Meet the Red Cross

Red Cross- for People/ by People

Oklahoma recently had a terrible series of tornados.  Who was there?  New Jersey was hit with an awful hurricane.  Who was there?  A family in your town was faced with rebuilding after a fire took their home.  Who was there?  People gave blood for disaster victims.  A class of teenagers learned to give CPR, babysit, or proper handwashing. 

The American Red Cross was there in all of these situation.  The mission statement of this great organization is: The American Red Cross prevents and alleviates human suffering in the face of emergencies by mobilizing the power of volunteers and the generosity of donors.
The American Red Cross has been one of the most well-known humanitarian organizations dedicated to help in case of disasters, supporting military families, blood collection (processing and distribution), health and safety education, as well as international relief. This humanitarian organization was founded in Washington D.C. on May 21, 1881 and since then has undergone a series of changes to keep up with global changes. 
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This weeks focus will be the health and safety education this great organization does around the country and how they accomplish such a big task.  According the http://www.redcross.org/about-us/history, they started educating people "Prior to the First World War, the Red Cross introduced its first aid, water safety, and public health nursing programs."  Today according to http://www.redcross.org/about-us/history, 10 million people learn emergency skills such as CPR through the Red Cross every year.

To grow from the humble beginnings to that staggering number, there have been many changes!!   One such change is technology. One of the most recent announcements is that the American Red Cross decided to adopt Microsoft technologies as it provides technology advances such as cloud services. This decision was primarily based on creating a universal technology that helps international as well as national organizations can share and as a result become more efficient in all the services that an organization such as the American Red Cross provides.

How do they do all this?  How do they communicate it?  Who do they communicate it with?  Do they take advantage of Web 2.0 technology?  Follow to find out!

References

Leading global humanitarian organization selects cloud to help enhance capacity and response; microsoft technologies to be implemented as the standard communications platform in geneva and preferred option for red cross red crescent national societies worldwide. (2013, Feb 26). M2 Presswire. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1312482723?accountid=35812

http://www.redcross.org/about-us/history