she said. “For me, this was just a good fit.”

Reid first became involved when her children joined school. She was immediately concerned with the emergency preparedness of their school, and joined the Parent Advisory Council at each subsequent school her children attended. As a PAC member, Reid ensured that schools had the proper kits and emergency protocols for their students. “That just morphed into me wanting to learn more about emergency management,” she said.

Reid is grateful to her family’s understanding, particularly her children. “My first call, my kids were only five or six. I remember getting off the plane in Victoria and they had a big sign saying, ‘You’re my hero Mom.’ It was so welcoming after a week on response, doing twelve to fourteen hour days. It brought tears to my eyes.”

The dedicated volunteer maintains that giving back is integral to a live well-lived. “Everyone needs to get out and volunteer in some shape or form. Give back to your community. It’s very rewarding.”

editor@oakbaynews.com