Red Cross volunteer Sandy Witter helped raise money for new medical equipment for the EMS team. Thank you Sandy!
Our Emergency Medical Services (EMS) volunteer team has some new equipment thanks to Sandy Witter and her employer, Hollstadt & Associates, Inc. Witter, who serves as an EMS volunteer for the American Red Cross, put in numerous hours on the EMS team during Hollstadt’s “Big Give” charity program. The result was a generous financial donation that the EMS team used to purchase new medical equipment, including a backboard with straps and two pulse oximeters. The equipment will help save lives during emergencies at events both large and small across our Red Cross region. You can learn more about being a Red Cross volunteer & our EMS team on redcrossmn.org.
On Friday, March 9, 2012, a fire burned an apartment building in Minneapolis. That afternoon at the Red Cross service center volunteer relief worker Kevin Berger spoke with two people affected by this disaster and learned more about them.
Kimberlee Overvold and Carl Robinsen survived the March 9, 2012, St. George apartment fire in Minneapolis. Photo credit: Kevin Berger/American Red Cross
Kimberlee Overvold was at the temporary Red Cross service center just a few blocks from where she had lived for 11 months before a fire destroyed the St. George apartment building on 17thStreet. She was trying to collect herself and figure out her next steps. Overvold and her boyfriend were in the process of finding a bigger apartment but then the fire took it all away. Overwhelmed with the emotion of the situation she said,“I keep thinking I’m going to wake up and it’s going to be a dream.”
They had just gone to bed around 1:45 a.m. when the fire alarms sounded at 2 a.m. Kimberlee said at first they thought it was a false alarm because even as they headed out of the building there was no signs of smoke or fire. However, it wasn’t long before flames rushed through the building and they found themselves meeting up with their neighbors in a bus temporarily used as a shelter.
Before moving into the St. George apartments she had been homeless for nearly 2 years. Back then she said at least she had some possessions, but now “I’m worse than back to square one” as she’s lost everything. Pointing at herself with her mobile phone in hand, she said, “this is my living room now as all my stuff is gone.”
She reflected on some of her family pictures and watercolors she had from her late grandmother. “That’s the stuff I’m going to miss.”
The St. George apartments burned, displacing more than 30 residents of Minneapolis. Photo credit: Kevin Berger/American Red Cross
Her boyfriend, Carl Robinsen, was also considering how to move forward. “I’m not worried about what caused this to happen, we just need to fix it.” He said they were thankful that no one was seriously hurt or killed in the building that housed 32 units. “You can’t replace life,” he said.
One concern is replacing clippers and shears valued at more than $1500 and needs for the barber program he’s just four months from completing at Minneapolis Community and Technical College (MCTC). As lunch passed by at the Red Cross service center Robinsen was wondering if he should make his way to his job as a janitor in Edina so that he could at least think about something else for a while.
The couple left the service center with information from the Red Cross and The Salvation Army for a temporary place to stay and getting some clothes before finding a new home.
Text REDCROSS to 90999 to give $10 to American Red Cross disaster relief, helping people recover from this fire and similar disasters. Or go to redcross.org to donate even more financial support. This story and the accompanying photos are by Kevin Berger, a volunteer American Red Cross disaster relief worker based in Minnesota.
Below, a note of thanks from Jill Hallonquist, Emergency Services Director, American Red Cross Northern Minnesota Region, who is now enjoying a well-deserved vacation.
This morning I woke up thinking about the Governor’s emergency management training conference that I’m attending this week. Many of our partners throughout our response region are in St Paul for this training. I have been chatting with Emergency Managers, Public Health, Homeland Security, Salvation Army, NECHAMA, and other friends of ours from across the Minnesota. Many of them ask how the Red Cross is doing these days. Most know that we have a new region structure and wonder how that’s going.
