Visit us at:

59 Sheridan Park Circle Sheridan Park
Bluffton, South Carolina

Telephone: 843-757-7437
Fax: 843-757-7439

 

Click here for directions
 to the Palmetto Chapter

Have a general question
about the American Red Cross or need volunteer program/service information?
E-mail us at: info@palmettoredcross.org
 
 

The Palmetto Chapter of the American Red Cross is in a regional grouping with The Carolina Lowcountry Chapter
 in Charleston, SC.

Throughout the United States, chapters are placed in regional groupings so chapter share resources and administrative tasks in order for the chapters to devote more time to serving their community.
 

Community Partners

 

Save A Life! 
First Aid and CPR training
for 9th grade students
in Hilton Head and Bluffton
 Presented by
 The Palmetto Chapter
 funded by a grant from the

http://www.cf-lowcountry.org/
 
Take a Class Give Blood Donate Volunteer
   

Palmetto Chapter: Investing in Hope

Dear Neighbor,

Many times people ask, “Since our community hasn’t had a hurricane lately, what does the Red Cross do everyday?”

While the Palmetto Chapter and its volunteers have been working to better our community for 90 years in Beaufort, Jasper and Hampton Counties, we are always telling our story and we thank you for being interested in our mission.

Our mission is varied – the most visual part of the Red Cross is disaster services and blood drives.  There is a lot more we do – we provide several support services to the military and also teach life-saving and health skills such as CPR, First Aid, babysitting, Pet First Aid and Pet CPR to thousands in our community. 

What you see a lot on the news is the Red Cross responding to disasters. That is what we also do locally. Volunteers from the Palmetto Chapter respond to disaster victims and provide them with a temporary bridge between disaster and recovery. Disaster strikes more than 300 people in our community a year – mostly home fires.  The volunteers of the Palmetto Chapter make house calls – within two hours of being dispatched – to assure the family has shelter, clothes, food and medication to make it through a few days until they can re-establish themselves. 

We arrive on the scene with a hug for the adults and a hug and a teddy bear for the kids.  We are there when some have no where else to go. If people need temporary medications and or mental health counseling – we have certified professionals who also assist with these needs.

Home disasters are caused by fires, storms, tornadoes, floods and heavy rainstorms. You would be amazed how many people use our disaster services each year.  

Serving and supporting the military are also strong elements of the Red Cross mission. We are the liaison between the soldier’s domestic family and their command when the soldier is overseas.  If a soldier’s family has an emergency message for their loved one (i.e. death notice, family illness and so forth), we are the verifying agency and the liaison.  

We also have Red Cross volunteers in the Dental Clinic and Naval Hospital in Beaufort.  

Blood is also a main component of what we do.  Ninety-seven percent of population will need blood some time in their life, but only about 5% of the population donates.  Maintaining an adequate supply of blood for our hospitals is an uphill battle, but a crucial one.  Each pint of blood can save up to three lives. The Palmetto Chapter has a blood drive the first Wednesday of every month.  

Teaching life-saving skills such as CPR, First Aid, Pet First Aid and babysitting skills is also a main function of our Chapter.  Our former students often come back and tell us how they assisted or saved lives because of the skills they learned from the Red Cross – hearing those stories remind us why we do what we do everyday. 

We are proud to be a part of our community and it is a privilege to be able to respond to our neighbors. 

Thank you for your support.  Many times, people think we are a government agency – we are not.  We are only able to do our job because of the generosity of private donations. 

If you would like to join our mission, please call us – we have a volunteer position for you that may involve responding to a local or national disaster, teaching classes, assisting with the Chapter operations or maybe, even saving a life. 

Please call, come by or e-mail us – we would love to have you join our mission as we are honored to have this role in our community everyday. 

With Gratitude,  

Debbie Szpanka

Executive Director

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Bluffton High School students learn how to become real lifesavers

By PETER FROST
pfrost@islandpacket.com
843-706-8169
Published Saturday, October 20, 2007

Photo: Bluffton High School sophomore Demitrius Howell plays the part of a choking victim as Red Cross CPR instructor Harry Walker demonstrates the Heimlich maneuver during CPR student training at the school Thursday.
Jay Karr/The Island Packet

Arms straightened and hands firmly clasped together, five Bluffton High School students pumped furiously on the chests of five motionless bodies Thursday morning, trying to get their stalled hearts to beat again.

Working in unison and counting out loud with each pump, the students reached 30, then bent down to breathe air into the victims' mouths.

The victims -- five Red Cross training dummies lying on blue mats in teacher Amy Waddell's public health class -- didn't respond. But, for the most part, the students succeeded.

"OK, good job, good job," Red Cross volunteer trainer Harry Walker told them. "Remember, the only thing you're concerned about is getting air into their lungs. You could save this person's life."

About 45 Bluffton High students received four days of free CPR, first aid and other training this week in a program sponsored by the Palmetto Chapter of the American Red Cross and funded through a grant from the Community Foundation of the Lowcountry.

Students who pass a written exam and demonstrate they can perform the life-saving procedures receive a one-year certification for adult CPR, or cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and a three-year certification for standard first aid.

Certification is required for most medical and public health professionals, including doctors, nurses, firefighters, lifeguards and athletic trainers. Required courses usually cost between $30 and $60.

Walker said he expects at least 30 students to pass the exam.

Bluffton High School is the first Beaufort County school to offer the training to its students.

On Thursday, Walker introduced the students to automated external defibrillators, or AEDs, devices that deliver electric shocks to stimulate heart activity in patients whose hearts stop beating.

The portable devices, stationed throughout hospitals, schools and other public buildings, literally speak to responders with an electronic voice, guiding them step-by-step through the process.

