National Preparedness Month: Red Cross Asks Everyone to Prepare for the Next Emergency

All It Takes Is Three Easy Steps – Get a Kit, Make a Plan, Be Informed

September is National Preparedness Month, the perfect time for people to get their household ready in case an emergency should occur. The American Red Cross prepares all year for disasters and urges everyone to Be Red Cross Ready too.

“Disasters can happen anywhere, at any time, even in your home,” said Joel Sullivan, regional executive for the Tennessee Region. “During National Preparedness Month, we ask you to take three action steps – get an emergency kit, make an emergency plan and be informed – so you and your loved ones can react quickly if an emergency occurs.”

The Red Cross urges everyone to take three important action steps to get prepared:
1. Build a kit – Build an easy-to-carry emergency preparedness kit that you can use at home or take with you if you must evacuate. Include items such as water, non-perishable food, a flashlight and extra batteries, a battery-powered radio, first aid kit and medications.
2. Make a plan – Talk with members of your household about what to do during emergencies. Plan what to do in case everyone is separated and choose two places to meet—one right outside your home in case of a sudden emergency such as a fire, and another outside your neighborhood, in case you cannot return home or are asked to evacuate.
3. Be informed – Know what kinds of emergency situations may occur where you live, where you work, and where you go to school. Get trained in First Aid and CPR/AED so you’ll know what to do in an emergency if help is delayed. Don’t forget your pets, plan for them too.

DOWNLOAD RED CROSS APPS The Red Cross Emergency App has more than 35 customizable severe weather and emergency alerts. Content on what to do before, during and after emergencies from power outages to home fires, to hurricanes and tornadoes, can be viewed in English or Spanish. Parents can download the Monster Guard: Prepare for Emergencies App so 7- to 11-year-olds will have a fun, gaming environment to learn how to prevent emergencies and what to do if one occurs. Apps can be downloaded for free by searching for ‘American Red Cross’ in app stores or visiting redcross.org/apps. People can also enable Red Cross skills for Alexa to receive notifications about an approaching hurricane, get valuable first aid information and schedule a blood donation. Details are available at redcross.org/alexa-skills.

PLEASE GIVE BLOOD Severe weather events can have a significant impact on the ability of the Red Cross to collect life-saving blood products due to canceled blood drives and decreased donor turnout in impacted areas. It is the blood already on hand that helps those in need. Each day, the Red Cross must collect about 13,000 blood donations and more than 2,500 platelet donations to meet the needs of accident victims, cancer patients and children with blood disorders. Volunteer blood and platelet donors are needed to help save lives. Eligible donors are encouraged to schedule a donation appointment by using the Blood Donor Skill for Amazon Alexa, the Blood Donor App, visiting RedCrossBlood.org or calling 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767).

Volunteer Highlight From Flint Clouse, Regional Volunteer Services Officer

We know that our greatest resource is our volunteers. The team accomplishes so much more working together.

Many of you have already heard of our new Friends and Family Referral Program. This program enables volunteers to help recommend qualified people to join the Red Cross. The four steps are:

1. A current Red Cross volunteer encourages a friend, family member, or colleague to apply as a volunteer.
2. The current volunteer submits their personal connection’s information through the referral form located in Volunteer Connection.
3. If requested, an email will be sent to the potential volunteer to encourage them to apply.
4. The potential volunteer applies through redcross.org/volunteer and becomes a volunteer.

We will hold in-person and online sessions to review the resources in more detail, including email templates and where to find the program in Volunteer Connection. To learn more, reach out to your Chapter Executive Director or a member of the Volunteer Services team.

Tracking the referrals in Volunteer Connection will allow us to keep you updated on their application process and have monthly drawings for those with at least three volunteer recruits that log hours in that month, beginning in October. Among other appreciation items, our Pop Socket will be exclusively available for the Friends and Family Referral Program monthly drawing. More information to come.

SURVEY NOTE: You may have heard us talk about the Net Promoter Score or NPS. In your annual survey, we ask how likely you are to recommend the Red Cross to a friend as a good place to volunteer. We appreciate the 9 and 10s because you are likely to recommend us. A rating of 7 or 8 is neutral, and anything lower means “not at all likely” to recommend us. If you are not recommending us as a great place to volunteer, please help us make changes. We don’t want to wait until an annual survey to solve problems. Volunteers make up over 90 percent of the Red Cross workforce, and we recognize that volunteers have valuable feedback to improve our programs.

Thanks for the feedback in reducing the volunteer opportunities on the public website. We went from 35 to 6 pages. Please keep the solutions coming.

And thank you for sharing our volunteer opportunities with your friends. That’s the biggest compliment our programs can receive.

