Cross Blog

Charlotte Top-of-the-Week Rotary Club is Sponsor of the Month

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

The American Red Cross, Greater Carolinas Chapter is honored that Charlotte Top-of-the-Week Rotary Club is our sponsor of the month.

The donation from Charlotte TOTW Rotary to our chapter will be allocated to local Emergency Services:

1) Local Disaster Relief - serving local families when displaced from their home due to fire, flooding, or other natural disasters the Red Cross provides them with food, shelter, emergency financial assistance (EFA), personal care, case work and attention. The Greater Carolinas Red Cross responds to on average one local disaster per day, serving thousands of clients a year.

2) Services to Armed Forces (SAF) Families of service members can receive around-the-clock communication networking that connects them with their loved ones. The Red Cross also traces family members and enables communication during war, civil unrest or disasters around the world.

Charlotte TOTW Rotary Club is an uptown Charlotte chapter of Rotary International. The club meets from 7:30-8:30 a.m. on Mondays at TASTE in Founders Hall, 100 North Tryon Street, Charlotte, NC 28255. Every Monday morning, members of TOTW Rotary gather to celebrate “service above self” and enjoy breakfast, networking and dynamic speakers.
Rotary is a worldwide organization of more than 1.2 million business, professional and community leaders. Members of Rotary clubs, known as Rotarians, provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations and help build goodwill and peace in the world.

Clubs are nonpolitical, nonreligious and open to all cultures, races and creeds. As signified by the motto, “Service Above Self,” Rotary’s main objective is service — in the community, in the workplace, and throughout the world.

Want to Learn More About Rotary?

Locating a club and attending a meeting is the best way to learn about Rotary. 52 clubs meet weekly in this District. Please visit the club page to locate clubs and meeting times near you. Another good thing to do is navigate through the Rotary International website to learn more.

If you are interested in becoming a Rotarian, please contact Mr. Chuck Sawicki, Rotary District 7680 Membership Chair at or 704-334-8202.

Interested in being our sponsor of the month? Contact Amanda Prothero at or 704.347.8238.

Red Cross featured on Hero and Zero

A young girl, Anna, spent her summer at Camp Happy Heart. On one July afternoon, she was practicing her diving, when she suddenly had a seizure in the water.

An onlooker, Chris, noticed Anna struggling in the water. He was able to pull her to safety and gave her cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). Terry Hanson, who works with the John Boy and Billy Show, has a history himself of saving lives through giving CPR.

Hanson heard Chris and Anna’s story and decided to feature them on a segment called “Hero and a Zero.”

He was able to provide some insight into the recent debate over compression-only CPR.

Listen to the broadcast

Volunteers enjoy Emergency Services Day at Carowinds

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Photos courtesy of Red Cross volunteer Darren Mulholland and the Charlotte Fire Department

The American Red Cross participated in the Emergency Services Day at Carowinds on Saturday, Aug. 20, at Carowinds. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department and Charlotte Fire Department were also on-scene to help the Red Cross deliver severe weather safety tips and information.

First responders participated in a “celebrity” ride of The Cyclone, a roller coaster that celebrated its 30th anniversary that weekend.

Laura Crouse, from Charlotte, shared her harrowing experience with severe weather. She told the crowd of how high winds damaged the home where she and her husband and their five children live, and the Red Cross was there to help.

The Charlotte Fire Department recognized the Red Cross, among other responders, for the work they do in the community to help those affected by disasters.

Red Cross volunteer Pamela Brynarsky provided great severe weather tips and encouraged the community to have a plan and to be prepared in the event of inclement weather.

Red Cross volunteer Darren Mulholland had the Red Cross Emergency Communications Response Vehicle (ECRV) at the park.

“There’s nothing like driving the ECRV through Carowinds!” he said.

Click here for more pictures from the event.

How did Katrina affect you?

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

This week marks five years since Hurricane Katrina crashed into our collective lives.

Refugees from Hurricane Katrina sleep in the former Charlotte Coliseum.

View our latest press release including a five-year report and how our chapter assisted refugees of Katrina.

We’ve set up a page on our website that showcases the American Red Cross’s impact on survivors of the storm and we encourage you to watch the videos and read our report.

A war wound

Monday, August 16, 2010

This account is written by Felecia Chavez, a Red Cross worker currently in Afghanistan.

