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Red Cross Connects Armed Forces Members Serving Abroad |
| Theallineed.com |
When Christine Meloy's grandmother died, she urgently needed to contact her daughter, who is on Army Reserve duty in Iraq. But instead of placing a phone call in the Middle East, she made a local call—to the Summit County Chapter of the American Red Cross, in Akron, Ohio.
Within hours, a message with the verification of the death of her great grandmother was delivered to her daughter, SPC. Katherine Duff, an emergency medical technician serving with the 399th Combat Support Hospital located at Camp Speicher, Tikrit, Iraq.
"Katie was on the phone immediately," Meloy says. "The Red Cross had called the hospital where her great grandmother had died before locating her. They also brought Katie's case to the attention of her commanding officer for permission to receive emergency leave. "
Michelle Mays, Service to the Armed Forces (SAF) Station Manager at Eisenhower Army Medical Center, who is currently deployed as team leader with the Red Cross in Balad, Iraq, receives dozens of requests like Christine Meloy's every day.
"We get messages from every corner of America—messages with birth announcements, about the death or serious illness of a family member," says Mays, whose team of four members is stationed in Balad, Iraq.
As a rule, Red Cross emergency communication messages are requested for all service members, whether active duty, Guard, or Reserve, who may need emergency leave. The purpose of the message is to provide the service member's commanders with verified information to assist the command in making a qualified leave decision.
In addition to verifying information and forwarding emergency communication messages , the Red Cross collaborates with the military aid societies to provide access to financial assistance when needed for emergency travel, the burial of a loved one, or for basic maintenance which could include food purchases and a mortgage or rent payment. The Red Cross also provides information and referral services, family support groups in participating chapters, and assistance with benefits claims to the Board of Veterans' Appeals.
These services are made available through a network of more than 13,000 employees and volunteers in Red Cross chapters throughout the United States and on military installations worldwide. Michelle Mays is one of 12 members of the SAF team deployed to Iraq to facilitate emergency communications between members of the United States Armed Forces and their families. Last year, the Red Cross helped transmit more than 650,000 emergency messages to military personnel and their family members all over the world.
'Get to Know Us Before You Need Us'
Unlike families of active duty personnel, who often live on or near military bases, families of National Guard and Reserve members typically live in civilian communities and do not have access to the resources available on military installations.
Since 2000, the Red Cross has been reaching out to members of the National Guard and the Reserves through the "Get to Know Us Before You Need Us" Program. The purpose of the program is to educate Guard and Reserve members about the services the Red Cross provides as well as information and referrals to other services available to military member's and their families.
To maximize their outreach efforts, Red Cross staff members use a variety of approaches, such as attending "family days" at National Guard armories, delivering cards and cookies to Reserve centers, and providing deploying units with "departure kits" containing toiletries, sunscreen, and insect repellant. Red Cross chapters also provide pre-deployment briefings to National Guard and Reserve units to inform them of the services available to them.
Thanks to information received at a "Get to Know Us Before You Need Us," briefing Yvonne Patti, whose brother Phillip is serving with the National Guard in Kosovo, Serbia, knew exactly what to do when her uncle died of a brain tumor.
"My uncle was a father figure to both of us, and I wanted to contact Phillip urgently," she says. "With the help of the Red Cross, Phillip was on the phone within a couple of hours."
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| About the Author |
More info in redcross.org
©2006 All rights reserved
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| Quotes | Careful, we dont want to learn from this.
Calvin
Cat in the Bed by Claude Balls-
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George Orwell (1984)
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