Red Cross volunteers answered questions from attendees of the 2012 Governor’s Homeland Security and Emergency Management Conference. Photo credit: Andrea Bredow/American Red Cross
Here’s what I tell them: I am so grateful that we have you, the incredible volunteers in their communities. You are the heart of the Red Cross. The restructuring that we did changed the way that staff supports the volunteers. It did not change the fact that the person they see responding in their community is a volunteer, teaching people to be prepared and to prevent disasters, comforting those affected, and helping to connect them with the local resources they need to get back on their feet. Your passion for helping your neighbors is as strong as ever and you’re there to help!
Do you ever catch yourself telling someone how much you like a certain person…and then you wonder if you have told THEM? I didn’t want to let another day pass without telling you how much I appreciate each and every one of you. You are treasured.
Click here to learn more about the 2012 Governor’s emergency management conference and click here to learn more about how the Red Cross helps in Minnesota and beyond.
When a devastating EF-5 tornado slammed into Joplin, Missouri on May 22, 2011, St. John’s Mercy Regional Medical Center stood directly in its path. Over 180 patients – including some in operating rooms, intensive care, or the emergency room – were being treated. Dennis Manley, Director of Quality and Risk Management, returned to the hospital to help lead the evacuation of patients and staff that afternoon.
“Because of the dirt and debris blown by 200 mile per hour winds, we had difficulty identifying some of the people we treated. One doctor, in fact, treated his assistant – but didn’t realize it until much later,” Manley says.
The complete destruction of the hospital and surrounding buildings required evacuation of everyone in the facility. It took over 90 minutes, because virtually every window was shattered, corridors were blocked with debris, and doors were jammed. Fortunately, Manley observed, previous emergency drills had helped to prepare the hospital staff for many of the situations they faced that day. Advance preparation and close working partnerships with a wide variety of governmental and non-governmental organizations helped deal with the need for swift and effective emergency response.
Attending the conference were (L-R) Glen Olson, Minnesota Department of Public Health, Carlos Garcia-Valez, Red Cross Northland Chapter volunteer and keynote speaker, Ruth Talford, Red Cross Readiness Manager, and Eric Nikolai, Red Cross St. Croix Valley Chapter volunteer.
Building partnerships continued when more than 275 representatives from local, state and national government public health, human services, health care, and emergency response organizations, along with community volunteer emergency responders, shared updates, networked, and heard experts at the second annual “Emergency Sheltering: Under One Roof “ Conference. Participants came from five states and Canada.
“We are focusing on mass care events such as major wildfires, tornadoes, floods, or winter storms that could displace hundreds of people,” says Tony Guerra, a Red Cross Readiness Manager based in Duluth, Minnesota. “The goal is to strengthen and create local, regional, and national networks which help people increase collaboration.”
The American Red Cross Northern Minnesota Region and the Community Health Information Collaborative (CHIC) hosted the conference, which was held January 31-February 2 at the Black Bear Otter Creek Convention Center in Carlton, MN, and was funded by the Fred C. and Katherine B. Andersen Foundation in Bayport, MN.
During 2011 the Red Cross responded to hundreds of disasters, including the May 22 tornado that swept through north Minneapolis and left hundreds homeless. Photo credit: Jason Viana/American Red Cross
Janice Springer of St. Cloud, Red Cross Disaster Health Services Advisor for Minnesota, discussed meeting the access and functional needs of people in shelters.
”In 2011, the Red Cross opened 978 shelters in the U.S., serving more than 41,000 people with over 125,000 overnight stays,” says Springer.
Red Cross volunteer Carlos Garcia-Velez was among those who responded to disasters last year. Garcia-Velez has served as an American Red Cross volunteer in multiple roles since 1992, including leading the Partner Services and Government Operations activities through many disaster relief operations. Most recently Garcia-Velez responded in North Carolina following Hurricane Irene. Garcia-Velez challenged the sheltering conference participants to work more closely together and collaborate on all levels.
“We have to approach disasters as a whole community,” says Garcia-Velez. “Experience has taught us that we must do a better job of providing services for the entire community, regardless of their background, demographics, or challenges,” says Garcia-Velez. “This means planning for the actual makeup of a community, making sure we meet the needs of every disaster survivor regardless of age, economics, or accessibility requirements.”
