By Scott Taylor,Staff Writer

Dozens of area medical personnel have said they’re willing to help with hurricane relief efforts in the Gulf of Mexico.

“We expect our people will be on the second or third wave of help,” said Chuck Gill, public affairs vice president for Central Maine Medical Center. “We’ll be relieving the people who responded first – or the people who relieved them.”

Local hospitals are working with the Maine Emergency Management Agency to plan for the coming weeks of aid. That means finding volunteers and making sure they’re ready to go when the call for help comes.

That might not happen for several days, according to officials.

“So far, the states nearest offered the most immediate help,” said Lynnette Miller, public information officer for MEMA. “States like Maine, we’re in a bullpen role.”

Volunteers are needed for two-week deployments and must provide their own food, water and personal medications for at least two days.

Gill said 20 CMMC employees have agreed to help with the aid effort. Russ Donahue, spokesman for St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center, said 24 employees of that hospital have said they would go. The lists include doctors, nurses, technicians and EMTs.

“We’re being very careful about who we send because we don’t want to leave Maine uncovered,” Gill said. “It’s been a busy summer, and we still have a lot of people locally who are sick. That’s why it’s important to have the state coordinating this.”

Miller said she’s been in regular contact with other state emergency groups monitoring the calls for help. Most have been for rescue personnel. But calls for medical help and shelter care and support are starting to come in.

Meanwhile, officials from MEMA, the Maine Housing Authority, the Labor Department and Health and Human Services are scheduled to meet today to talk about sheltering hurricane refugees.

“We’re seeing what we can do to assist anyone who gets relocated up here,” Miller said. That could include building a temporary shelter or finding places locally for refugees to stay. MEMA is also collecting names of people willing to put up hurricane refugees, Miller said.

“We don’t know if we’ll get a few people with family connections to Maine, or if we’ll be able to offer housing for a large number of people. We’re waiting to see.”

Disaster training

Training classes for volunteers to help with the hurricane relief effort are in sharp demand, according to the local Red Cross.

It offers three courses – Introduction to Disaster, Mass Care and Family Services. They’re designed to show volunteers what to expect during a disaster and how they can help.

Doug Hoyt, executive director of the United Valley Chapter, said the classes are booked through September.

“We’ve even had people calling down from Bangor trying to get in,” Hoyt said. “All we’re doing now is putting names on a waiting list.”

So far, the local Red Cross chapter has sent seven volunteers to help with the cleanup. Most have provided logistics support, helping to manage shipments of food, water and donated goods.

Hoyt said the local chapter is also taking waiting lists of volunteers eager to help out with rescue efforts.

Salvation Army canteen deployed

Two Lewiston men, Tony Chambers and Mike DiMaggio, are among the dozens driving Salvation Army canteen buses and providing warm meals along the Gulf Coast.

In Lewiston, the bus usually provides warm meals to residents around Kennedy Park.

It’s one of 12 similar vehicles sent down to Louisiana and Mississippi from the Salvation Army’s Eastern Territory. The canteen buses left Maine on Friday and arrived Sunday. They’re expected to be deployed through Wednesday.