July 19, 2011-Detroit, MI-The American Red Cross, Southeastern Michigan Regional Chapter is working with the Metro-Detroit Climate Justice Task Force to launch an awareness campaign in response to the current heat emergency. The task force is distributing literature and community events to share tips as well as emergency planning to senior citizens and children.

In addition the Red Cross is providing water, comfort kits and cots for cooling centers in Detroit, Dearborn and Livonia and the Red Cross expects to add cities to that list later today.

In recent years, excessive heat has caused more deaths than all other weather events, including floods. As temperatures and humidity levels soar in Southeast Michigan and in many parts of the country, protecting yourself and others from overheating is critical to avoid a potential heat-related illness. Here are some easy tips for staying safe during heat waves, courtesy of Dr. David Markenson, chair, American Red Cross Scientific Advisory Council.

Never leave a child or pet in a parked car – even for a few minutes. The inside temperature of a car can quickly reach 120 degrees.
Stay hydrated. Drink plenty of fluids throughout the day – even if you don’t feel thirsty. Avoid drinks with caffeine or alcohol that dehydrate the body.
Dress for the heat. Wear loose-fitting, lightweight, light-colored clothing in layers. Avoid dark colors that absorb the sun’s rays.
If you must work outdoors, take frequent breaks to hydrate and cool yourself. Avoid strenuous exercise during the hottest part of the day.
Protect your self from sun exposure even on cloudy or hazy days. In addition to dressing for heat, apply a broad-spectrum (protection against both UVA and UVB rays) sunscreen and reapply as indicated, wear eye protection (wraparound sunglasses that provide 100 percent UV ray protection) and wear a wide-brimmed hat.
Be a good neighbor. Check in on the elderly, young children and pets to make sure they are not suffering from the heat.

Additional heat safety tips are available on semredcross.org. Learn how to prevent and treat heat-related illnesses by attending a Red Cross First Aid course. Contact your local Red Cross or visit redcross.org/training for details or to register.

About the American Red Cross:

The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and provides emotional support to victims of disasters; supplies nearly half of the nation's blood; teaches lifesaving skills; provides international humanitarian aid; and supports military members and their families. The Red Cross is a charitable organization — not a government agency — and depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to perform its mission.

Tuesday, June 28, 2011 —

With nearly 125 drownings and near-drowning incidents since Memorial Day, the American Red Cross is joining the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission’s (CPSC) Pool Safely: Simple Steps Save Lives campaign calling for added vigilance at swimming pools and spas this Fourth of July weekend and throughout the summer

The CPSC notes that there have been 48 drownings and 75 near-drownings in 35 states and territories just since Memorial Day, The pool safety campaign kickoff comes just before the busy three-day July 4th holiday weekend.

A national summer water survey1 done by the Red Cross in April showed that nearly eight out of ten households plan to participate in at least one water-related recreational activity this summer. Swimming in a pool or lake tops the list of water fun, followed by such activities as boating, water skiing, jet skiing or fishing. More than 40 percent plan to enjoy the water in an area with no lifeguard protection.

“Many households will be participating in water-related activities this summer where adults will be responsible for supervising children,” said Connie Harvey, Manager of Aquatics Programs for the Red Cross. “Our recent water safety survey found that 21 percent of these adults have weak or non-existent swimming skills. People need to make water safety a priority, learn how to swim well and know what to do in an emergency.”

The national survey of more than 1,000 adults also found that:

• 45 percent intend to swim in their own pool or someone else’s home pool;
• One-third of the survey respondents (32 percent) mistakenly believe that having a child wear water wings or floaties is safer than providing arm’s reach supervision; and
• 38 percent recalled an experience in which someone in deep water needed help.

The American Red Cross is joining the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission’s (CPSC) Pool Safely: Simple Steps Save Lives campaign calling for added vigilance at swimming pools.

Whether you’re taking a dip in the pool or enjoying a day at the beach, the Red Cross wants you to be safe. Ideally, you should learn to swim before enjoying the water. Here are some steps you can take to enjoy your summer water fun.

• Swim in designated areas supervised by lifeguards. Always swim with a buddy; do not allow anyone to swim alone.
• Have young children or inexperienced swimmers wear U.S. Coast Guard-approved life jackets around water, but do not rely on life jackets alone.
• Have appropriate equipment, such as reaching or throwing equipment, a cell phone, life jackets and a first aid kit.
• Know how and when to call 9-1-1 or the local emergency number.
• Enroll in Red Cross water safety and first aid and CPR courses to learn how to respond.
• With children, constant supervision is key. Keep them in your line of sight at all times when enjoying the pool. Other steps you can take include:
• Securing the pool with appropriate barriers. Many children who drown in home pools were out of sight for less than five minutes and in the care of one or both parents at the time.
• Never leave a young child unattended near water, and do not trust a child’s life to another child; teach children to always ask permission to go near water. 
• Avoid distractions when supervising children around water. 
• If a child is missing, check the water first. Seconds count in preventing death or disability.

