FOR A GOOD CAUSE -- A shoulder to cry on

Amy R. Spurgeon

On Jan. 31, Sierra Miller had just returned home after a nine-hour shift

as a registered nurse at Fairview Developmental Center in Costa Mesa when

she received the phone call.

Alaska Airlines Flight 261 had plunged into the Pacific Ocean off the

Ventura County coast and American Red Cross relief workers from Orange

County were needed.

Miller, a mental health volunteer with the Santa Ana-based organization,

had seen the news and was expecting the call.

“The last thing I wanted was to go to an air disaster,” said the

57-year-old Newport Beach resident.

But she agreed to go, not knowing that she would soon embark on a 96-hour

mission.

Miller reported for duty at a hotel near Los Angeles International

Airport on the Friday following the crash. She and 500 other Red Cross

volunteers shuttled between two hotels, assisting grieving relatives.

Miller admitted that she expected to find a media circus upon her

arrival, but to her surprise, that was not the case.

“The hotels, the airline ... they would give you anything you needed,”

Miller said.

She said an entire wing of one hotel was set up for the relief effort. A

nurses’ station, eating area, child-care center and briefing room were

all stationed in the wing. Only relatives and volunteers wearing

identification badges were admitted.

The grieving process was different for everyone, Miller said. One family

gathered around a piano to play some favorite songs.

But the mood darkened with the recovery of each body, Miller said. The

grim reality of the disaster seemed to sharpen with each horrifying

discovery.

Over the course of her marathon volunteer effort, Miller held the hand of

a man who had lost his only daughter. She offered countless tissues and

glasses of water and made lunch runs to the nearest hamburger stand.

“When things go bad,” she said, “grease is good for the soul.”

As a victim of tragedy herself, Miller understands all too well about the

grieving process.

“I’ve walked in the shoes of the victims and I know their pain,” she

said, choosing not to divulge her own experience. “There is nothing you

can say that is right. Just being there anonymously helps.”

Returning home turned out to be a challenge for Miller. She has been

adjusting to life as usual, but it has been a slow process.

Despite it all, she’s ready to jump the next time the Red Cross calls.

“It isn’t just about giving blood,” Miller said. “People see that red

cross and it’s just like apple pie in America.”