Nursing Matters Past and Present 33rd Edition American Red Cross National Nursing Committee Winter 2019 March is Red Cross Month; Please Be a Hero to Someone in Need Molly Dalton For the 76th year, March is Red Cross Month across lifesaving work of the dedicated employees and the United States and the American Red Cross is volunteers of the American Red Cross, as well as asking everyone to become a hero by giving blood, the remarkable kindness of the American people becoming a volunteer or making a donation to who give so generously to this organization. Read #help1family on Giving Day – March 27. entire proclamation here. During Red Cross Month, we honor the volunteer This year the Red Cross salutes all the heroes who heroes who fuel our mission every day to provide make a difference in their communities by: hope and urgent relief to families in need. These • Donating blood or platelets champions are your neighbors who give blood, take • Volunteering to help people impacted by a lifesaving classes such as First Aid and CPR, or disaster leave their home in the middle of the night to • Taking a first aid or CPR class to help in an support a disaster victim. We honor our volunteers emergency and ask you to join them and make a difference. • Providing comfort to a member of the military, a veteran or their family FIRST RED CROSS MONTH President Donald Trump has proclaimed March as Red Cross Month WHAT WE DO The Red Cross has been helping across the country, a tradition begun by President people in need for more than 130 years. And much Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1943. All of our presidents of our work is accomplished through the work of have designated March as Red Cross Month to our volunteers. The Red Cross: recognize how the American Red Cross helps • Responds to nearly 62,000 disasters across the people across the country and around the world. country providing hope and comfort to people in need. “Guided by her passionate devotion to humanity, • Trains and provides information to as many as 6.2 Clara Barton founded the American Red Cross in million people in first aid, water safety and other 1881 as a charitable organization to provide skills that help save lives. services to people in need. After 138 years, her • Collects more than 4.7 million units of blood from historic legacy of selfless service still inspires nearly 2.7 million volunteer donors to meet the hundreds of thousands of Americans to give their needs of patients at hospitals and transfusion time, resources, and energy to help people in the centers across the country. United States and around the world, aiding those • Provides more than 422,000 support services to facing natural disasters, donating and supplying military members, veterans and their families. blood, and • Helps nearly serving our 174 million military people families. outside the During U.S. through American disaster Red Cross management Month, we and disease recognize prevention and honor efforts. the American Red Cross National Nursing Committee Page 2 G IVING DAY Please #help1family on Giving Day redcross.org/givingday, or by texting REDCROSS - Wednesday, March 27- and support families to 90999 to give $10. impacted by disaster. Your donation can help provide hope and urgent relief such as food, During Red Cross Month, be a hero and join the blankets and other essentials to people who need it humanitarian mission of the Red Cross. More most. Giving Day is a 24-hour fundraising information is available on how you can help campaign supporting the work of the Red Cross, through your local Red Cross chapter or you can helping people across the country in need of learn more about the many ways to help on emergency support. Donate now by visiting redcross.org. Red Cross Needs Health Professionals Molly Dalton The American Red Cross relies on more than • Pillowcase Project Instructor (educating 3rd-5th 20,000 nurses and other health professionals who graders about disasters) bring our mission to life each day. If you’re a nurse, • Blood Donor Ambassador Leader nursing student or other health professional, we • Nursing Network Regional Nurse Leaders and need your help! You can learn more about the Red team members Cross and its wonderful health professional • Service to the Armed Forces Hero Care Case volunteers by viewing this video. Management There are volunteer opportunities in direct service, We hope that you consider volunteering with the leadership and behind-the-scenes. A few examples: Red Cross – you can have a meaningful impact by • Disaster Health Services – team members and serving individuals and communities. Learn more leaders at http://redcross.org/volunteer. • Disaster Mental Health Services – team members and leaders Sound the Alarm Against Home Fires; Help the Red Cross Install 100,000 Free Smoke Alarms Molly Dalton March is Red Cross Month and the American Red As part of the ongoing Red Cross Home Fire Cross is getting ready to Sound the Alarm against Campaign, Red Cross volunteers and campaign home fires. Thousands of volunteers are needed to partners will fan out across these communities help install 100,000 free smoke alarms across the from April 27 to May 12 to install the 100,000 free country in 16 days in 100 communities that have a smoke alarms, replace batteries in existing alarms, high risk for home fires. and educate families about fire prevention and safety. People can also make a donation in support of the effort. Visit SoundTheAlarm.org to learn more today. Each year the Red Cross responds to more than 62,000 disasters – the vast majority of which are home fires. Every day seven people die in a home fire and most victims die in homes that don’t have working smoke alarms. That’s why the Red Cross launched the Home Fire Campaign in 2014 – to help prevent home fire tragedies. Working smoke alarms in a home cut the risk of death by half, and having an escape plan further improves the odds of survival. Red Cross volunteer Dave Peace installs a free smoke alarm in Endicott, New York during a Sound the Alarm event while his teammate Max Little HOME FIRE CAMPAIGN SAVING LIVES The takes a call. Red Cross photo by Chuck Haupt. Red Cross Home Fire Campaign is already credited American Red Cross National Nursing Committee Page 3 with saving more than 500 lives across the country. can help by volunteering or making a financial The campaign’s volunteers and partners have also donation. Just $15 can provide one smoke alarm. (as of January 31, 2019): • Installed more than 1.5 million free smoke alarms Find events in your local community where you can • Reached more than 1.3 million children through help or learn how your donation will help educate youth preparedness programs families on fire safety; install free smoke alarms in • Made more than 661,000 households safer from high-risk neighborhoods nationwide; and provide the threat of home fires food, comfort and aid to those who have been affected by a home fire. Learn more at HOW TO HELP The Red Cross and its partners SoundTheAlarm.org. will be out in communities between April 27 and May 12 to install 100,000 free smoke alarms. You Join this Red Cross effort to fight the tragedy of home fires. Sound the Alarm. Save a Life. Hidden Rewards of Disaster Mental Health Work Donna Schloss, RN, FNP and Lynn Hagan, LCSW Disaster work is never for the faint of heart. It is, Catholic Charities and Texas Baptist Men are though, not without its rewards, sometimes from examples of agencies that are represented: the very unexpected places. This is a story about Donna MARC provides a sort of “one stop shop” to provide Schloss, a nurse practitioner and Lynn Hagan, a information to those affected by the disaster. clinical social worker. Both are disaster mental health (DMH) workers with stellar careers with the The role of a Red Cross worker at a MARC is multi- American Red Cross, Donna for “a long time” and dimensional. As Disaster Mental Health workers, Lynn for about five years. Donna and Lynn focused on providing comfort and information to those affected by the floods. The The disaster that crossed their paths was Lynn’s mental health issues individuals face at this stage in first. She had lived overseas for a long time and had these situations can include increased anxiety, recently returned to the U.S. She had done trauma worry, anger, shock and grief. It is the role of the work while living in the Middle East, so disaster DMH volunteer to try to normalize feelings and work was not foreign to her. Donna was provide information, not only for flood recovery but experienced, having been a DMH volunteer with also for an individual’s work towards bouncing back Red Cross for many years, associated with the Red from the disaster. Some people who come to the Cross for decades. She MARC or who are seen in other too had a long history locations may need extra assistance of working overseas on to cope with unfolding events and disasters, both natural uncertainties. Providing concrete and manmade. This information is essential and the mutual experience MARC is a wonderful venue for acted as a bonding such dissemination. Information at agent for the two this stage gives the individual a workers in the Texas sense of hope and gives them a way Lynn Hagan Hill Country. to focus on moving forward, Donna Schloss providing a platform on which to build resilience.