Frontline emergency support is a family affair for Whanganui mum and daughter
Tori Bisset was just two years old when she performed her first volunteer assignment for New Zealand Red Cross.
Her mother Trudy Taylor volunteered her services to play the part of a child casualty for an emergency response training exercise.
By the time she turned 16 Bisset was ready to join her mother as a member of the Disaster Welfare and Support Team in Whanganui.
"My two older siblings have been Red Cross volunteers as well.
"They have other commitments now but it has always been a family thing for us."
Now 26, Bisset is leading the Red Cross Disaster Welfare Team in Whanganui.
Although she has been living and working in Levin where she is in the first year of a carpentry apprenticeship, the Covid-19 emergency has called her home.
"My training is on hold anyway and I'm actually pleased to be in Whanganui with my family at the moment," she says.
The toughest part of being a team leader in an emergency situation is having to stand people down says Bisset.
"I've even had to stand mum down when she was getting too stressed and didn't realise it."
Taylor who has been a Red Cross volunteer for 25 years said she was grateful to be stood down by her daughter.
"It showed that Tori's training had been really effective and she made the right call.
"I've had to stand people down in the same situation and I'm pleased that she didn't let our relationship cloud her judgment."
Sometimes, says Taylor, it's a matter of just giving someone a different job so their energy shifts and eases the tension.
Many in Whanganui will recognise Taylor as a friendly ambulance officer and former station manager for St John.
It was her Red Cross work that led her to St John she says.
"I was asked to teach first aid courses for St John and then asked if I'd be interested in working for them full time.
"I have found the two roles really compatible and all the people I work with have become like family."
Taylor recently took an 18-month break from both roles while undergoing successful breast cancer treatment.
"My Red Cross family took such good care of me while I was out of action," she says.
"That is why I'm so happy to work for Red Cross - it's the people."
Since she began volunteering for Red Cross in 1996, Taylor has been a member of emergency response teams supporting people after Whanganui floods in 2004, 2006, 2015, the Christchurch earthquakes, the Kaikoura Hurunui earthquake, the Hawke's Bay gastroenteritis outbreak and the Raetihi water crisis.
During the Covid-19 emergency Taylor says the support provided by the team will be mostly psychological.
"I'm helping out at the Coronavirus Assessment Centre at Whanganui Hospital and my role there is social rather than medical.
"People respond very differently to situations like the one we're facing and often they just need someone to listen to their fears and offer reassurance."
Although the current situation is very different from other emergencies she's dealt with, Taylor said the ability to remain calm and respond with compassion is always an essential part of the job.
"It is 99 per cent of what the work is about really.
"We are trained to give practical assistance but it needs a compassionate attitude to go with it."
Meanwhile, Taylor is still doing her regular shifts at St John but says it is great to spend time with her daughter when the two get a break together.
To make a donation or to find out more about the Covid-19 response visit redcross.org.nz
Liz Wylie
Whanganui Chronicle 4/4/20