Health and Welfare Traffic Management

Learning Unit 8

Health and Welfare Traffic Management

Objectives:
Learning Unit 8 offers guidance for the management of health and welfare messages on behalf of the American Red Cross and other agencies.

Student Preparation Required:
None

Information:

One of the greatest challenges during a disaster is efficiently moving large volumes of formal "health and welfare" messages, or as the American Red Cross calls them, "Disaster Welfare Inquiries" (DWI).

The ARRL-recommended precedence for this type of message, "Welfare" (W), refers to either an advisory message from the disaster area that indicates a person's status, or an inquiry as to the health and welfare of an individual in the disaster area.

Red Cross Is the Lead Agency
Under US federal law, the American Red Cross has primary responsibility for disaster relief services in the United States and its possessions. The Salvation Army, and state and local agencies may also handle welfare messages, but usually do so in concert with the Red Cross.

When working with the Red Cross on its disaster welfare inquiry program, you must submit to their authority on the subject. Respect any moratorium on DWI messages they impose -- usually up to the first 72 hours, depending on the scale of the disaster. The moratorium gives Red Cross staff time to move in and set up in the affected area, and to establish offices and networks to handle the inquiries.

The Red Cross first attempts to handle DWI messages through its normal communication channels. If the volume of message traffic to and from the disaster area is too great, or if normal channels are disrupted, the National Traffic System may be called upon to assist with the overload.

Handling Procedures
Follow locally established procedures, or those specified for the particular event, for feeding messages into the system and delivery at the disaster site. Depending on the situation, messages may be sent to the appropriate Red Cross office for delivery by its staff, or Amateurs may be asked to handle delivery on their own.

Remember, follow local Red Cross guidance on this issue, since they have the ultimate responsibility for handling disaster welfare messages of all kinds.

Monitoring the Situation
NTS net managers and members should listen to bulletins from ARRL HQ and appropriate nets on the status of health and welfare traffic handling, especially with respect to any special nets/frequencies that may be dedicated to welfare traffic handling. News of any Red Cross moratoriums will usually be included in ARRL bulletins. Maintain close contact with the Red Cross or the Salvation Army as appropriate, since most inquiries are handled through these organizations.

Dealing With Large Volumes of Traffic
The NTS policy is to handle as many DWI messages as possible, but higher-precedence messages must be handled first. NCS operators for nets handling welfare traffic must pause frequently to ask if any stations have emergency or priority messages.

In a widespread disaster, it is seldom possible to handle all the welfare traffic quickly and efficiently. At times, DWI messages pile up alarmingly, even to the extent that much of it is never delivered.

In these cases, high volume digital modes should be used rather than slower phone and CW. In the past, special RTTY, AMTOR, fax, and packet circuits have been established with great success. PSK31 and other new digital modes hold great promise for high volume, high accuracy traffic handling as well, and development work continues in this area.

One or more "hotline circuits" may be established between specific points, such as a Red Cross office outside the affected area, and one inside. This speeds traffic to its destination and frees up nets for other duties, bypassing the normal NTS net structure.

Outgoing Advisories Have Precedence
Place a priority on handling "welfare status report messages" (advisories) coming out of the disaster area. One out-bound message can prevent many in-bound inquiries from clogging the system.

Never try to force inquiries into a disaster area. Welfare inquiries should only be passed when higher precedence traffic and outgoing advisories have been cleared. In-bound messages have a poor chance of being delivered for several reasons. In many cases, there is no mechanism for the delivery of welfare inquires. The addressee may be in any number of shelters or have left the area completely. Local phone lines may be out and travel difficult or impossible. Local mail delivery will have been suspended. Be sure that stations in the affected areas are truly able to receive and process inquiries before sending them. The Red Cross will usually provide guidance on this issue, and it should be distributed via ARRL bulletins.

Accepting "Local" Inquiries
Sometimes a friend or neighbor will ask you to send an inquiry to someone in an affected area. Unless means for handling DWI messages are established, it is usually wise not to accept them from the public, or do so only with an explicit understanding that chances of delivery are not very good. If the system is up and running, the message may be passed into the NTS at any appropriate point.

Prohibited Message Content
If you are accepting a message from its author, certain information should refused or strongly discouraged. Outgoing advisories or responses to DWI messages from the disaster area should never include the person's home address. Enterprising thieves have been known to listen to scanners and then loot evacuees' homes.

NEVER handle or deliver a fatality report in any Amateur Radio message. That function is strictly reserved for disaster officials through their own channels.

Other items that should never be sent include financial information, bank or credit card numbers, driver license or Social Security numbers, or any personal details that could lead to identity theft.

In some instances, the served agency may allow you to send certain "sensitive" information over more "discrete" modes, such as packet, but be sure they fully understand that no Amateur mode can be considered truly "secure." The served agency is the ultimate authority on which information can or cannot be sent, and by which modes.

Reference Links:

See Chapter 7 of The ARRL Operating Manual for more information on NTS. Additional details on ARES and NTS can be found in the Public Service Communications Manual (www.arrl.org/FandES/field/pscm/index.html), The Emergency Coordinator's Manual and The ARRL Net Directory, all published by the ARRL (available online at: www.arrl.org/catalog/.)

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