A week ago Friday found me on the other side of our health care system here in Afghanistan. After thinking that I had a really bad case of food poisoning and hours of unbearable pain my co-worker drove me to the Emergency Room here on Bagram. After some tests and a lot of probing and poking a surgeon was called in. He read the CT Scan and a few minutes later I was quickly rolled into the operating room where it was determined that my appendix needed to come out immediately. I truly did not see that one coming and I think I was in shock. The surgeon, anesthiologist, and the operating room nurses were absolutely the best. Two hours later found me in the Intensive Care Ward in a room with 8 soldiers that had gotten hurt during the night in a pretty intense fire fight. (Beds and space are pretty much limited here).

Even though I was given space with curtains surrounding me I knew that these men had given their all and I felt very special being surrounded by them. Lying in that bed we could look at one another and they would give me the thumbs up sign and I would give them a wave. At one time I had to get up and this young soldier looked at me and his eyes got really big and he whispered “Oh my God ma’am they shot you in the stomach?” (my incision had bled so that I had blood on my gown) I told him “No, it was just my appendix, nothing major.” He said with all sincerety “It doesn’t matter ma’am it’s still a war wound.” When I came back to our room five soldiers including the one I had been talking to had been taken to be medevac’d to Lanstuhl, Germany.

I cannot say enough about the quality of care and a genuine feeling of tenderness that was shown me while here at Craig Joint Theater Hospital and there is no place in the world I would have rather been then right here to have had any type of surgery.

I was given the choice to be medevac’d back home or recuperate and finish out my tour here in Afghanistan. It would have placed an undue hardship on the rest of my team leaving them with only three people to continue our mission here, so I have chosen to stay. I am getting stronger every day and am back on light duty, my team members Susanne Harlandt, Michael Jowers, and Scott Grother have taken up the slack and have been there for me and I thank them. My husband Keith already knew the answer when he asked if I was coming home as did my children and family. My husband continues to be my rock and someone I can count on whenever needed and my children and family are always there with unconditional support.

Once again I have seen the other side of what some of our soldiers endure and can only marvel at their faith, strength, and committment. To the hospital staff that see some unbelieavable horrors day after day, it takes some very special people to do what they do and I can only thank them for being there and caring.

How to participate in the Emergency Social Data Summit

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Over the past year we’ve noticed that you increasingly contact us at our Twitter and Facebook account with requests for emergency help.

We suspected we were not alone among disaster responders in receiving this sort of info so we conducted a survey that indeed proves you are increasingly turning to the social web for help.

Because of this, we’re gathering government, nonprofits, social technologists, and engaged citizens to begin evaluating the increased role of the public in disaster response in the age of the social web.

Please feel free to join us online for our Emergency Social Data Summit from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, August 12. There are several ways to do this:

1) Visit the NextGen website to see the event via ustream.  This ustream will be archived via The Emergency Social Data blog.

2) Via Twitter and #crisisdata hashtag.  We will be watching and broadcasting this hashtag all day and there will be an official Twitter chat at 1 p.m. EDT.

3) Add your contributions to the Crisis Data wiki.

We’re hosting this event to bring together government agencies, emergency management professionals, disaster response organizations, tech companies and concerned citizens to address how to reply to these digital requests for help more effectively. That means what you bring to this discussion is really important. So we’ve created a variety of ways we can all interact.

The case for integrating crisis response with social media

Web Users Increasingly Rely on Social Media to Seek Help in a Disaster

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

A new American Red Cross survey shows many web users would turn to social media to seek help for themselves or others during emergencies—and they expect first responders to be listening.

The online survey asked 1,058 adults about their use of social media sites in emergency situations. It found that if they needed help and couldn’t reach 9-1-1, one in five would try to contact responders through a digital means such as e-mail, websites or social media. If web users knew of someone else who needed help, 44 percent would ask other people in their social network to contact authorities, 35 percent would post a request for help directly on a response agency’s Facebook page and 28 percent would send a direct Twitter message to responders.

Social Media in Disasters and EmergenciesWeb users also have clear expectations about how first responders should be answering their requests. The survey showed that 69 percent said that emergency responders should be monitoring social media sites in order to quickly send help—and nearly half believe a response agency is probably already responding to any urgent request they might see.

