Tag Archives: Nurses

Recognizing National Nurses Week

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By Kathryn Dean, RN, American Red Cross volunteer

During National Nurses Week, May 6-12, the Red Cross wants to recognize the important value that volunteer nurses bring to the mission of the Red Cross. 

Since the inception of the American Red Cross in 1881, nurses have been at the heart of the organization. Initially assisting mainly in disaster relief and war support efforts, their role today has greatly expanded to include veteran support, educational services and training, academic support, children’s programs, blood drives and so much more.

I spoke with Patricia Horvath, RN, MSN, who works as the Volunteer Regional Nurse Lead for Northern Ohio. She is responsible for a team of 90 volunteer nurses in Northern Ohio and for the recruitment, retention and recognition of nurse volunteers. 

American Red Cross of Northern Ohio Volunteer Regional Nurse Lead Patricia Horvath (right) presents volunteer nurse Rosanne Radziewicz with her Red Cross nurse’s pin.

Her contributions to the role have successfully brought the nurse volunteer numbers back up after a period of loss following COVID-19. However, nurse volunteers are always needed and she wants to encourage any nurse considering volunteering with the Red Cross to do so.

“For National Nurse Week, one of the best opportunities that we can put forward to nurses is to find a way to become a Red Cross nurse volunteer,” she said. “Not only does it give you your own joy to contribute to others — nurses are basically humanitarians, that’s who’s drawn to the profession. Our purpose is to make the community healthy, and the best way to do that is to volunteer through the Red Cross.”

To recognize the service of nurse volunteers, the Red Cross has a tradition of awarding nursing pins to those nurses who have completed at least 20 hours of service. 

“We are very keen on making sure that our nurses receive the Red Cross nurse pin,” Patricia explained. “It has a long history in the Red Cross and was originally called ‘The Badge.’ Being awarded the pin is a formal process that we do during volunteer recognition month.” 

Each pin is uniquely numbered, registered with that person for life, and logged nationally.

There are other benefits to volunteering. Patricia explained that the Red Cross offers many free continuing education units (CEUs) for nurses, which helps to maintain their requirements for licensure. In addition, Ohio nurses who obtain multi-state nurse licensure have the opportunity to travel outside of the state to respond to domestic disasters.

Nurses bring their unique education, experience and desire to help others to the forefront every day when they volunteer with the Red Cross. 

“All lines of business the Red Cross has … everything that we do, there’s a role for a nurse.”

Explore the volunteer opportunities available at the Red Cross here and get started in your volunteer journey. To learn more about the history of nursing at the Red Cross, tap here.

American Red Cross Taps Nursing Pool For New Blood Donor Ambassadors

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By Ryan Lang, Red Cross board member and volunteer

Since the Civil War and the earliest days of the American Red Cross, nurses have been some of the biggest supporters of the mission. Red Cross founder Clara Barton was a nurse who risked her life supporting soldiers in the field. It is her legacy that all these years later inspires nursing students from colleges and universities across Northern Ohio to take part in the volunteer blood ambassador program. 

Dr. Mariann Harding of Kent State Tuscarawas is the Regional AS-L Coordinator with Kim Kroh, Executive Director, American Red Cross of Heartland, Stark and Muskingum Lakes

Dr. Mariann Harding, professor of nursing at Kent State University, Tuscarawas Campus, is coordinator for the Academic Service Leadership (ASL) program in Northern Ohio. ASL provides nursing students and nurses returning to college for their bachelor’s degree opportunities to volunteer in the local community.  Currently, about a hundred students participate in the program from Kent State University, both the Kent and Tuscarawas campuses, Case Western Reserve University, and the University of Akron.  

“Students in the Foundations of Nursing class have been volunteering as blood donor ambassadors for several years,” Dr. Harding said. “The donor ambassador experience has been a way to combine service with clinical-based learning.” 