Best wishes,
Flint

Letter from East Tennessee Executive Director, Sharon Hudson - Sept. 2019

Thank You to Our Volunteer Healthcare Professionals

This month we recognize and celebrate the achievements of American Red Cross health care professionals. Nationwide, more than 20,000 volunteer healthcare professionals generously give of their time and talent to help those in need by responding to more than 62,000 disaster calls each year.

Here in East Tennessee, our volunteers include clinicians, individuals with master's degrees in nursing and public health and education, advanced Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) certification and a range of other related fields. They provide relief for disaster victims, develop and conduct health and safety classes, and render support to members of the Armed Forces.  “Our health care professionals are priceless,” said East Tennessee Disaster Program Manager Kristin Manuel. “They are a lifeline for clients and our Disaster Action Teams can’t provide basic medical services without them “.

First-Aid Station coordinator and disaster volunteer James Pesterfield holds an advanced EMT certification and cites helping others as his motivation to volunteer. “No two clients are the same. I rely on my training and skills to figure out how to treat each one,” Pesterfield said. Teaching life-saving skills is the passion of Mary Franklin, volunteer instructor, trainer and educator with Training Services. “The intrinsic rewards, sharing knowledge and skills with others are really fun sharing, because every class is different,” said Franklin.

Thanks to Franklin and instructors like her, Red Cross Training Services is responsible for providing health and safety training to the public. In 2017, the Red Cross trained 2.28 million people on how to save lives through First Aid, cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) or automated external defibrillator (AED) courses, water safety and caregiving and preparedness programs. Illustrating the volunteer spirit, the East Tennessee region grew by 50% in the number of professional health care volunteers from 28 to 47.  Through their commitment to serving others, East Tennessee health care professionals exemplify the tradition of preventing and alleviating human suffering and the power of volunteers. 

Letter from Southeast Tennessee Executive Director, Julia Wright - Sept. 2019

Fall is a beautiful time of year, and I am sure we will find many exciting opportunities to help the American Red Cross with our mission.  

On Friday, Sept. 13, 2019, we are holding a blood drive at the American Red Cross office at 4115 S. Access Road in Chattanooga. I encourage you to sign up and donate blood. The statistics are clear.  Every two seconds, someone in America needs blood.  Every day, 34,000 donations are needed to help save the lives of cancer patients, accident victims and children with blood disorders in the United States. Just one pint of blood can help save as many as three lives. You can make a huge difference in our community by simply giving blood. 

Signing up is easy. The award-winning Blood Donor App is a convenient way for donors to schedule and manage their donation appointments, track the lifetime impact of their donations, earn rewards and recruit others to donate.  Donors can access their donor card through the Blood Donor App and use it as their official form of identification at donation appointments. They can also view their health history information, including blood pressure, hemoglobin levels, and pulse rate, and complete a RapidPass. Text BLOODAPP to 90999 or search Red Cross Blood in your app store. 

I am also excited to announce the 12th annual CHI Memorial Heroes Luncheon supporting the American Red Cross will be held at the Chattanoogan Hotel, on Wednesday, Nov. 6 at 11:30 a.m. We are thrilled to have Major Gen. Terry M. Haston, retired Adjunct General for the Tennessee National Guard, joining us as the keynote speaker. 

Sponsorships and tickets are available by visiting our site at RedCross.org/realheroes. Reserve your seats today! 

-Julia 

Regional Executive Corner with Joel R. Sullivan - Northeast Tennessee – Sept. 2019

Teens can help the American Red Cross!

September brings the return of school and that means back to the books, Friday night lights, and the return of many high school blood drives. It is a great time of year for teens to engage with their fellow students and serve in their communities. 

The American Red Cross provides great volunteer opportunities to learn skills that will help them in the future, earn hours toward scholarships, give lifesaving blood and prepare their community for the next disaster. Our youth engagement initiatives allow students to become empowered and develop leadership skills by supporting our different lines of service.  

Currently, youth volunteers make up 16 percent of our volunteer base across the Tennessee Region. We have a goal to increase that number to 25 percent by 2021. We are increasing our Red Cross Clubs in several high schools this year.  We are also working with Taylor Parsons, Miss Tennessee’s Outstanding Teen, and a Northeast Tennessee Red Cross volunteer as our Youth Engagement Lead to attract and train more young people to volunteer with the Red Cross across the Region. 

  

There are many ways we will grow our youth volunteer numbers in Northeast Tennessee:  

• Youth will serve on Home Fire Campaign teams as a smoke alarm installer. (Age 16/17 with adult supervision).  
• Organize, promote and recruit donors for blood drives at participating schools during the school year.  
• Participate in our Missing Maps program to put millions of people from high-risk countries on the map.   
• Join a thank-a-thon to call and thank past donors and volunteers or write thank you cards to them.  

