February 2015 – American Red Cross Minnesota and Dakotas Region

This year’s highest Red Cross nursing honor goes to…

Janice Springer (c) receives the Ann Magnussen Award from Gail McGovern (l) and Linda MacIntyre (r) during the American Red Cross National Awards and Recognition Dinner on February 18, 2015, in Washington D.C. Photo by Jason Colston/American Red Cross — Janice Springer (c) received the Ann Magnussen Award from Gail McGovern (l) and Linda MacIntyre (r) during the American Red Cross National Awards and Recognition Dinner on February 18, 2015, in Washington D.C. Photo by Jason Colston/American Red Cross

Each year the American Red Cross presents the Ann Magnussen Award to a Red Cross volunteer or employed registered nurse who has made an outstanding contribution to strengthening and improving Red Cross programs and services. This year, our very own Janice Springer received this great honor, which is the highest honor of nursing achievement in the American Red Cross, at the National Awards and Recognition Dinner on February 18, 2015, in Washington, D.C.

Janice Springer, DNP, PN, PHN, has worked with the American Red Cross for 12 years. Based in central Minnesota, Janice serves as the Disaster Health Services Advisor for the American Red Cross Minnesota Region. She is responsible for overseeing all health services activities, including sheltering, disaster mental health and disaster health. Additionally, Janice is a disaster volunteer with more than 20 regional and national deployments, and is the Public Health Consultant in the Red Cross Regional Nurse Network.

Janice is actively building regional disaster health services leadership. She supported Superstorm Sandy relief as a liaison among the Red Cross, the FEMA Disability Office, local community partners and the shelters. She has been instrumental in promoting the Disaster Health and Sheltering Course for nursing students, which will build capacity in regions and chapters and provide nursing students with an opportunity to assist during disasters. She also teaches numerous courses at the chapters.

Janice’s background also includes research in disaster shelters, and she completed her doctoral study in Public Health Nursing: Meeting Access and Functional Needs in Congregate Care Shelters in Disasters. After recognizing that her initial plan, developed with multiple federal partners, did not meet the needs of shelter clients and staff during pilot studies of disaster relief operations, she reconvened the federal interagency group to develop the current Red Cross shelter intake process to identify the needs of clients with access and functional needs. Her approach has been adopted by Disaster Cycle Services and is an integral part of the new Shelter Prototype Project.

To learn more about the American Red Cross, click here.

Will You Be Mine?

I want to stand on the roof top and shout it: We love you, donors! Because of you, disaster assistance is free. Because of you, families divided are reunited. Because of you, trauma patients don’t need to wait, or wonder if there will be enough blood—there will be, because you gave it.

You give from your hearts, from your belief in our mission, and from your trust in the Red Cross to be ready and to be there—in a moment’s notice—whenever and wherever disaster strikes. Thank you!

We love you because, with your generosity, you are there beside us: giving back what fire takes, reconnecting military families after deployment, making sure the nation’s blood supply never falls short. Together with you, we help the people of Minnesota, the United States, and the entire world every day.

Thank you for your compassion. Thank you for your generosity. Thank you for your trust. Thank you for helping us to always be ready. We do—we love you!

And if you ever have questions about your giving experience, or if I may be of service, please call or email me anytime—I am here and happy to help.

Amanda Hedlund, Stewardship Officer, American Red Cross Minnesota Region
Reach me at 612-872-3246 or amanda.hedlund@redcross.org

When a fire takes a home, it takes everything in it.

Fire takes. Fire takes security. Fire takes a lifetime of cherished moments. Fire takes without regard to race, income, or social stature. When a home fire happens, it can take everything.

While we can’t begin to replace all the intangible things that make a house a home, we can begin to provide some useful items that offer immediate care and comfort to those in need.

We need your help! Become a fundraiser for the Red Cross and help us provide care and comfort to people in your community and around the country. The dollars you raise could help us install smoke detectors, provide blankets, clothes and shoes or financial assistance for families. Your symbolic gift will help those affected by disasters like home fires.

Measles anywhere is measles everywhere

Story and photo by Niki McMillian, Senior Associate in International Communications with the American Red Cross

Children visited by Red Cross volunteers during a social mobilization effort for measles in Benin. Photo: American Red Cross/Niki Clark — Children visited by Red Cross volunteers during a social mobilization effort for measles in Benin. Photo: American Red Cross/Niki McMillian

It’s almost become a cliché in the headlines. But in many ways, it’s true. It is a small world. While news of the measles outbreak at California’s Disneyland and information about vaccinations are making headlines this week, the American Red Cross has been focused on the virus—and its elimination—for nearly a decade and a half. Because measles anywhere means measles everywhere.

Even though measles was eliminated from the United States in 2000, outbreaks can occur when unvaccinated travelers pick up the measles abroad, importing the virus as an unwelcome, and often unknown, souvenir. Last year’s outbreaks in Ohio, Washington state, New York, San Diego and Nebraska have all been linked back to unvaccinated Americans that had recently visited measles hotspots abroad.

Those hotspots are exactly the type of places where the Measles & Rubella Initiative (M&RI) is working the hardest. Since 2001, the Red Cross, as a partner in the M&RI, has vaccinated 1.1 billion children in some 80 countries, helping to raise measles vaccination coverage to 84% globally, and reduced measles deaths by 71%. This means there are fewer chances of measles being imported into countries that have already eliminated the virus. And while health advances have been impressive, outbreaks like the one in California—now confirmed at 51 cases—have clearly demonstrated that the work of M&RI is far from over.

The Red Cross serves a unique role in measles and rubella campaigns. In a world where one in every 500 people on the planet is a Red Cross volunteer, our reach is unsurpassed. And that reach enables us to go door to door in communities where campaigns are happening, both before, during and after, spreading the word to mothers and families. In order for a campaign to be considered successful, a 95% coverage rate is needed. Red Cross volunteers, neighbors living in the communities in which they work, can help this happen.

Measles is a highly contagious virus, spread by contact with an infected person through coughing and sneezing. When one person has measles, 90% of people they come into close contact with will become infected, if they are not already immune through vaccination or previous contraction.

Before the formation of M&RI, more than 562,000 children died worldwide from measles complications each year, some 1,539 every day, mostly children under five years of age. While there have been great improvements, today an estimated 122,000 children—approximately 330 per day—still die from measles-related complications every year. This number is even more tragic when considering that is only costs $1 to vaccinate a child, making it one of the most cost effective global health interventions.

It is a small world. Outbreaks in Africa, Asia and Europe later show up as outbreaks on our own front doors. But together, we can eliminate measles once and for all.

For more information or to donate, visit measlesrubellainitiative.org. To see how Red Cross volunteers help spread the word during measles campaigns, watch Door to Door: A Measles Campaign in Benin.

This story originally appeared on the American Red Cross blog.