On the evening of September 26, Hurricane Helene was barreling toward Western North Carolina. Our Blue Ridge Community College campuses were uncharacteristically dark and, to be frank, no one expected what our entire region was about to encounter.
Just hours earlier, our campus chief of police and communications team issued a statement urging students, staff and faculty to gather supplies, head home and seek safe shelter, and, above all, remain patient and calm through the storm.
While many of us heeded this wise advice, I later learned that some members of our faculty had other plans. As first responders, they had work to do.
‘It’s what we do’
Blue Ridge Community College is fortunate to employ a cadre of talented emergency service professionals, including paramedics, firefighters and law enforcement experts who teach aspiring first responders how to serve with skill, focus and certainty in moments of crisis. During this particular crisis — one of unprecedented magnitude for Western North Carolina — these educators led by example, courageously moving their curricula from the classroom to the frontlines in the blink of an eye.
Our Emergency Medical Services Program Director Daniel Wesley put it well.
“The college might have been closed, but we knew it was time to go to work with our first responder families,” Wesley said.
Ordinarily tasked with supervising Emergency Medical Services (EMS) education, Wesley knew at the onset of the hurricane that “boots on the ground” would take on a whole new meaning.
As he shared with me, “We wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. We were ready, we were able and we were capable. It’s what we do.”
A team effort
During the height of the storm and well into its aftermath, Wesley worked with the Skyland Fire Department in South Asheville, spending 36-hour shifts providing emergency medical support to those in need. He wasn’t alone. Nor was I surprised to learn that so many others from our EMS faculty stepped up to respond.
Virginia Plyler, Blue Ridge Community College’s lead paramedic instructor, joined forces with the National Guard to lead search and rescue efforts in Tryon and greater Polk County, while Blue Ridge’s clinical coordinator, Casey Elliott, pulled extra shifts as a paramedic with Polk County EMS, addressing hundreds of calls for help. Meanwhile, Garrett Gardin, Blue Ridge’s director of law enforcement training, pitched in as a public safety first responder with the Hendersonville Police Department. Fire and Rescue School Director Casey Silvers lent his expertise by helping neighbors dig out of the debris, adeptly wielding chainsaws, ropes, and ladders.
The bond among emergency workers, especially during a crisis, is strong. Wesley shared that the experience of responding together through Hurricane Helene strengthened relationships within the emergency department, not just among colleagues, but also between faculty and students. He added that some Blue Ridge students who were pursuing more advanced emergency certifications were also in the field at work during the hurricane. This real world experience brought the classroom to life and reinforced the importance of shared learning.
“No matter where we were in the storm, all of us witnessed some difficult things,” Wesley said. “We were able to come back and reflect and ask each other, ‘What did you deal with, and what do you need now? How can we support you and support one another?’”
He succinctly summed it up for all of us: “This is what we train for.”
Recovery and rebuilding
Our first responder instructors provide us with a profound example of moving into action when the need is imminent. Our students are fortunate to learn from such experienced and principled leaders. Today, with the urgency of our initial storm response receding, Western North Carolina needs many other types of professionals to respond to the extended challenge of recovery and rebuilding in the months and years to come.
Following Hurricane Helene, North Carolina’s Damage and Needs Assessment estimates approach $54 billion statewide, with $41 billion attributed to direct damage to businesses, housing, utilities, natural resources, transportation and agriculture across 39 disaster-declared counties. To address this, our region needs to maintain and utilize a robust workforce of skilled trades professionals — electricians, plumbers, carpenters, roofers, HVAC technicians, masons, equipment operators and more. We’ll also need engineers, machinists, social workers, automotive mechanics, accountants, small business advisors and myriad other occupations working synergistically.
As a community college, this is also “what we train for.”
At each step of this disaster, I have been struck that so many of the essential professionals saving our lives and leading the way toward recovery received their training here at Blue Ridge or at a nearby community college. This work begins with exceptional instructors. Just as they are at community colleges across the ‘Great 58,’ Blue Ridge faculty members are highly skilled professionals who teach students to venture into the world with capacity and intention to do the work at hand, whether that be responding to a crisis, building or repairing a home, fortifying our community infrastructure, or manufacturing the supplies necessary for long-term recovery.
We salute our faculty teammates who walk the talk and lead by example. Together, we are here to help in the present moment, whatever the moment demands. We are also committed to rebuilding the potential of our region through a strong workforce — one step, one graduate, at a time.
