LI man volunteers to help tornado victims

Huntington native Jeff O'Neill was back, fresh from helping victims of floods off Lake Champlain in Vermont when he got another desperate call Monday: His services were needed in another time zone, in Joplin, Mo., the site of one of the most devastating tornadoes in U.S. history.

After 24 hours on the ground in Joplin, he concluded Wednesday: "What you're seeing on TV and in the paper doesn't do it justice at all. It is complete devastation of a substantial area."

O'Neill, 47, a Red Cross volunteer, boarded a 6:30 a.m. flight Monday to Springfield, Mo., and drove through the state to join an army of three-person teams of rescuers. He was on site by 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, Missouri time, but was still waiting early Wednesday to be deployed, either to a shelter or in the field.

"The immediate need right now is food and clothing, and the Red Cross is seeing to that," he said. "As you would expect when a lot is taken from you, people are under stress."

"This is still a work in progress. It's kind of a moving target," he said. "After things calm down [in] a day or two, people will start to realize the magnitude of what happened. The loss is complete. The stress level is up, and we're there to assist.

"There will be a lot people with nicks and injuries, and that's were I come into play," he said.

O'Neill said he was tapped because of his expertise as an emergency medical technician, skills he learned in a course at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset.

But he said public service had always been in his blood. "There's something about helping people that makes me feel good," he said.

A Red Cross volunteer for eight years, O'Neill said he was always "half on guard" because rescuers must be able to travel to trouble spots on a moment's notice -- and do a variety of critical tasks.

Red Cross officials said O'Neill was the 20th volunteer dispatched from Long Island since mid-April in response to tornadoes and flooding in several states.

While he was in Lake Champlain, O'Neill performed as a "floater" of sorts, primarily managing makeshift shelters housing victims of the flooding.

The assignment in Joplin allows him to bring his medical skills into a Red Cross Integrated Care Team consisting of an EMT, a mental health worker and a social worker to meet the various needs of people trying to get through the crisis