1 Details: Telephone survey of 1,085 U.S. Adults 18 years and older on April 7-11, 2011, conducted by ORC International. Margin of error is +/- 3.0 percent at the 95% confidence level. Polling included total sample of 175 African-American adults, with 82 included through a second wave of telephone interviews. Where appropriate, comparison values from a March 2009 poll have been included: Telephone survey of 1,002 U.S. adults 18 years and older on March 20-23, 2009, conducted by CARAVAN® Opinion Research Corporation. Margin of error is +/- 3.1 percent at the 95% confidence level.

About CPSC:
CPSC is an independent federal regulatory agency created by Congress in 1972 “to protect the public against unreasonable risks of injuries and deaths associated with consumer products.” The Pool Safely campaign is CPSC’s national information and education program associated with the Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act (P&SS Act). The Pool Safely campaign is designed to raise public awareness about drowning and entrapment prevention, support industry compliance with safety standards, and improve safety at pools and spas. The Pool Safely campaign is proud to partner with leading organizations, including Abbey's Hope, American Red Cross, Asian American Hotel Owners Association (AAHOA), Association of Pool and Spa Professionals (APSP), Infant Swimming Resource, National Aquatic Safety Company (NASCO), National Drowning Prevention Alliance (NDPA), National Swimming Pool Foundation, Safe Kids USA, United States Swim School Association, USA Swimming Foundation, World Waterpark Association (WWA), and The YMCA of the USA. For more information, visit the website at PoolSafely.gov and follow the campaign on Twitter @poolsafely.

About the American Red Cross:
The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and provides emotional support to victims of disasters; supplies nearly half of the nation's blood; teaches lifesaving skills; provides international humanitarian aid; and supports military members and their families. The Red Cross is a charitable organization — not a government agency — and depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to perform its mission. For more information, please visit www.redcross.org or join our blog at http://blog.redcross.org.

Wildfires in Arizona, flooding in the northwest and Vermont, and the continued recovery and clean-up from tornadoes has Red Cross workers fanning out across the country to help people forced from their homes.

• More than 650 people sought refuge in Red Cross shelters Tuesday night in 11 states across the U.S.
• In Arizona, wildfires have burned more than 386,000 acres, forcing thousands of people from their homes. The huge fire is only five percent contained. More than seven towns in Apache County have been evacuated with more on alert. In New Mexico, residents have been issued pre-evacuation alerts. The Red Cross is feeding and sheltering people affected by the fires.
• Flooding in Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska, North and South Dakota, Iowa, Illinois and Vermont is threatening homes and causing mandatory and voluntary evacuations along the swollen rivers. Red Cross workers are feeding those affected and offering safe refuge in shelters.
• Clean-up and recovery continues in Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri and Alabama, where tornadoes heavily damaged communities this spring. Red Cross workers are operating shelters, and distributing meals, drinks, comfort kits and clean-up items throughout the affected areas.

Since March 31, the Red Cross has launched 42 relief operations in 29 states helping people affected by tornadoes, floods and wildfires by:

• Serving more than 2.9 million meals and snacks.
• Opening more than 260 shelters and providing 30,000 overnight stays.
• Providing more than 65,000 mental health and health consultations.
• Handing out more than 1.3 million relief items like toothbrushes and shampoo, tarps, coolers, rakes and other clean-up supplies.
• Deploying more than 12,000 trained disaster relief workers from all 50 states.

Please consider making a donation today to help the thousands of people who have been affected by these disasters which have affected more than half of the country during the last two months.

• To donate, visit www.redcross.org, call 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767) or text the word REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation.
• Contributions may also be sent to your local Red Cross chapter or to the American Red Cross, P.O. Box 37243, Washington, DC 20013.
• The Red Cross estimates that it will spend as much as $51 million responding to the disasters that have occurred since March 31 – and the cost is growing everyday as new disasters occur.
• The estimate includes the continuous string of disasters that have hit the United States over the past two months, including the wildfires in Texas and Arizona, the dozens of tornadoes which devastated areas of the South and Midwest and flooding in the northwest and along the Mississippi River.
• Over the past two months, the Red Cross has raised more than $54 million for disaster response.
• Nationally, the Red Cross must raise about $378 million annually to respond to an average of 70,000 disasters each year, and these major disasters over the past several weeks adds an additional $51 million more to this amount.
• Our work isn’t done yet, since tornadoes are historically frequent throughout June and the 2011 hurricane season, which started June 1, is predicted to be above average.

As always, our thoughts and sympathies are with everyone who has lost loved ones or suffered through this seemingly endless stream of deadly spring weather.

American Red Cross Expands Relief Effort as More Tornadoes Batter Midwest

Latest storms add to growing roster of relief operations; 29 in 22 states since March 31

WASHINGTON, May 25, 2011 — After another round of severe weather in the Midwest, the American Red Cross has expanded relief operations into Oklahoma, and is continuing to ramp up services in Joplin, Missouri.

As tornado warnings were broadcast Tuesday evening, the number of people staying in the Red Cross shelter at Missouri Southern State University jumped to 348 people, triple the number the night before.

“This is a really tough time for everyone in this community,” said Charley Shimanski, senior vice president of Red Cross Disaster Services, who is in Joplin. “It’s going to be a long road for this town and for the many other towns that have been hit by disasters this spring. The important thing to remember is that the Red Cross will be there, and that we will get through this together.”