Not only is the ASL program good for the community, Dr. Harding says it is also rewarding and beneficial for her students. “(They) enjoy giving back to the community and find volunteering a meaningful experience. They also learn about the donation process and the safeguards taken to protect the donated blood,” Dr. Harding added. “Many have given blood for the first time during their experience!” 

Kent State University Tuscarawas student, Penelope Cantu is a Red Cross Academic Service-Learning Blood Donor Ambassador volunteer.

Kent State University Tuscarawas student, Penelope Cantu, is a Red Cross ASL Blood Donor Ambassador volunteer. “Having the opportunity to volunteer at Red Cross blood drives has given me insight into how big of an impact blood drives are,” she said. “I had the pleasure of engaging with all kinds of people and listening to why they donate. Their stories helped me realize how much of a difference we all can make when we donate.” 

Find out more on the Blood Ambassador program and other volunteer opportunities here.

Red Cross salutes nurses, ‘angels’ of its mercy mission

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By Eilene E. Guy, American Red Cross volunteer

Nurses are vital to delivering the lifesaving services of the American Red Cross – an organization founded by Clara Barton, whose own nursing during the Civil War earned her the title “Angel of the Battlefield.”

“Nurses fill so many roles in the Red Cross. We couldn’t function without them,” said Barb Thomas, recovery manager for the Red Cross Northern Ohio Region.

Nationwide, more than 20,000 Red Cross nurses – both paid and volunteer – do everything from caring for disaster victims to working in military hospitals to collecting lifesaving blood. They teach CPR/first aid and disaster preparedness, and even serve in the management and governance of the Red Cross itself.

“Nurses are integral to what we do at the Red Cross, so we try to keep them engaged and be sure they know how much we appreciate them,” Barb said. “We don’t just salute them during National Nurses Week (starting today), but all year long.”

Barb introduced me to two of the dozens of nurses in northern Ohio who apply their time and skills to those who need them, near and far.

Phyllis Esposito of Massillon, Ohio, is enthusiastic about her role in Red Cross disaster health services.

Phyllis Esposito, Red Cross volunteer, with Tim Reichel, Disaster Program Manager, Heartland, Stark and Muskingum Lakes Chapter

“I can honestly say, I talk up the Red Cross every time I can,” she said. “It’s such a rewarding thing. My only regret is, why didn’t I do this 10 years earlier?”

After more than 50 years as an emergency room nurse, Phyllis understands how stressed people can be in the wake of an emergency. She knows how to help calm them, assess their health-related needs and – most importantly – fill those needs.

That can range from getting glasses, dentures or refills for medications lost in a fire evacuation to replacing a child’s aerosol machine or a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machine destroyed by a tornado or flood.

Early in her Red Cross “career,” Phyllis was glad to travel to disaster sites, to look after the medical needs of home fire victims, shelter residents or even Red Cross volunteers. But she said as she’s gotten older, she’s glad to be able to serve virtually, reaching out by phone all the way to victims of a hurricane in Louisiana, for example.

This kind of long-distance service is a vital and efficient way for the Red Cross to help local disaster survivors or even a whole community where medical resources are overwhelmed.

“Phyllis is a disaster health service star,” Barb said. “She’s eager to learn as we evolve our ways of helping people, especially as we adjusted to COVID. And her personality just lets people know, there’s light at the end of this dark tunnel they’re in, after a disaster.”

Jennifer Dremann of Deerfield, Ohio, has a special rapport with those who’ve experienced tragedy in the course of a disaster.

Jennifer Dremann, Red Cross volunteer

“I lost my brother in a house fire in 1996; he was 19 years old” when he succumbed to smoke inhalation and carbon monoxide, she said. “He’s why I became a nurse.”

When Jennifer heard about what the Red Cross does, particularly for home fire victims, she knew this was a fit for her. “I’ve lived it; I’ve lost somebody. I’ve done several cases where somebody has passed. It’s got to be the absolute worst nightmare, especially when a child has perished.”

She’s also moved by cases involving an elderly adult who doesn’t have family or social support nearby.

