Newport Red Cross Closes, Residents Feel Vulnerable to Disaster

Thursday, November 06, 2014

Lori Tobias, GoLocalPDX contributor

Newport Red Cross Volunteers. Photo Credit William “Willie” Mortimer

Central Coast residents are reeling from news that the Red Cross is pulling up stakes, closing its Newport office space and leaving the region with one less resource to count on when disaster strikes.

Over the years, the Red Cross has cut staff, withdrawn support of volunteers and eliminated equipment and training. Despite promises from the organization that it will keep a nominal presence along this isolated 60-mile stretch of Pacific coast, residents who’ve seen years of attrition aren’t holding their breath.

The news follows an announcement by the U.S. Coast Guard that it will close its Newport Air Station, and pull the region’s only search and rescue helicopter out by Dec. 15.

In a word, people say they’re feeling abandoned.

“To be threatened with both the loss of our Coast Guard helicopter and the closure of our local Red Cross office really feels like a one-two punch,” said Bill Hall, Lincoln County Commissioner. “The last few years have brought a heightened awareness of the vulnerability here on the central coast – not only to the big earthquake and tsunami forecast to happen someday, but to a lot of lesser disasters as well. I’ve gotta say, I’m feeling very concerned and I think a lot of people are feeling very concerned.”

Long Slow Retreat

News of the changes went out in an email from Amy Shlossman, chief executive officer of the American Red Cross Cascades Region. In it, she wrote that in order to reduce operating costs, the organization would consolidate more than 500 local chapters into just 265.

Local volunteers say the problems with the Red Cross started more than a decade ago when the local chapter was forced to combine with a chapter based in Eugene.

Long time Red Cross volunteer and Disaster Assistance Team Captain William "Willie" Mortimer shares his objections at the Lincoln Count Board of Commissioners meeting to news that the Red Cross is closing the Newport office.. Photo Credit: Lincoln County Public Information Officer, Casey Miller

“It just went downhill from there,” said William “Willie” Mortimer, captain of the Newport Red Cross Disaster Assistance Team. “At our height, when we were our own entity, we had over 100 volunteers. Now we have seven. The former local staff coordinator has been gone two years and was never replaced locally. We keep getting promise after promise after promise and nothing happens. We’ve lost all of our instructors. The ones that were still actually instructors that didn’t quit, the Red Cross told them their certifications were no good and they had to recertify in Salem. These people weren’t waiting around, they have jobs and are professional people -- doctors, lawyers, nurses. We had all of those people.”

In the past two years, Lincoln County has lost two staff positions and two vehicles, leaving the county with zero paid staff and no vehicle. They no longer host safety evacuation drills or provide training for volunteers, Mortimer said. It’s a big change for the chapter that was once one of the only solvent chapters in the state, according to Lincoln County Commissioner Terry Thompson.

Services for Lincoln County are now coordinated from the office in Salem. The Red Cross insists that when help is needed, it will be sent from beyond the county. But Lincoln County Emergency manager Jenny Demaris questions how much help one person from two hours away can be expected to provide.

“In the last restructuring, they laid off two people,” Demaris said. “They told us they were moving the position to Astoria. But they never did. It wasn’t even posted as an open position. Then they say we are going to group Lincoln County with Polk, Marion, Lynn and Benton Counties, and now they added Lane. This poor guy has all these counties. This is not going to work.”

Nor are locals buying the promise that help will arrive in a timely manner when it is needed. In typical winter storms, trees block the roads for days. There are issues with flooding and landslides and, in recent years, ice and snow have made travel hazardous.

If it’s a widespread disaster, Thompson fears the small coastal communities will be the last in line.

“All I am interested in is the protection of the citizens,” he said. “I don’t care how we do it. We also have the super challenge – what do we do with about 30,000-40,000 tourists that could be here on the coast. What do we do for food? There are a lot of questions here on how we deal with this. When you have leadership in the valley they just don’t understand our issues or our topography. Let’s say we have a major earthquake: all the services are going to go to the big population centers and we’re going to be orphaned. I just don’t think we can count on the valley.”

Some Presence to Stay

Some Red Cross presence will remain in Lincoln County, said Paula Negele, Red Cross communications director. There is no set date for closing the Newport office. The Red Cross said that if they can find someone to donate a small space, they could maintain an office in Newport of some kind.

“The Red Cross doesn’t really need a building to do what it does,” Negele said. “We are there. We have responded to half a dozen home fires this year. We’ve had 24 or 25 blood drives since July 1.”

Still locals remain skeptical. It was just months ago that a representative with the nonprofit spoke with county commissioners to assure them local services were not in danger, Hall said.

“We found out recently [the Red Cross representative] is not even with the organization anymore; that her position has been eliminated,” he said. “That doesn’t give you a lot of reassurance.”

Local distrust may have something to do with the recent Coast Guard announcement. Last April, the Coast Guard assured local and state officials that closing the Newport Air Station was off the table. But in early October, U.S. Coast Guard Rear Admiral R.T. Gromlich announced he would do exactly that. And despite a public meeting that drew hundreds, despite a petition bearing more than 16,000 signatures, despite pleas from state and federal officials, the final word seems to be that as of Dec. 15, when needed, the helicopter will respond from North Bend or Astoria, at least one hour away. Most agree that means the helicopter will be less available to rescue people at sea.

Hall said the Coast Guard’s decision to pull out caught the community off guard.

“That’s the thing with the Coast Guard,” said Hall. “Maybe it’s just from my elected official standpoint, but when the dust settles, not only did it stink as a policy decision, but from a process standpoint it absolutely stank. To give abrupt notice with no opportunity for any input, it’s deplorable.”