How well prepared is Columbus to respond to a disaster like 9/11?  Clergy in New York City provided spiritual care for victims of the terrorist attack; are local pastors and spiritual caregivers prepared to come to the aid of critical incident victims in our city?  These questions gave birth to what is now the Emergency Spiritual Care Team. 

The ESCT is a volunteer interfaith organization that provides emotional and spiritual care for those in the greater Columbus community who have been impacted by a recent critical incident. 

• It endeavors to provide timely and competent short-term support.
• It serves at the request of the coordinators of emergency response.
• It is respectful of the spiritual background and beliefs of those they serve.

Since 2002 the ESCT has trained more than 150 pastors, ministry leaders and counselors in the basics of providing spiritual care for victims of critical incidents.

The ESCT and the American Red Cross of Greater Columbus entered into a formal partnership in 2006, bringing together the Red Cross’s outstanding on site services for disaster victims and the ESCT’s pool of trained spiritual caregivers. When a community crisis occurs, the ACR will call up response-ready volunteers from ESCT’s Activation Team to provide on-site spiritual and emotional care for those affected by the disaster.
           
The ESCT is prepared to respond to three levels of emergency… 

• In a level one emergency (a short term critical incident involving a few victims) the ESCT will respond with 2-3 volunteers for one day or less. 
• In a level two emergency (a sustained incident affecting a larger group of victims) the ESCT will call up teams of volunteers to serve in rotating shifts if necessary, usually for more than one day.
• In a level three emergency (a critical incident or disaster involving a very large number of victims) the ESCT may call up its entire team of volunteers to serve for an indefinite period of time.

The ESCT expects to receive up to forty level one requests in 2007.  

The ESCT continues to expand in order to meet the growing needs in our community.  To learn more about this ministry, upcoming training events and how to become a volunteer on the ESCT Activation Team, click here.

Tyler Flynn