ARC Gearing Up for the RNC in Cleveland

Posted on May 24, 2016 by American Red Cross of Northern Ohio

Preparations are underway for the 2016 Republican National Convention, July 18-22 in Cleveland. The American Red Cross is among several organizations with plans to provide residents and visitors a safe and enjoyable experience.

The Red Cross responds to approximately 66,000 disasters in the United States every year, ranging from home fires that affect a single family, to hurricanes that affect tens of thousands, to earthquakes that impact millions. In these events, the Red Cross provides shelter, food, health and mental health services to help families and entire communities get back on their feet.

During the Republican National Convention, most hotels in Northeast Ohio are expected to be booked solid. The Red Cross is preparing to respond to any potential need to shelter and feed any residents who may be displaced from their homes, and is recruiting volunteers to help fulfill its mission.

Preparations are underway to open up to three shelters within a short time frame, in the event that a large number of Northeast Ohio residents is displaced due to home fires or other disasters. Opening and staffing three shelters could require more than 70 trained shelter volunteers around the clock. Currently, there aren’t enough volunteers to meet that need.

If you are interested in supporting our readiness to assist people in need throughout Northeast Ohio, during the convention and beyond, click here to create a Red Cross volunteer profile and begin the application process.

There is also a “Zero to Hero” boot camp planned in June, to teach volunteers the skills necessary for sheltering, health, or mental health responses. The boot camp will take place from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM Friday, June 24 and all day Saturday, June 25th, at the headquarters of the American Red Cross Northeast Ohio Region, 3747 Euclid Avenue in Cleveland. To register, contact Luis Rivera, Workforce Engagement Manager, at 216-431-3328, or email NEOvolunteer@redcross.org.

Bring IT On: Disaster Services Technology

Posted on May 12, 2016 by American Red Cross of Northern Ohio

When a disaster strikes, who is it that gets the basic IT services that we’ve come to depend upon back up and running? The Disaster Services Technology team – a unique group of volunteers who deploy to a disaster response to set up communications technology!

The team provides the necessary infrastructure that a response may require, from internet capabilities (think: Safe And Well Services) to telecommunications (like an antenna based radio if cellular services are down).

“We can service everyone from a single user connection up to a whole site,” said Ed Finley, National Field Communications Engineer.

This week the team held a rare hands-on training at our Akron office. The three-day course is only offered once a year in each division. The training staff has already taught the course in Mobile, Ala.; Oakland, Calif.; and Austin, Texas. After Akron, they will head out to Tinton Falls, N.J.; Columbia, S.C.; and Minneapolis, Minn.

The course gives volunteers the opportunity to train on equipment that will deploy to a disaster response; such as laptops, cell phones, routers and satellites.

“Not only will students learn how to set-up and use the equipment, but also that there is a support system behind them that will help them get through the process and be successful,” said Ed.

Students at the Akron class hail from all over Ohio and the rest of the country – California, New York, New Jersey, Arizona, Florida, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Michigan, Kentucky, and West Virginia.

If you are interested in joining the Disaster Services Technology team, visit www.redcross.org/volunteer and sign-up to be a volunteer. You’ll go through a couple of basic Red Cross courses, including Disaster Services Technology Overview, and from there you’ll be able to train with some of the IT leaders who we are lucky enough to have living in Northeast Ohio before deploying.

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First Anniversary Reflections from CEO Mike Parks on Giving Day

Posted on April 21, 2016 by American Red Cross of Northern Ohio

CEO Mike Parks and Elsie Berger, age 95, and a Red Cross Volunteer since 1958

NEO CEO Thanks Volunteers and Donors

Members of our Northeast Ohio Region of the American Red Cross Family:

“THANK YOU!!!” I realize those two simple words may not seem like much but please know they speak volumes when directed at you—members of the Northeast Ohio Region of the American Red Cross family. During National Volunteer Week last week, we recognized the tremendous work of our incredible Red Cross volunteers. Throughout our Region this past year we have brought on more than 400 new volunteers. Additionally, almost 80% more volunteers are actually recording their efforts and they’ve actually worked 18% more hours, as well as spending 10% more time on call. Our volunteer to employee hour ratio has increased by almost 70% during the past twelve months. Thank you to all of you who are taking the time to record your hours in Volunteer Connection—this is critical to our being able to accurately track your terrific efforts.

