Month: September 2016

Five steps to take against the flu and other germs

Red Cross volunteers make influenza face masks during the influenza epidemic in 1918. Photo: American Red Cross Photo Library
Red Cross volunteers make germ face masks during the influenza epidemic in 1918. Source: American Red Cross Photo Library

Waa! Waa! Do I have to get a flu shot? No, you don’t have to do anything you don’t really want to do. On the flip side, the annual flu shot is your best protection against influenza (also known as the flu), a contagious respiratory disease caused by different virus strains.

In the United States, the flu season begins every fall and ends every spring. The type of flu people get during this season is called seasonal flu. Flu viruses spread when people who are infected cough or sneeze.

In addition to the annual flu shot, take these five (Sniff! Sniff!) steps to stop spreading germs, including the seasonal flu:

  • Wash hands frequently with soap and water
  • Reduce contact with people who are sick
  • Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth
  • Cover your mouth and nose with tissues when you cough and sneeze. If you don’t have a tissue, cough or sneeze into the crook of your elbow
  • Stay away from others as much as possible when you are sick

Click here for more seasonal flu basics and easy to download checklist and tip sheet for taking care of people with the flu from the Red Cross.
Click here for in-depth resources, including the 2016-17 Flu Season Frequently Asked Questions from the CDC.

Red Cross disaster relief is not about Rick

By Lynette Nyman, American Red Cross

Rick Graft working flooding relief response, Louisiana. Photo provided by Rick
Rick Graft working flood relief response in Louisiana. Photo provided by Rick

It’s not about me, says Rick Graft when talking about his Red Cross volunteer service. But it kind of is. Because without people like Rick, the Red Cross would have, so-to-speak, no foundation. People like Rick are the tick-tock of all Red Cross disaster relief, from responding to a house fire leaving a family homeless a few blocks away, to flooding of historic volume displacing thousands of people hours away in another state.

After Rick returned from Louisiana, following two weeks of volunteer service for the Red Cross relief effort, he stopped by the regional Red Cross office in Minneapolis to pick-up a new relief worker vest. This one is five years old, he says, and worn out. The ground-in dirt is a badge of good work done again and again (and, do I dare say, again and again?). In Louisiana, he wore the vest while handing meals to people recovering in once flooded neighborhoods, coordinating food truck drivers getting ready for the day’s deliveries, gathering truck route intelligence for updated maps, and packing up a field kitchen that cooked hundreds of meals for distribution to people across dozens of communities.

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Household items ready for pick-up after flooding in Louisiana. Photo courtesy of Rick Graft

In Louisiana, while wearing his vest Rick became the Dude, Yard Dog, Route Mapping Spy. He wore it while making a training program for Red Cross food truck drivers. He wore it will looking people in the eye and asking, how are you doing — under the circumstances, and getting most often a reply of, not bad — all things considered, and then he kept the conversation going. People were impressed, he says, that volunteers like him had come from all 50 states. (During the Hurricane Sandy response, Rick wore the same vest, then nearly new, when he, a man from Minnesota Vikings territory, was paired with a partner from Green Bay Packers land. How do you get along, people asked. We’d say we don’t and we’d all laugh.)

I get it. Red Cross disaster relief is not about Rick. It’s about the service. The service, he says, is about giving people a lift in their very bad day.

For me, that’s a true meaning of amazing.

Click here to learn more about how the Red Cross is helping in Louisiana.

Hero Care App connects military families

rco_blog_img_herocareapp_img_7073The American Red Cross has a new mobile app for military families and veterans. The Hero Care App provides instant access to vital Red Cross services anywhere in the world. Whether you’re a military member, the parent of a child in the military, a military spouse, or a veteran, this free mobile application guides you to valuable resources and services that can help alleviate stress and provide important information at your fingertips.

With the Hero Care App you can...

  • Request Red Cross emergency services including an emergency message or assistance with emergency travel or emergency financial aid.
  • Securely and easily access information about their service member in the case of an emergency, including updated information as they move or change duty assignments.
  • Access non-emergency Red Cross behavioral health assistance including financial assistance and free local workshops for military kids and spouses.
  • Find local resources and information provided by trusted community partners like Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), Blue Star Families, Military Child Education Coalition, United Way, Goodwill, Easter Seals, and others.
  • Locate information on key government resources such as MilitaryOneSource, VA Benefits and Services, Department of Labor VETS, the VA Caregiver Support Program, and SAMSHA Community Health Support Services.

In addition, with the Hero Care App you can connect with other Red Cross apps, such as the Emergency, First Aid and Blood apps.

To download to the Hero Care App to your smart phone or tablet, search for ‘American Red Cross’ in your app store, text GETHEROCARE to 90999 to receive a download link, or go to redcross.org/apps. The Hero Care App is available in English and Spanish.

Red Cross volunteer returns home after two-week deployment to Louisiana

Red Cross volunteer Dave Snetsinger (right) serving food at the River Center shelter in Baton Rouge, LA. Photo courtesy of Dave Snetsinger.

Dave Snetsinger, of Naytahwaush, Minnesota, returned home on September 6 after a two-week deployment assisting with flood recovery in southern Louisiana.

Snetsinger was stationed at the Baton Rouge River Center and was one of eight Red Cross volunteers from the Northern Minnesota Chapter.

The volunteers focused on the immediate needs. The group mostly worked in shelters, ensuring displaced people had adequate housing. Other volunteers helped feed people and focused on medical needs. As a part the feeding group, Snetsinger worked 12-hour shifts that started at 7 a.m. On August 28, he helped serve lunch for 900 shelter residents.

Snetsinger, a White Earth enrollee, has been a Red Cross volunteer for more than 20 years, and now that he’s retired he will continue to volunteer to go out on national disasters to help others. Over the years as a local volunteer firefighter, he has responded to home fires throughout Mahnomen County and on tribal lands.

The northern office of the American Red Cross will be starting a volunteer recruitment drive in your area and are looking for people willing to help those who are displaced locally due to emergencies. With training and experience a Red Cross Volunteer can be deployed throughout the country to help. All training is free and much of it is online. If you’re interested in becoming a volunteer or have questions, please contact Tony Guerra at (218) 722-0071 or tony.guerra@redcross.org.

Volunteers are the heart of the Red Cross. Nearly 4,000 volunteers support the Red Cross in Minnesota. They contribute a varying number of hours – from very infrequently to nearly full-time. Volunteers are needed for a variety of response roles, including those who respond in-person, those who coordinate efforts behind-the-scenes, those who provide their medical expertise, those who provide their mental health expertise, and those who provide their public affairs expertise.

This story originally appeared in Anishinaabeg Today, the monthly chronicle of the White Earth Nation, and is published on this blog with permission. Click here to learn more about becoming a Red Cross volunteer.