WHILE browsing the library stacks at one of our local universities, we stumbled across this report from the field. In this case, the field is the Russian front at the onset of The Great War (a.k.a. World War I) in 1914. The reporter is Stanley Washburn, the American war correspondent who saw first hand the work of Red Cross volunteers.
Stanley Washburn's "Field Notes From the Russian Front" references the Red Cross numerous times and includes a chapter on women serving during The Great War.
EVERY cloud, so the proverb runs, has its silver lining. Surely there can be no greater cloud than the ghastly shadow of war which lies all over Europe to-day, but equally true is it that this one also has its silver lining, a side filled with human sympathy, love and the best instincts of which the race is capable. This, of which I would write a few lines, is the world of devotion and beauty supplied by the sisterhood of the Red Cross in Russia at war to-day. For several weeks now we have travelled constantly amidst scenes of war and the wreckage that man has created among his fellows, and there has not been a day in all these weeks that the picture has not been softened by the presence everywhere of the gentle womanhood of this country, ministering to the smitten, and alleviating the suffering of those who have fallen before the tempest of shot and shell that has swept across this great zone in which we have been travelling.
As the troops have responded to the call to the colours, so the women and girls have given themselves broadcast to the work of alleviating the misery of the wounded, and of speaking the last low words of love and sympathy to those whose minutes upon this earth are dragging to their appointed end. Most significant of all to the stranger who has been led to believe that Russia is a land of two classes the aristocrat and the peasant is the democracy of the women. In response to the appeal to womanhood, there is here no class and no distinction, and one sees princess and humble peasant woman clad in the same sacred robe of the Red Cross. On more than one occasion I have discovered that the quiet, haggard-faced sister, whom I have questioned as to her work among the wounded, was a countess, or a member of the elite of Petrograd’s exclusive society.
As my mind runs back over the past days, a number of pictures stands clear in my mind as typical of the class of selfless, high-minded women whom the exigencies of war have called from their luxurious homes to the scenes of war’s horrors. In Lemberg [Lvov, Poland], just at twilight, I spent two hours in one of the huge barracks of misery in which were crystallized all the results of man’s ingenuity to destroy his fellow. There went with me the round of the wards a woman whose pale face and lines of sadness bespoke the drain on nerve and sympathy that weeks in the hospitals had involved. In her uniform frock and white-faced headgear, with the great red cross of mercy on her bosom, she seemed to typify womanhood at its very best. As we entered each ward every head was turned in her direction. At each bed she paused for a moment to pass a smooth, white hand, soft as silk, across the forehead of some huge, suffering peasant. Again and again the big men would seize her hand and kiss it gently, and as she passed down the line of beds every eye followed her with loving devotion such as one sees in the eyes of a dog.
During WWI, in hospitals such as this one in Tours, France, Red Cross Volunteers worked as nurses, nurses aids, and “searchers,” who tried to find information for families whose sons were wounded or had died. Photo courtesy of Minnesota Historical Society.
And in each bed was a story not a detail of which was unknown to the great-hearted gentle woman. Here was a man, she told me, the front of whose head had been smashed in by a shrapnel ball which had coursed down and come out at the back of the neck. “Two weeks ago,” she said, “I could put two fingers up to my hand in this man’s brain. Yet we have fixed him up and he will recover,” and with an adorable movement she stooped quickly and patted the great, gaunt hand that lay upon the coverlet. And so we went from bed to bed. When she at last left me I asked the attending surgeon of her. “Ah, yes,” he said, “she is here always, and when there is a rush, I have known her to spend fifty hours here without sleep and with little food. Who is she ? Countess. There are many, many like her here.”
