Greetings, everyone! PetPoint Pam here, back at home after a few days (but what seems much longer) in Houston and Galveston, in the areas affected by Hurricane Ike. Here's my report:
On Tuesday, September 16th I volunteered to go to Houston to help with the data needs of Houston SPCA, who was running Incident Command for Galveston Island Humane Society. The Galveston facility was completely destroyed, and Houston SPCA was operating a temporary shelter in the old police station on Galveston Island to try to rescue animals. They contacted us in need of assistance with their overwhelming data entry needs as well as technical plan for Galveston animals. They were also concerned about getting lost/found animals up on the internet ASAP.
Our team worked round-the-clock to set up a Disaster Response Pet Portal with pets911.com as well as set up a PetPoint database for the Galveston Island Humane Society. The pets911.com site would update animals as they were recovered onto the website, and be updated every 15 minutes. It was also linked to the HSPCA website.
On Wednesday, September 17th, I rearranged some schedules and looked for a place to stay in the Houston area. Most of the rescue assistance that the HSPCA had received were self-sufficient (they had Trailers designed for people to sleep / survive comfortably), and all of the hotels from Galveston through Houston were either closed or full. It worked out that my Aunt lives in Pearland, Texas, and she luckily got power back on Tuesday, and hadn't already let anyone else come stay with her, since most of Houston was without power at that time. I also booked a flight and a rental car.
On Thursday, September 18th, I left my home at 3:00am to fly to Houston. Leaving the Houston airport, I was amazed at the damage to Houston, and knew that Galveston must be much worse. I saw downed power lines, no stoplights working (back to the good-old 4-way stop), and buildings and signs that were close to demolished. I arrived at the Houston SPCA at 2:00pm. I almost missed the turn, though, because their billboard that I was expecting from my previous trip had been torn to shreds.
Once at the Houston SPCA, I immediately began training the call center staff on how to enter lost/found reports into PetPoint, and then how to search not only their database, but the Galveston database at the same time. This was extremely important and useful, as the paper forms were missing quite a bit of information. During that time at the call center, a call came in about a dog that had a microchip. We were able to locate the dog (Riley) and her owner in the database, and arranged a reunion of the two for the following morning. Staff all agreed that this match could not have occurred without PetPoint!
The temporary Galveston Island Humane Society was set up in an old, unused Police station. It was running on generators. There were only porta-johns, and no running water. I learned that animals were coming up to Houston SPCA from Galveston daily, because the temporary shelter had filled up in less than 24 hours. That meant that the HSPCA staff were receiving large numbers of animals, and having to do intakes for all of them as they came in, as well as pictures and medical exams.
I recommended that the process would be easier and perhaps smoother if the information was entered at the Galveston site directly into PetPoint. I volunteered to go to Galveston and set it up.
In preparation for Friday's trip to Galveston, I needed to acquire supplies to make my time at Galveston as self-sufficient as possible. I gathered dry foods, bread, peanut butter and jelly, and other snacks, as well as bottled water from one of the few stores I could find open in Houston, as most of Houston was still without power. I also needed to meet Kay from Code 3 Associates to get permission to go to the island, as well as the proper documentation and placards for my vehicle.
On Friday, September 19th, I attended the morning briefing at 8am and then headed to Galveston. I was part of the convoy of vehicles that went to the island. That was an interesting adventure - I was sandwiched between Houston SPCA trucks and trailers, including the water tank, and a Code 3 Associates truck. We were driving very quickly down the emergency lane to try and get on to the island as quick as possible. We probably passed about an hours' worth of traffic. I took 2 volunteers with me, Andrea Peacock and Belinda Bell who were with Atlanta Humane Society, and also know PetPoint. Along the drive, we were amazed at the number of large boats that were on both sides of the freeway on our route, as well as the line of debris that clearly where the water had gone up to during the surge.
When we arrived at the island, we found a lot more people working at the Galveston Island Humane Society than we expected. We worked closely with Tara from the Denver Dumb Friends League, as well as other members of her team. We got 3 computers up and running on the internet, and began entering animals into the system based on the paperwork that they had there.
We entered all the animals, so that at least the following day at the Houston SPCA would run a bit smoother. When Tara saw what we were able to accomplish, she helped us develop a plan for the next day. We decided to have 3 stations of computers - first intake, then picture and kennel card, and last was medical. We were welcomed back and planned to return the next day. I reported our findings and plan to the HSPCA folks, who were satisfied with the success.
Saturday, September 20th, I went back to the island with my two friends from Atlanta Humane Society, along with their counterpart, Kari Bogison. We left the Houston SPCA at 6am in order to be at the Humane Society by the time they opened, which was 8am. Once there, we started with the 3 station plan. That worked for awhile, but once we started getting full truckloads from the officers, we ended up having two computers doing intakes, and also entering medical after. We were able to enter all the animals as well as their picture and medical treatments!
Sunday, September 21st, Atlanta Humane and Humane Society of Boulder Valley had the entry under control together, so they did not need me. I checked in with the supervisors at Houston, made sure that everything was flowing well, and they knew how both sides were working.
I spoke to Patti Mercer of the HSPCA, who said that she was very thankful and appreciative for everything we'd done, including working round-the-clock to get the animals on the web. She said that this was the example of how to handle the situation, unlike Hurricane Katrina, where it was weeks before animals were posted. She was very happy with us, our work, and thanked me again for coming.
I also checked in with David Dubec of the HSPCA, who said that it was extremely helpful to have people able to jump in and do data entry. Previously, with AIMS, no one else knew their system, so they could only have their own staff doing data entry. However, since they had so many groups helping them that are proficient at PetPoint, they were able to have those people help with data entry, too! He also appreciated the ease of PetPoint transfers.
I left Houston SPCA and went over to Houston Humane, another member of our PetPoint family, as we hadn't heard from them yet. They sustained quite a bit of damage to their building, and were still without power. I let them know we were thinking of them, and that I had stopped in to check on our "PetPoint family."
Houston SPCA did suffer some damage. When I left, Patti Mercer's house was still without power, she had 23 majestic oaks down on her property and one of those trees was on the roof of her house. They expected to get power back on Thursday of this week (2 weeks after losing it). With the temperatures in the high 80s and the humidity there near 100%, sleeping is very difficult for the people without power, and most are taking showers at the HSPCA Wildlife center. The corner of the roof where Patti's office is was ripped off, so her office was near destroyed. The carpet had to be all ripped out, because there was no way to dry the carpet when they did not have power. Her office things and furniture were moved further inside the building. David Dubec was also without power at his home when I left.
As of Sunday morning, Houston SPCA, with the help of many great organizations, had taken in over 600 domestic animals, and well over 1,000 wildlife animals, including many baby squirrels that had been blown out of trees during the Hurricane.
My sincere gratitude and awe goes out to all the groups that came in within a moments notice to help all of these people and animals. Also, a big thank you to Kyt at pets911.com and all of the Pethealth team members who worked quickly and efficiently to make the uploads of animals happen. Excellent job to all!
- Houston SPCA (PetPoint)
- Code 3 Associates
- Atlanta Humane (PetPoint)
- SPCA of Texas (PetPoint)
- Louisiana SPCA
- SPCA of Los Angeles
- Humane Society of Missouri
- Michigan Humane Society
- Humane Society of Southern Mississippi (PetPoint)
- Denver Dumb Friends League
- Humane Society of Boulder Valley (PetPoint)
- San Diego Humane Society
- Lollypop Farms (PetPoint)
- Minnesota Humane
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Thanks Pam, I won't be printing the mannual! Good Luck in Galveston. Way to go!!
Kenneth11:35 AM CST