Emergency Backpacks

Ready to Roll When Needed

By Leah Etling on Apr 6, 2018 in Giving, People

Two weeks ago, staff members from the Yardi corporate marketing and human resources departments in Santa Barbara, Calif. spent a few hours helping local non-profit organization Direct Relief assemble Emergency Medical Backpacks for first responders in disaster zones.

For the marketing department the project was a peer energy team effort. Marketing colleagues assemble in small groups for regular activities like team building, socializing, friendly competitions and volunteer outings.

The backpack packing effort required the coworkers to travel just a few blocks to the non-profit’s current warehouse, where backpacks and supplies were ready for assembly. (Direct Relief is currently building a new headquarters and warehouse space less than a mile from the Yardi corporate office in Goleta.)

“After having a very difficult few months in our community with wildfires and the tragic debris flow, this opportunity to work together with our teams putting together medical backpacks for first responders was extremely uplifting. It felt really good that we could join together and do something that will help save lives, perhaps during another disaster like we had just experienced,” said Lexi Beausoleil, marketing campaign specialist for multifamily.

Emergency Medical Backpacks include diagnostic items like a stethoscope and thermometers, infection control supplies like masks and gloves, personal protection tools like a headlamp and safety goggles, and trauma care supplies like bandages and iodine.

“These Emergency Medical Backpacks are highly functional and durable, with appropriate and sufficient contents to meet critical disaster-related health needs, as well as the personal protective needs of skilled health workers providing treatment,” a Direct Relief spokesperson explained. Input from experienced emergency responders and field physicians informs the supply list.

They are designed to grab-and-go for medical response volunteers or local responders able to provide on-site medical care and support during unexpected disasters or emergencies.

“As we tucked in the bandages and triage tags, we talked in awe about how these supplies were going to going out across the world. It was also a lot of fun. We had friendly competitions between teams and everyone came back swapping stories, smiling and with a bounce in their steps. People couldn’t stop sharing how much they enjoyed it and the gratitude they felt for Yardi for arranging the event,” Beausoleil said.

You can learn more about the Emergency Medical Backpacks and Direct Relief on their website. Yardi is a longtime supporter of Direct Relief and their responses to global disasters, and you can read more about that here.