These are but a few tasks youth leaders can volunteer to support the Red Cross mission. I ask each of you to encourage the teens and young adults of your friends and family to get involved in our Chapter activities. They will be helping their community and learning different skills that will support them in their future. Volunteering is as easy as visiting redcross.org/volunteer and registering as a volunteer. That will start them on their path to helping others.  

  

The American Red Cross is a place for all people who have a passion in their hearts for service to their community. Let’s engage our youth and develop our future for the next generation of volunteers.  

The need is great. The work is rewarding. I am asking you to help us engage the youth in our community.

Joel  

Letter from Heart of Tennessee Executive Director, Kathy Ferrell - Sept. 2019

Heart of Tennessee Volunteers:

“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’” Martin Luther King, Jr. 

This quote resonates with me. Thank you for sharing your most precious gift: your time.

We had an incredible annual meeting and were able to recognize so many individuals from multiple lines of service. Our Training Services leadership presented Hadiya Hall-McFarland with a Certificate of Merit. This is the highest honor presented to an individual who is Red Cross trained in Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and utilized those skills to save or sustain a life. Hadiya’s instructors, John Karshner and James Graves were recognized for their commitment to our mission through training Hadiya in CPR.

Our Blood Services team, led by Gene Baker, recognized the 2019 Rutherford County Battle of the Badges Blood Drive winners. Team Law Enforcement composed of Rutherford County Sheriff’s Department, LaVergne Police Department, Smyrna Police Department, and Murfreesboro Police Department took home the trophies, edging Team Fire/EMS composed of Rutherford County Fire Rescue, LaVergne Fire Department, Smyrna Fire Department, Murfreesboro Fire Rescue Department, and Rutherford County EMS for the inaugural victory. We are incredibly grateful for the work of our first responders in our community and for their support of the Red Cross mission.

Whether you respond to our neighbors impacted by a home fire, install smoke alarms, teach CPR classes, brief our newly enlisted military members on Red Cross services, or roll up your sleeve to donate blood—you are appreciated. You collectively touch all five lines of service: Service to the Armed Forces, International Services, Blood Services, Training Services, and Disaster Services. We hear your stories and we are inspired by them.

With gratitude,

Kathy Ferrell
Executive Director, Heart of Tennessee Chapter

Letter from Mid-West Tennessee Executive Director, David Hicks - Sept. 2019

Happy summer to all Mid-West Tennessee Chapter volunteers (although we’re on the tail end of it)! I look forward to reconnecting with everyone over the next couple of weeks to hear your vacation stories and family updates. I’ve got my fair share too from the summer of 2019.

As we’ve now entered the new American Red Cross fiscal year, July 1, 2019- June 30, 2020, I wanted to take a moment to revisit some of the metrics of the last fiscal year to celebrate some of our chapter’s amazing accomplishments over the last 12 months. Please read through the following categories of chapter performance standards and see four different areas where our Mid-West Chapter excelled.

1. Disaster Response- Client Satisfaction %:
Goal: 78% Actual: 91%

2. Smoke Alarm Installations (Home Fire Campaign + Sound the Alarm event):
Goal: 940 Actual: 1,673

3. The Pillowcase Project:
Goal: 500 Actual: 501

4. Volunteer Hours:
Goal: 18,427 Actual: 18,352

As you read through the above statistics, please keep in mind that each of you contributed and participated in our overall success. These chapter accomplishments are your accomplishments. As we enter the second month of our new fiscal year, I challenge everyone to continue to maintain our excellence in chapter service and our level of commitment. Here are the new metrics for this fiscal year:

1. Disaster Response- Client Satisfaction Goal: 78%

2. Smoke Alarm Installations Goal: 940

3. The Pillowcase Project Goal: 500

4. Volunteer Hours Goal: 15,298

We can accomplish these goals again and be equally proud this time next year as we reflect on the year that was. Take care and I look forward to seeing you in the community flying the banner of the Red Cross. Let’s go get it!

Pamela Holz Joins Tennessee Region American Red Cross as Tennessee River Executive Director

The Tennessee Region of the American Red Cross is pleased to announce that Pamela Holz has been named executive director for the Tennessee River Chapter. Holz replaces Katy Hagstrom in the position, who returned to her home state of Michigan with her family. The Tennessee River Chapter serves 12 counties in Middle Tennessee.

Holz will oversee volunteer development, fundraising, relationship management, stewarding the board of directors and leading the local Red Cross team from the Clarksville chapter office.