Even with the instructions, it's important that responders have experience with the machines before attempting to use them, Walker said.

He implored the young, would-be rescuers to stay composed, remember their training and be firm with bystanders to clear the area to work on a patient.

"You don't need to be polite; 'get people out of there,' " he said. "It doesn't matter if people think you're obnoxious. You've got to save someone's life.

"Each minute you hesitate reduces the patient's chance of survival by 10 percent," he told the students.

Soon shouts of "get away" and "step back" echoed throughout the classroom.

"Have you ever had to do this to someone for real?" asked Adam Leihbacher, a junior.

Walker, a 23-year Louisville Fire Department veteran, responded: "Of course. In fact, just recently." He said he responded to a car wreck on S.C. 46 a few weeks ago where he helped administer CPR.

Teacher Waddel said Walker's emergency response experience helped engage the students and, for the most part, made them take the training seriously.

"It's just such a neat thing for them to experience," she said. "They've been just totally engrossed in this all week. They're completely into it."

Look for American Red Cross
T-Shirts in Target Stores
 October 18, 2007

JEM T-shirt FrontJEM T-shirt Back

JEM Sportswear & Awake Inc., the leading manufacturer of knit collections, and the American Red Cross, have partnered to create a line of vintage and contemporary t-shirts. ”You Can Save” Vintage Tee is available in Target stores nationwide. Between 5-7% of the purchase price will support the American Red Cross.

  

Red Cross Continues to Build Partnerships, Recruit Volunteers Following Katrina

 In the aftermath of Katrina, the Red Cross began to build new partnerships and recruit new disaster volunteers with the help of employers.
By Katie Lawson, Staff Writer, American Red Cross

Tuesday, September 04, 2007 — Two years ago, Hurricane Katrina made landfall on the Gulf Coast and the devastation it caused in much of coastal Mississippi and Louisiana was unparalleled and unimaginable. Remembering Hurricane Katrina two years later, Americans everywhere recall images of destruction and chaos.

Following Katrina, the Red Cross and its disaster response partners assembled quickly, meeting the immediate needs of 1.4 million families, but the work did not stop there. Understanding the magnitude of the disaster, the American Red Cross promptly launched the Hurricane Recovery Program (HRP) to concentrate on the long-term needs of hurricane survivors.

Many trained Red Cross volunteers worked around the clock to provide basic necessities to hurricane survivors and continue to do so today. As Americans and the world reflect on that deadly storm two years ago, the Red Cross remembers that they cannot go it alone. Creating new partnerships with national and community organizations to assist when disaster strikes is a must in order to prepare for the future.
Ready When the Time Comes
As a result of the tumultuous 2005 hurricane season, the Red Cross learned many lessons about preparing for future disasters. Realizing that catastrophic disasters can create more demand for services than any one organization can handle, the Red Cross has developed the Ready When the Time Comes program to focus on recruiting new partners and volunteers.
This program was developed by W.W. Grainger, Inc. in partnership with the American Red Cross. Grainger, the leading broad line supplier of facilities maintenance products in North America, is headquartered in Lake Forest, Ill.
Each year, the American Red Cross responds to more than 70,000 disasters. This task requires not only Red Cross employees and trained disaster volunteers but also specially trained, quickly mobilized volunteers who can fill specific needs. Ready When the Time Comes is designed to recruit and prepare such volunteers.
Sixteen Red Cross chapters are now engaged in program pilots. By 2009, they hope to gain many more new corporate, community and not-for-profit partnerships that can work together with the Red Cross.
“Since the beginning of the pilot program, 1,648 volunteers have been trained by Red Cross staff. That’s 1,648 new volunteers trained and ready to help should disaster strike,” said Martha Patterson, national program manager for Ready When the Time Comes. “By the end of the pilot period, we would also like to have 100 new corporate partnerships and an untold number of newly trained volunteers.”

Training Volunteers
Red Cross chapters all over the country regularly seek out partnerships with corporate and community-based organizations. This recruitment program gives employees of these organizations an opportunity to become Red Cross volunteers in their community and be able to assist during large-scale local disasters.
These volunteers have the opportunity to not only receive training themselves, but to invite their spouses and children over the age of 15 to be trained by Red Cross professionals as well.
“Each chapter offers flexible training options and family friendly courses,” explained Patterson. “It is designed to fit into any corporate timeline, and we can even bring the training into the workplace.”
Every volunteer is educated in different specialty areas specific to their individual chapter’s needs. Some chapters may respond to more house fires than floods. In this case, a volunteer’s training would be focused more on damage assessment rather than bulk distribution of goods. Other areas of training include casework, sheltering, public relations, mental health and many more.
Since the beginning of the pilot program in July 2006, Ready When the Time Comes has already produced 52 new corporate partnerships around the country.
“With the Ready When the Time Comes program, the Red Cross will be in an increasingly better position to respond to disasters with more trained volunteers,” said Patterson. “It has been extremely successful from the beginning and we are looking forward to another good year.”
The American Red Cross helps people prevent, prepare for and respond to emergencies. Last year, almost a million volunteers and 35,000 employees helped victims of almost 75,000 disasters; taught lifesaving skills to millions; and helped U.S. service members separated from their families stay connected. Almost 4 million people gave blood through the Red Cross, the largest supplier of blood and blood products in the United States. The American Red Cross is part of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. An average of 91 cents of every dollar the Red Cross spends is invested in humanitarian services and programs. The Red Cross is not a government agency; it relies on donations of time, money, and blood to do its work.
www.redcross.org

 

    

Last Updated February 11, 2008