What’s really impressive is the phenomenal impact our volunteers have made during their time supporting the Red Cross. For example, our Disaster Cycle Services team, working closely with our Chapter leadership, has responded to more cases, provided more resources, and helped install almost 10,000 smoke alarms throughout Northeast Ohio. Whether coordinating events, supporting our members of the Armed Forces, greeting visitors and blood donors, raising funds, or teaching classes, you are helping the American Red Cross meet mission every day.

Last week also marked my one year anniversary with the American Red Cross—what an awesome year it’s been. As I reflect on the immense privilege it has been to serve alongside this tremendous staff (paid and volunteer), I am reminded our volunteers are truly our nation’s finest and most dedicated, supported by some of the most professional employees with whom I’ve had the pleasure to serve. Please accept my sincere thanks and genuine appreciation for all each of you do every single day to help prevent and alleviate suffering in Northeast Ohio. I’m already excited to see what year number two has in store!!!

Best regards…Mike

3 Reasons and 4 Ways to #Help1Family on Red Cross Giving Day

Posted on April 20, 2016 by American Red Cross of Northern Ohio

Nearly every eight minutes, the American Red Cross extends a helping hand to a family in need that has lost everything – the roof over their heads, their clothes, and their most cherished possessions – to a home fire.

The Red Cross has been busy helping neighbors in and around Northeast Ohio, but we need your help on one special day to continue to provide the emergency services that our neighbors depend on each and every day.

On April 21, you have a chance to help families in need whenever and wherever they need it by participating in the Red Cross’ Giving Day to #help1family. A donation of just $88.50 can provide a family with a day’s worth of food, plus blankets and other essentials.

We are proud of the work we accomplished to help people in Northeast Ohio last year:

Installing 8,960 smoke alarms in NEO communities
Provided 3,161 students with disaster readiness training through The Pillowcase Project, sponsored by Disney
Responded to over 950 disaster incidents such as home fires or flooding

Spread the word about Giving Day – the more people who support Giving day means we can help more families. Use your social media channels to reach out to friends and family and ask them to donate to #help1family by visiting https://givingday.redcross.org/region/northeast-ohio.

Here are four ways your donation will #help1family:

Supporting a family in urgent need: provide funding to give a family a day’s worth of food, blankets, and other essentials.
Supplying warm meals: help provide hearty, comforting meals to people impacted by disasters.
Providing clean-up kits after a disaster strikes: make clean-up kits available for families in need that include vital items like a mop, bucket, and disinfectant.
Deploying an emergency response vehicle for a day: Red Cross workers travel to impacted neighborhoods in fully stocked Emergency Response vehicles to provide food, water and critical relief.

Imagine the impact that we could have on our community if everyone wanted to #help1family.

Thank you.

Why I Volunteer for the American Red Cross

Posted on April 13, 2016 by American Red Cross of Northern Ohio

By Stephanie M. Goggans
CPT, SC
U.S. Army Cleveland Metro Recruiting Company

I volunteer with the Red Cross because service and volunteerism makes the world a better place. If each one of us can have an impact on the next person then the entire world will be better.

Service with the American Red Cross was important for me as a military service member because it allows me to continue my volunteering as I travel worldwide. The American Red Cross has many diverse programs to volunteer in and so many different locations that they make it pretty simple to spend time giving back.

Helping with the disaster preparedness team in Northeast Ohio has been very educational for me. Being from Northeast Ohio, volunteering with the American Red Cross also helps me stay connected to what is going on in my area. Although I wasn’t aware of it at first,
volunteering in the community through the American Red Cross has added to my sense of purpose and helped me become the person I am today.

Volunteering can be challenging, but it is ultimately very rewarding.