“We are thrilled to have Pamela join the Red Cross leadership team in Tennessee,” said Joel Sullivan, Regional Executive for the Tennessee Region. “Her passion for serving the community and her commitment to getting the Red Cross mission out in the public really excites us. We look forward to supporting her in her new career.”

Previously, Holz served as the Center Operations and Program Manager for the USO Fort Campbell and Nashville. In that job, she oversaw more than 17,000 military guests a month in the world’s largest USO facility. Previously to her work at the USO, she started her career as an educator in a one-room schoolhouse in Minnesota. She is a graduate of Martin Luther College in New Ulm, Minnesota.

Holz is passionate about service to her community and looks forward to working with volunteers with the American Red Cross. “I am happiest when I am serving,” she said. “I love helping people and taking care of people. The role I was in with the USO was very fulfilling, but I wanted to do more. When the opportunity came with the Red Cross, I read the job and it was a perfect fit. I feel the job was written for me. I am so excited to have been selected for this position.”

Red Cross First Aid Station Team at Neyland Stadium Celebrates 60 Years of Service

The First Aid Station Team celebrated 60 years of service in the East Tennessee Chapter. Below is a brief history of the program.

FAST and Neyland Stadium

On any given weekend during the fall of each year, many Americans can be found in stadiums across the country. The management teams of each stadium strive to meet the needs of these short-term mass gatherings. While many of the attendees will not be local to the stadium, the individuals have one common goal in mind – their favorite team will win. What they do not consider is, “What do I do should I become hurt?” Since 1959, the Knoxville Area Chapter of the American Red Cross, now the East Tennessee Region of the American Red Cross, has provided an answer to this question.

Beginning with a tent just behind the North Bleachers, the American Red Cross, with the assistance of the University of Tennessee, set up shop to provide urgent and immediate medical care in 1959. This was in the form of first aid to the fans that attended UT football games at Shields-Watkins Field. The capacity at that time was 46,390. It did not become known as Neyland Stadium until 1962. As the years advanced and the stadium grew so did the response of the American Red Cross.

From the late ’60s, Cotton Jackson, the Red Cross Safety Director, coordinated the activities at the stadium along with Dr. Robert Rubright from the University of Tennessee Hospital, who provided medical guidance. John Malatak took over the safety position and the stadium services when Cotton left in 1975. During this time, Dr. Robert Lash became the Medical Director. The concept of emergency medical technicians and paramedics was adopted throughout the United States during that period. By including these higher trained individuals, the level of on-site medical care rose significantly. Red Cross volunteers now include advanced first aid providers, emergency medical technicians, paramedics, registered nurses, and doctors.

In 1978, John Malatak left the Red Cross and Frank Brewer took on the role of coordinator and supervisor for the program. The role of supervisor was given to Mr. John Yu in 2008 and Frank Brewer became a liaison for the University on game day. Following the death of John Yu in May 2012, John Whitton became the supervisor for the program. Beginning in March of 2015, James Pesterfield took over as coordinator and supervisor for all University of Tennessee events. The University’s role has been to provide equipment including in-stadium transportation (mini-ambulances), communication, and supplies for this program. The Office of Environmental Health and Safety was first tasked with this role, which now is provided by the Athletic Department’s Office of Event Management.

Following the death of Dr. Lash, Dr. Randal Dabbs, currently the University of Tennessee Medical Center Medical Director Emeritus, Emergency and Trauma Dept. and President of Team Health MidSouth, became the Medical Director. Dr. Janet Purkey, Associate Professor of Internal Medicine at the University of Tennessee Graduate School of Medicine and the Medicine Clerkship Director for medical students as well as a member of Faculty Internal Medicine, has coordinated the Residents from the UT Medical Center since 1991. No stranger to the American Red Cross, Dr. Purkey worked with the Red Cross FAST teams while completing her residency requirements.

At Neyland Stadium (capacity 102,455), The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and Red Crossers along with second and third-year residents from the UT Medical Center, as well as members of AMR Ambulance Service still provide that medical service. This service has always been offered to the fans at no charge for treatment.

From 1998 to 2007 was a time that included the top 10 largest crowds with Sept. 18, 2004, seeing 109,061. Each season well over 700,000 fans attended the UT home games annually. Our teams treated a total of 1,949 fans and transported 296, whose ages ranged from 2-months-old to 91 years. These treatments ranged from minor injuries, simply a cool place to rest, to major trauma stabilization or other life-threatening illnesses.

This medical coverage was originally accomplished with an average of 36 volunteers per game. Beginning in 2015, the FAST team began averaging 60-70 volunteers per game. During this time frame, the FAST members have logged over 340,000 hours of volunteer time. They are strategically placed throughout the stadium or in one of four First Aid Stations. They must all be ready to respond to the call for help