By Mary Jo Blackwood, American Red Cross of Colorado, Public Affaitrs
The American Red Cross is in the business of preparing for, preventing and responding to disasters. On our 140th year anniversary, while we could not prevent the onset of the COVID-19 worldwide pandemic, the nature of our business has served us well in responding to COVID and making us even more effective. Who knows what comes next?
The current pandemic has affected all aspects of Red Cross operations and service delivery, but because of our long established ability to pivot when confronted with barriers, Red Cross operations and services have continued. Are some of the adjustments less desirable than standard operations? Of course, but all the volunteers and staff understand we make concessions to move ahead. To show how we have pivoted to continue to meet the needs of all our stakeholders, we checked in with our different service lines. What we saw demonstrated that the Red Cross is strong in this our 140th year and positioned to continue on for the next 140 years!
In this three-part series, we sat down with lines of service to see how they have handled the adaptation to COVID:
Service to Armed Forces (SAF)
Therapy dog visitation at Evans: When the therapy dog program at Evans Army Hospital had to shut down, Deanna Tuley, program coordinator, had an idea for keeping up the morale this program is famous for. She had a life-size cutout of her popular dog Penny made and enlisted hospital personnel to move it around the facility. In only one day, the response was enthusiastic. In pediatrics, Penny was placed in the immunization area and it seemed to put kids more at ease having her there to distract them. One department outfitted Penny with a scrub cap and surgical mask. Radiology attached a little container of dog treats. Everyone is enjoying getting into the spirit of the project. Penny and the other therapy dogs even have a Facebook page so people can visit them on-line.
SAF Resiliency Classes: SAF has several different Resiliency classes to help service members, veterans and their families with mental stress. One module, “Stress Management and Relaxation Techniques” discusses types of stress, stress management, and communication techniques. It then ventures into relaxation and ways to exercise, breath and sleep better which will aim to help relax the mind and body. The classes are discussion-based and all virtual with small groups so everyone can interact.
Pikkwan Boston is the SAF Region Program Manager and she works closely with volunteers like Clara Huff, who runs the volunteer office at Evans Army Hospital. Clara can be in the hospital but the Red Cross volunteer office at the hospital is still closed. She is hoping that changes soon with the increase in vaccinated staff and patients.
Emergency notification has always been mostly virtual. Casework has moved to online, phone and video conferencing. Her concern is that volunteers without reliable computer workstations at home might drop out before they can again work in person. Still, they have seen positive pivots:
- Having virtual meetings with leadership on predictable schedules: Microsoft Teams has been really helpful in that respect.
- Careful scrutiny of in-processing for military has moved to more electronic with shorter in-person parts.
- CPR training has gone to blended learning. Now participants complete the study and written testing online and come in for skills testing. They have created three separate workstations, each with its own mannequins, defibrillators and equipment, and through video conferencing, participants can actually practice and coordinate breathing and compressions by viewing the people doing the other components on the screen as if they were working on one patient!
It appears the American Red Cross is ready for the next 140 years! Not surprising, our staff and volunteers say, because our business is being able to prepare for disasters. That’s what we do. And we do it well.
Next up in Part 2, we look at Disaster and Volunteer Safety….