And the survey respondents expected quick response to an online appeal for help—74 percent expected help to come less than an hour after their tweet or Facebook post.

“The first and best choice for anyone in an emergency situation is to call 9-1-1,” said Gail McGovern, American Red Cross president and CEO. “But when phone lines are down or the 9-1-1 system is overwhelmed, we know that people will be persistent in their quest for help and use social media for that purpose.”

The Red Cross commissioned the survey in advance of an Emergency Social Data Summit set for Thursday, August 12, in Washington, D.C. The meeting, convened by the Red Cross, will bring together thought leaders and experts in the government, social media, emergency response and the non-profit sectors to discuss better ways to handle information that flows through the web during disasters.

“The social web is creating a fundamental shift in disaster response—one that will ask emergency managers, government agencies and aid organizations to mix time-honored expertise with real-time input from the public,” McGovern said. “We need to work together to better respond to that shift.”

The Red Cross survey also found that among web users, social media sites are the fourth most popular source for emergency information, just behind television news, radio and online news sites. More web users say they get their emergency information from social media than from a NOAA weather radio, government website or emergency text message system. One in five social media users also report posting eyewitness accounts of emergency events to their accounts.

(Editorial Note: Please contact the Red Cross media team at (202) 303-5551 for more information about the Emergency Social Data Summit or to speak with an expert about the survey.)

Online Survey of 1,058 respondents representative of the U.S. population aged 18 and older. Survey conducted on July 22-23, 2010 by Infogroup | ORC.

Storms and fires keep Iredell County volunteers busy

Friday, August 06, 2010

On Thursday, American Red Cross volunteers were called to four separate incidents between 4:45 and 5:45 p.m.

The initial call was to a tree falling on a house on Spicewood Circle in Troutman. As Emergency Services volunteers headed to that scene, another call came in from a working house fire in the Cool Springs area. Two volunteers quickly headed to the scene of that emergency.

When volunteers arrived at the Troutman tree falling, county emergency management was on the scene and requested the Red Cross to go to a four-unit apartment fire on Stockton Street in Statesville and to another house fire on Knoxview Lane in Mt. Mourne.

Therefore, an additional two volunteer teams were dispatched - and all were on site and working with the clients as needed by 6:15 p.m.!

The Red Cross ended up assisting four families with assistance for food and shelter. The work done Thursday night in Iredell County is a testament to the dedication of our Red Cross volunteers!

Weekly Worldwide Wrapup

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Welcome to the Weekly Worldwide Wrap-Up, in which we consolidate the international Red Cross and Red Crescent news into one list of bite-sized links for you. It’s a non-comprehensive sampling of the larger and/or more intriguing aspects of our global work…

PAKISTAN: The ICRC is providing training in first aid for journalists from Pakistan working in violence-affected areas.

IRAQ: The ICRC is helping more than 64,000 destitute Iraqis through the holy month of Ramadan by providing them with food and hygiene items.

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO: The ICRC and the Red Cross Society of the Democratic Republic of the Congo have begun to distribute food to 53,000 people who have fled their villages because of violence since mid-July. Meanwhile the ICRC recently reunited 14 Congolese children with their families.

AFGHANISTAN: Heavy flooding in conflict-affected northern and western Afghanistan has forced thousands to flee their homes and seek shelter elsewhere. The ICRC and the Afghan Red Crescent provided emergency aid for more than 40,000 people – many of them in dangerous or remote areas – in May and June.

CHINA: In response to some of the worst flooding in decades, the Red Cross Society of China has been distributing emergency supplies including tents, quilts, rice and drinking water.

SRI LANKA: As thousands of people return home to damaged or destroyed houses after the fighting, the German Red Cross is working with the The Sri Lanka Red Cross Society and IFRC to build new homes and repair damage to others.

GLOSSARY:
ICRC = International Committee of the Red Cross
IFRC = International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies

Red, White and Vroom!

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Our friends at Red Cross Racing want to make sure you know that you can win a 2011 Ford Fiesta by entering the Red, White and Vroom Sweepstakes.

To say thank you to all of our committed blood donors, the American Red Cross and Red Cross Racing are giving away a brand new 2011 Ford Fiesta, thanks to a generous donation by the Ford Motor Company.

Make sure to fill out all fields in the entry form and good luck from the Red Cross Racing team!