“This has been a rough disaster season with so many deadly tornadoes and disasters striking one after another for several weeks, and we’re grateful for contributions from donors which support the Red Cross response,” Shimanski added.

In addition to operating a shelter in Joplin—where people have a safe place to stay, food, water and much needed emotional support—the Red Cross is traveling through neighborhoods today to distribute cleanup supplies and provide water and hot meals, which are being prepared by Missouri Southern State University. Red Cross volunteers continue to arrive today to help with feeding efforts and damage assessment. Emergency aid stations are also being set up in town.

With reports from local officials indicating a large number of people are still missing in Joplin, the Red Cross encourages everyone affected by the disaster to register on the Safe and Well website by visiting www.redcross.org or calling 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767). From a smart phone, visit www.redcross.org/safeandwell and click on the “List Yourself as Safe and Well” or “Search for Friends and Family” link. Friends and family outside the disaster area can use the site to search for messages from their loved ones by using a pre-disaster phone number or complete address. Safe and Well also enables disaster survivors to update their Facebook and Twitter status through the website.

Meanwhile, the Red Cross opened a shelter in Canton, Oklahoma, on Tuesday night after tornadoes tore through the state. A Red Cross emergency communications vehicle was deployed to Oklahoma early Wednesday morning to help with connectivity, and Red Cross teams are also beginning preliminary damage assessments in some neighborhoods.

Since March 31, the Red Cross has initiated 29 relief operations in 22 states. In addition to the tornado response in the Midwest, the Red Cross is continuing to help residents in the South, where tornadoes and Mississippi River flooding have devastated many communities. All totaled, nearly 1,200 people across nine states stayed in a Red Cross shelter last night because of these severe weather events.

The Red Cross depends on financial donations to help in times of disaster. Those who want to help people affected by disasters like tornadoes, floods and wildfires, as well as countless crises at home and around the world, can make a donation to support American Red Cross Disaster Relief. This gift enables the Red Cross to prepare for and provide shelter, food, emotional support and other assistance in response to disasters. Visit www.redcross.org or call 1-800-RED-CROSS; people can also text the word “REDCROSS” to 90999 to make a $10 donation. Contributions may also be sent to local American Red Cross chapters or to the American Red Cross, P.O. Box 37243, Washington, DC 20013.

About the American Red Cross:

The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and provides emotional support to victims of disasters; supplies nearly half of the nation's blood; teaches lifesaving skills; provides international humanitarian aid; and supports military members and their families. The Red Cross is a charitable organization — not a government agency — and depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to perform its mission. For more information, please visit www.redcross.org or join our blog at http://blog.redcross.org.

Talking Points – Spring Severe Weather Outbreak – May 17, 2011

More than 2,800 Red Cross workers are on the ground in the South, where they are helping people along the Mississippi River and in areas where tornadoes wiped out entire communities.
• The Red Cross is standing ready for a prolonged feeding and shelter response, with shelters ready to open along the river as needed.
• Thousands of relief supplies have been moved into the area, including cots, blankets, comfort kits, and items for people with special needs.
• The Red Cross is working closely with government and community partners in states along the river to ensure workers, equipment, shelters, food and relief materials are in place as people evacuate from their homes.
• The need for emotional support in these states can’t be underestimated. These areas have been hit by multiple disasters over the last year and Red Cross spiritual care teams are also canvassing neighborhoods, helping people cope.

Red Cross workers are continuing to help the thousands of people affected by the recent tornadoes.
• The Red Cross is operating shelters and traveling throughout devastated communities, making sure people have food to eat, distributing clean-up items, and helping people cope with the aftermath.

The Red Cross estimates that it will spend as much as $31 million responding to the wildfires, tornadoes and floods which occurred earlier this spring, and has received $27.6 million in pledges and contributions for those operations. Now another large-scale relief operation is underway to help people along the Mississippi River.

Please consider making a donation today to help the thousands of people who have been affected by these disasters.
• Visit www.redcross.org, call 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767) or text the word REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation.
• Contributions may also be sent to your local American Red Cross chapter or to the American Red Cross, P.O. Box 37243, Washington, DC 20013.
• Any donation, large or small, will help. For example, $3 can provide a comfort kit for someone in a disaster. $6 can cover the cost of a blanket, $10 the cost of a hot meal. For $150, someone’s donation can cover the cost of providing food and shelter to a family of four for a day they spend in a shelter.

The Red Cross has launched relief operations in more than 20 states since March 31 responding to wildfires, floods and tornadoes from North Dakota to the East Coast and all throughout the South.
Since the end of March, the Red Cross has:
• Served more than 1.7 million meals and snacks with the help of community partners.
• Opened more than 190 shelters and provided more than 16,000 overnight stays.
• Handed out thousands of relief items like hygiene kits, mops, brooms, tarps, shovels, work gloves and coolers.
• Provided more than 37,000 health and mental health consultations.
• Deployed more 8,300 Red Cross workers and 700 emergency response and other disaster vehicles to areas affected by floods, wildfires, and tornadoes.