American Red Cross official Adrian Grieve's latest deployment is unlike any other mass-casualty incident he has responded to during his more than 20-year career.
Mr. Grieve, regional emergency services officer for the Northeast PA Region of the Red Cross, is managing the family assistance center established by the city of Boston to make sure the needs of people affected by the Boston Marathon terrorist bombing are being met.
"Actually, this is quite different. I have not been involved in one like this or even close," Mr. Grieve, 50, who has responded with the Red Cross after a number of aviation disasters, said Friday by telephone.
Manned by representatives of the Red Cross and other local, state and federal agencies, the center was supposed to open Friday morning to assist families and individuals who may require services in the wake of the bombing.
However, like the rest of Boston, the center was locked down while authorities searched for the second suspect in the deadly attack. Mr. Grieve and a few other people were on hand just in case someone did not receive word and showed up looking for help.
"From our side, we are certainly looking at providing disaster mental health support," said Mr. Grieve, of Sinking Spring in Berks County. "That is a huge aspect of this type of situation, where folks are just dealing with the overwhelming emotion of what happened."
It is not Mr. Grieve's first experience with the aftermath of terrorism.
After the Sept. 11 attacks, he worked at the Red Cross family assistance center set up near the United Flight 93 crash site in western Pennsylvania. In that case, most of the people he assisted were not local, he said.
"You actually have the same thing here. There are families from all over the world who came for the marathon," he said. "There are people who thought they were coming for a couple of days and instead may be here for an extended time."
Contact the writer: dsingleton@timesshamrock.com