Again comes to mind a picture at Rawa Ruska. The street from the station is lined on both sides with hospitals. As I was returning to the hotel last night I paused beside an open window. Inside the room was an operating table, on which, beneath the dull rays of an oil lamp, was stretched the great body of one of Russia’s peasant soldiers. This point is near the battle line now, and many of the wounded come almost directly here from the trenches. The huge creature that now lay on the table was without coat, the sleeve of the left arm was rolled to the shoulder, and over him hovered two girls as beautiful as a man could wish to see. The one sitting on a high stool, held in her aproned lap the great, raw stump of bloody flesh that had been a hand, and even in the dull light one could see the smears of red upon her apron. As she tenderly held the hand, she spoke in a low and gentle voice to the soldier, whose compressed lips showed the pain his wound was costing, although no groan or murmur escaped him. The other girl, kneeling by his side, was sponging the hideous member with the gentleness of a mother handling a baby.
Chapter VIII, “The Women in the War,” Vladimir Valensky, Russia, October, 21, 1914, Field Notes from the Russian Front, by Stanley Washburn, New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons.
Once a week Angela Carlson heads to the American Red Cross Central Minnesota Chapter where she supports local disaster action team volunteers. On Thursday, December 8, Carlson received a phone call from a volunteer who said someone might have died that day from fire in the chapter’s local response area.
A Red Cross volunteer told me that her pastor had called and reported a death in an apartment building fire in Mora. The first thing I did was contact the Sheriff’s office to verify that the Red Cross had been asked to respond. When I had confirmed that they wanted us there, I called the volunteer back to dispatch her and a second volunteer responder to the scene. After starting incident paperwork, I called Judy and Dick Pike, long-time Red Cross disaster relief workers. I told Judy that I wasn’t sure why I was calling, and that I just needed some support to process the dispatch. I reviewed my next steps with Judy who was very helpful.
"I have empathy for the individuals involved and understand that it’s difficult to be in any position during a disaster," says Angela Carlson, the client services caseworker who handled the Red Cross disaster dispatch for the tragic fire in Mora, Minnesota. Photo credit: Lynette Nyman/American Red Cross
The Mora fire was the first dispatch involving multiple chapters and multiple deaths that I have been involved in since I started with the Red Cross in October. While I was at the local chapter I felt much support from staff both in St. Cloud and in Minneapolis. Being in St Cloud rather than Minneapolis that day made a huge difference in the disaster response dispatch, giving it a local and community-based feel. People there checked in with me and made sure I was doing all right. In the end, a couple people said that they really looked forward to meeting me at the next Disaster Action Team meeting. I felt the same.
I was exhausted at the end of the day. The Mora fire response left me feeling reflective of the mission and vision of the Red Cross and of the services we provide. While I can’t fully appreciate the devastation families feel after a disaster because I don’t respond on-scene, I have empathy for the individuals involved and understand that it’s difficult to be in any position during a disaster. It’s meaningful to know that our clients are being served with such compassion.
This is a response that I will carry with me, especially after learning details about the people who died. There was a phone call that I took from a volunteer who was helping family members who did not yet know that a loved one had died. There was also a surviving teenager. That has been the hardest for me to process. I’ve been thinking about her a lot and when I do my heart just breaks. But each time that happens my heart mends itself stronger and that, in turn, helps me support our Red Cross volunteers more effectively so that they can continue serving our communities in great ways.
Angela Carlson, is a client services coordinator for the American Red Cross Northern Minnesota Region. She is based in Minneapolis at the Twin Cities Area Chapter.
Wells Fargo employees, including Emily Wilke (center), stuffing Red Cross comfort kits. Photo credit: Carrie Monroe O'Keefe/American Red Cross
Little things do matter. Take a Red Cross comfort kit. It consists of shampoo, toothbrush, washcloth, and other toiletry essentials. These are small things that add up to big comfort after disaster.
Recently, Minneapolis-based Wells Fargo employees helped make more than 300 comfort kits that Red Cross volunteers will give to families affected by home fires, flooding, and other disasters.
Helping out like this is a darn cool thing to do for your community. Thank you, Wells Fargo, for stuffing a bit of comfort for when people need it the most.
Red Cross responder Carrie Carlson-Guest helped promote Give to the Max Day at a giveMN.org event.
