The Southeast Louisiana Chapter of the American Red Cross is preparing for the future.

A new regional office, called COOP, or Continuity of Operations Plan, will allow the Red Cross the ability to operate regardless of any disaster that has occurred in the region, whether it’s a hurricane, tornado, fire or other emergency.

The office will be housed in a new facility to be built near Goodbee. Groundbreaking is set for Friday. The need for such a facility was determined after Hurricane Katrina forced an evacuation from the New Orleans area in 2005.

Having a warehouse and equipped facility on the Northshore will allow a faster and more prepared response in the event of another such disaster, said Kay Wilkins, CEO for the Southeast Louisiana chapter of the American Red Cross.

The new facility will allow the Red Cross to continue to provide services and will be a staging area pre- and post-event for supplies and volunteers.

The facility will also be a permanent site close enough to New Orleans to monitor and stage disaster relief but far enough away to provide a safe haven in case of evacuation, said Wilkins.

If an evacuation order is given for the area, everyone in the Red Cross, including volunteers, will be relocated to COOP. The entire second floor will have shelter capabilities for volunteers in case of evacuation, including shower facilities.

The 20,000-square-foot building will have classroom space for training in CPR, first aid, disaster training and national courses, including advanced training in Red Cross procedures, policy and paperwork for supervisors. Wilkins said they plan to include a disaster training institute, and classroom space will be available for use by other non-profit groups.

Wilkins said the new facility will also act as the local office in St. Tammany and the regional office for the Northshore, including Washington and Tangipahoa parishes. Local offices in those parishes will remain, said Frances Barker, Northshore regional coordinator.

The new building will have a specialized communication room that will house HF/UHF bandwidth radios, satellite communication, landline and cell phones, fax and email with a 100-foot radio tower on the premises to help with communication needs, said Wilkins.

It will also house a warehouse where emergency supplies, such as water and nonperishable food items, will be stored as well as back-up generators.

She said that although the facility will solve a lot of the problems faced in Hurricane Katrina, one problem still being faced by the Red Cross is a lack of volunteers. Before Katrina there were 1,700 volunteers. Presently, there are only about 600 Red Cross volunteers, and more are needed.

For information on how to volunteer, you can contact the local Red Cross office at 892-4317.