From starting out as ‘victim’ in exercised to becoming a CERT member, Eugene McCord has volunteered for the past fifteen years in the community when it comes to emergency response.
McCord loves to volunteer. He first started out as a member of the Community Emergency Reponses Team back on September 27, in 2005. He started out playing victim in exercises including CSEPP and has worked his way up victim, to responder and now is a coordinator for Volunteer Organizations Activated in a Disaster.
Responsibilities of being a VOAD Coordinator are to contact volunteer organizations to response if services are needed.
Not only is McCord a CERT member. He is also a member of Fayette County PSOC, the American Red Cross, and the Citizen Fire Academy Alumni Association.
One of the most memorable events that McCord has been a part of was being a first responder on numerous different scenes. Sometimes McCord was there before professionals showed up and when they realize he is a CERT member; they know he is trained properly.
“My area of interest is to volunteer as much as I can and give back to the community,” said McCord.
Some of the events that stuck out to McCord as a first responder were when he helped with two traffic accidents. For the first accident, McCord was turning onto the New Circle outer loop when he came across a van that had crashed into the light pull.
“It had happened just seconds before we arrived,” McCord said. “Gail went to help the driver who was laying on the road while I called 911 and monitored the traffic.”
When the fire department arrived, a firefighter recognized them as CERT members and the two proceeded to stay until enough help arrived.
In the second memorable situation, McCord witnessed a motorcycle wreck in which in which the rider was severely injured. According to McCord, the rider has been seriously injured in the accident but was unaware of it. Some staff from a local business nearby came to keep the rider calm until paramedics arrives.
“Last I saw, the paramedics did a “scoop and run” to UK trauma center,” said McCord. “I do not know the outcome of the rider; I can only hope he survived.”
McCord stayed on the scene to describe what had happened to the police while the rider was taken to the hospital.
McCord has had many memorable experiences in his time while volunteering. He stayed to help the community and hopes to see more hands-on training once everyone is allowed to meet back in person.
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