Thank you,

Stephanie

CPT GoggansStephanie

Click here to see a short video featuring Captain Stephanie Goggins, volunteering to sort mail destined for U. S. Service Men and Women during the holidays.

Smoke Alarms Save Lorain Family, Including Several Children

Posted on February 26, 2016 by American Red Cross of Northern Ohio

The home of Nicole King and family

Smoke alarm installed near furnace on December 12, 2015

Second smoke alarm installed on December 12, 2015

Basement furnace in proximity to smoke alarm

Photo credit: Jim McIntyre/American Red Cross

Operation Save-A-Life Lives Up To Its Name x 12

10 young children and two adults escaped a home fire in Lorain, Ohio on December 26, 2015, fleeing from the home on West 17th Street after family members heard the shrill sound of smoke alarms.

The alarms had been installed just two-weeks earlier by Red Cross volunteers and members of the Lorain Fire Department during a Fire Safety Walk. Residents in the targeted neighborhood were offered valuable fire safety information along with free smoke alarms. It’s part of the Red Cross initiative to reduce the number of deaths from home fires by 25%.

The smoke alarms in the W. 17th Street home sounded close to 11:00 PM. Although most of the children were still awake, no one noticed the smoke coming from the heating ducts until they heard the alarms. Nicole King, mother of the children, credited the alarms for alerting her family, and recalled the discussion about having an escape plan. So did nine-year old Nigeria, who helped get his younger siblings out of the house and away from the danger, remembering to “get low and go.” Nicole’s mother was also able to escape unharmed.

Once all family members were accounted for outside the house, Nicole called 9-1-1, and firefighters were able to quickly extinguish the fire, which had started in the basement furnace. While damage to the home was minimal, the furnace was out of commission, and the Red Cross Disaster Team responded by providing the family with funding to pay for hotel rooms.

The 12 lives saved in Lorain are among the 69 lives credited to the Red Cross national Home Fire Campaign, launched in 2014 and modeled after Operation Save-A-Life, an initiative between the Greater Cleveland Chapter of the Red Cross and the city of Cleveland Division of Fire. Since its inception in 1992, more than 160,000 smoke alarms have been installed in homes in the city of Cleveland.

The 2 smoke alarms installed in the home on West 17th Street in Lorain last December are among more than 8,400 alarms that have been installed by the Red Cross and its community partners in the Northeast Ohio Region since July 1st, 2015.

There were no working smoke alarms in the home prior to that.

If you would like a home fire safety inspection, valuable fire safety information and free smoke alarms installed in your home, visit the Northeast Ohio Region Operation Save-A-Life website, and find the link to your county. Or click here for more information on how to volunteer, to help make your community safer.

The Fight Against Fire Fatalities Ongoing

Posted on January 12, 2016 by American Red Cross of Northern Ohio

Icon Disaster

By Tim O’Toole
Regional Disaster Officer, Northeast Ohio

121 people lost their lives in Ohio last year due to accidental fires, according to information provided to the State Fire Marshal’s Fire Prevention Bureau.

Unfortunately, two counties within the Northeast Ohio Region top several lists.

Cuyahoga County in the Greater Cleveland Chapter led the state with 14 accidental fire fatalities. This is twice as high as the counties with the second highest number.
Jefferson County in the Lake to River Chapter led the state in per capita deaths, with 7 fatalities. Although these deaths occurred in just 3 events, it still is still an alarming number.

Fire deaths continue to impact the very young and the senior community. Nearly half of the fire victims were over 60 years of age.

Smoke alarms were present in only 25% of the fire locations. This number indicates only that they were present, and not whether they functioned correctly.

The takeaway is that the mission of the American Red Cross is an important one. And one that isn’t going away.

4 people lost their lives last night (1/11/16) in Summit County. Every Day, tragedy strikes our communities. But our Disaster Cycle Service processes of Prepare, Respond and Recover align perfectly with the problem these numbers dictate. Our education and prevention programs can reduce the number of future fires and prepare people to respond appropriately when they do occur. Daily, our response teams and caseworkers continue to provide support for those who do suffer the effects of hostile fires and help them recover from the impact. And finally, Operation Save-A-Life, our Home Fire Preparedness Campaign will continue to help prevent the fatalities that too often occur as a result of those fires.