Like Phyllis, she works with folks by phone, day or night, finding out what their disaster-related medical needs are and helping them replace prescriptions and/or medical equipment, navigating insurance and then dipping into Red Cross funds if necessary.

But perhaps the most important help she can give is to listen, not just to survivors’ physical needs but to their emotional wounds. “People are like, ‘You volunteer to do this?’ she said. “I don’t think most people realize what the Red Cross does, and how rewarding it is.”

The Red Cross is proud to have tens of thousands of skilled, compassionate nurses like Phyllis and Jennifer on the team, ready across the country and around the clock to help people prepare for, respond to and recover from disasters.

To learn more about the many services of the Red Cross and how you can be involved as a volunteer, financial supporter or blood donor, go to redcross.org.

Edited by Glenda Bogar, American Red Cross volunteer

Nurses Needed…ASAP

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Looking back 100 years at the Lake Erie / Heartland Chapter

By Doug Bardwell, American Red Cross Volunteer

(Editor’s Note:  This is the latest in a series of centennial-related stories involving the founding of Red Cross chapters in Northeast Ohio)

If history proves anything, it might be that we need to learn from our mistakes.

In 1898, when the USS Maine exploded off Cuba’s shores, war was declared with Spain, and the U.S. Army was deployed.  Despite knowledge that yellow fever was most likely to afflict people during the rainy summer season, the U.S. forces launched their offensive on June 22.  Less than 400 soldiers died during the conflict, but more than 2,000 succumbed to the disease during the occupation that followed.

Sixteen years later, the United States initially resisted being drawn into World War I.  However, after learning that the Germans were suggesting Mexico attack the U.S., President Wilson asked for and received a declaration of war in 1917. With America preparing to enter yet another foreign war, the nation hoped to be more prepared.

A military draft was established and of the 10-million men interviewed, 4.7-million were selected. This required a tremendous increase in medical care as well as production of arms and ammunition for the troops. The Army Medical department increased its hospital capacity from 9,500 to 120,000 beds stateside alone.

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Sunday morning, February 4, 1917, Mrs. Alice Montgomery, secretary of the local Red Cross chapter in Sandusky received a 300-word telegram from American Red Cross national headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Instructions were two-fold.  Set up a “roomy, centrally located headquarters, rent free, and equipment for same…” to produce medical supplies and comfort bags. Secondly, names of nurses and potential nurses were to be collected.

Courses of instruction in nursing would be provided by the Bureau of Nursing Services in Washington.  Doctors and graduate nurses could also report to the Bureau in Washington. Volunteer men could also take first aid courses and organize a “sanitary corps” locally.

Wasting no time, Mrs. John Renner, president of the Sandusky chapter, organized a meeting for that very afternoon and began the work of rolling gauze and preparing medical supplies.

Monday, February 19, Huron began formation of their own chapter, hoping to attract at least 35 to 40 women locally. By April, they already reached 60, and set their new goal for 200. Men were asked to join as well as women.

Unfortunately, twenty years later, history was destined to repeat itself and a huge case of influenza struck our troops, first on our shores and shortly thereafter in the European theater, starting in France. Crowded, unsanitary conditions in camp and in the trenches were ultimately determined to be the cause this time, but not until more than one million men were affected with 30,000 of them dying before they even reached France.

History books are lax in mentioning it, but health related deaths exceeded combat deaths in World War I. Total non-combat deaths reached 63,000, while combat deaths accounted for 53,000.

Many were saved however, thanks in part to the Red Cross having assisted with the job of recruiting experienced nurses for the Army Nursing Corps, along with organizing many ambulance companies. The Red Cross also organized 50 hospitals of 1,000 beds each, at American universities across the country.

Today, the need is still there. Fortunately, not for war-related injuries specifically, but the Red Cross continues to prevent and alleviate human suffering in a multitude of emergencies.  Please consider volunteering at http://neoredcross.org.