We’re not surprised by your generosity even though others around the country might be. Minnesotans have long been givers–of time, wisdom, and money. This was no exception during the 2011 Give to the Max Day.
The American Red Cross in Minnesota ranked 35 out of nearly 4000 and made the Top 100 leader board. YOU donated more than $35,000 to support our mission to provide humanitarian relief during disaster and to help people prevent, prepare for, and respond to emergencies.
And so we extend our appreciation most heartily during this season of giving thanks. We can also say without a doubt that the beneficiaries of your generosity are incredibly grateful as well.
If you missed Give to the Max Day, you can still share with others. Check out our 2011 Holiday Giving Catalog.
"If you keep busy and volunteer, you stay alive a little longer," says Terry Dugger, 80, who served as a Red Cross volunteer from 1968 to 1970. Photo credit: Lynette Nyman/American Red Cross
Among the treasures Terry Dugger has kept through the decades is a uniform that she wore as a Red Cross volunteer at the military hospital on Offutt Air Force Base near Omaha, Nebraska.
“We saw the fellas coming in from motorcycle accidents. I went to different rooms and passed out shaving equipment, playing cards, and other things like that. There wasn’t anybody else on the base to do it,” she says.
Dugger’s Red Cross uniform is different from those the Gray Lady Service volunteers used during World Wars I and II. This has blue and white pin stripes. Worn for only two years and in excellent condition, the uniform is now a gift from Dugger as a means to share and preserve Red Cross history.
A "Gray Lady" volunteer uniform circa 1960s preserves Red Cross history. Photo credit: Lynette Nyman/American Red Cross
Dugger, who was an air force wife for twenty years, did volunteer work when her six children were in school, serving in the Red Cross from 1968-70. Now 80 years old, Dugger still shares valuable time doing a variety of volunteer activities.
“I couldn’t wait until I got old and now I’m too old, but rather than sit home I want to get out and help people.”
Being a volunteer has given—and continues to provide—Dugger with a greater sense of purpose. Currently, she’s a volunteer at the Armed Forces Service Center at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport.
In the late 1960s, Terry Dugger served as a Red Cross volunteer at the military hospital on Offutt Air Force Base near Omaha, Nebraska. Photo credit: Lynette Nyman/American Red Cross
Born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Dugger attended Saint Mark’s elementary school, located a couple blocks from her residence for thirty years. Growing up, both of her parents worked so she often tended to the “roomers” they had to help pay bills. Dugger says that the experience taught her to be independent, a characteristic she cherishes so much that she would never consider getting herself a boyfriend.
“Are you kidding!?! I had a good husband. I can do what I want. I can eat ice cream for breakfast. I’ve got a lot of things to do,” she says.
Dugger also has no use, she says, for a computer or a cell phone. Instead, she looks forward to getting letters from the postal service everyday.
She advises everyone, including her 40 or so grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great-grandchildren, to stay busy throughout life.
“If you keep busy and volunteer, you stay alive a little longer.”
Story and photos by Lynette Nyman/American Red Cross, Northern Minnesota Region
Tom Meyer (center) received a 2011 Harriman Award at American Red Cross headquarters in Washington, D.C.
Please join us in congratulating Tom Meyer for being a 2011 recipient of the American Red Cross Harriman Award for Distinguished Volunteer Service. Meyer, the Volunteer Board Director with the North Central Blood Services Region and a board member of the Twin Cities Area Chapter, received the Harriman Award for Biomedical Partnership.
The Harriman Awards for Distinguished Volunteer Service are presented to American Red Cross volunteers in direct service, administration or management, with the exception of volunteers currently serving on the Board of Governors. The top honor that the American Red Cross issues, the Harriman Award recognizes extraordinary American Red Cross service that extends to people and places beyond the local community and is awarded on the basis of extraordinary accomplishments rather than length of service.
Congratulations Tom! Thank you for your outstanding service!
American Red Cross Minnesota and Dakotas Region 