These numbers indicate not only the importance of our mission, but also the fact that we must increase our efforts to insure we impact them positively in the future.

I thank all Disaster Service volunteers and staff for their dedicated and sincere support of the mission.

I am proud to be part of it.

Tim O’Toole
Regional Disaster Officer
Northeast Ohio Region

Learn more about Operation Save-A-Life, the Red Cross effort to reduce fire fatalities in Northeast Ohio by providing fire safety education and FREE smoke alarm installations, at redcross.org/neoosal.

Read more about volunteer opportunities with the Red Cross here.

Our Story: 2015 in Review

Posted on December 31, 2015 by American Red Cross of Northern Ohio

A word of thanks to everyone who visited us here in 2015, to read about the good work being done by volunteers and staff of the American Red Cross, Northeast Ohio Region.

Operation Save-A-Life, Lorain, Ohio, October 2015

The concert hall at Severance holds 1,844 people. This blog was viewed about 9,900 times in 2015. If it were a Cleveland Orchestra concert at Severance Hall, it would take more than 5 sold-out performances for that many people to see it!

Click here to see the complete report.

Give With Meaning

Posted on December 1, 2015 by American Red Cross of Northern Ohio

Giving Tuesday. It’s a call to donate to a meaningful cause as the holiday season gets underway. And there’s no more meaningful cause than the American Red Cross, for a variety of reasons.

Most people associate the Red Cross with blood, and for good reason. The Red Cross collects and processes more than 40% of the nation’s blood supply.

Red Cross workers also respond to nearly 70,000 disasters a year, the vast majority of them house fires. People suddenly faced with a crisis get help with immediate needs, like food and lodging, and longer-term assistance, such as mental health services and referrals to other agencies.

In an effort to prevent fire fatalities, the Red Cross and its partners install smoke alarms in homes, at no cost to the residents.

CPR/AED, lifeguarding and babysitting training are among the health and safety programs offered by the Red Cross, to help individuals effectively respond to emergencies.

The Red Cross also helps keep members of the military connected with their loved ones back home. It’s just one of the Services to Armed Forces offered.

Your donation to the American Red Cross on Giving Tuesday, and at any time can help in so many ways. Visit redcross.org or call 1-800-RED CROSS.

**Please note, our window for collecting Holiday Mail for Heroes for the 2015 season is closed so that we may sort through the cards and deliver them. Please mark your calendars for November 2016 if you wish to participate in the program.

Red Cross Assisting Dozens Displaced By Apartment Fire

Posted on November 23, 2015 by American Red Cross of Northern Ohio

Photo credit: Jeremy Bayer/American Red Cross

Residents Chased From Their Homes Close to Thanksgiving Holiday

Red Cross workers and volunteers were called for assistance after fire broke out in an apartment building in Geauga County early Monday morning.

45 residents have been affected by the fire, with several seeking assistance for overnight lodging, as temperatures dip to some of the coldest readings of the year.

The Monday morning fire follows another very busy weekend for Red Cross disaster workers, who were called to a dozen home fires, offering immediate financial assistance to more than 50 people for food, lodging, and other immediate needs. Follow-up assistance, such as mental health services and referrals to other agencies will also be provided.

It was a similar story the weekend before, with a like number of people chased from their homes by fire, and receiving Red Cross assistance.

There is much to be thankful for: no fatalities were reported.

The American Red Cross is attempting to reduce home fire fatalities through Operation Save-A-Life. With the help of local fire departments and other community partners, the Red Cross offers free smoke alarms, in many neighborhoods going door-to-door installing the alarms, and offering residents valuable fire safety information.

Photo credit: Cal Pusateri/American Red Cross Volunteer

For more information or to schedule a free fire safety inspection for your home, visit the Operation Save-A-Life website.

NOHredcross

American Red Cross of Northern Ohio Region

Tag Archives: Disaster Services