Emergency

It is Carmen Ferrer’s job to help meet the needs of people who have lost so much in the wake of disasters. As Head of Emergency Operations, she’s responsible for managing the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) regional response to Hurricanes Eta and Iota. Read how she became a leader.

When Mark Pettitt fundraises for his local United Way in Estevan, Saskatchewan, he always tells people that giving is important because, “you never know when you might be the one needing help.”
Little did he know that he would need assistance from the Canadian Red Cross, one of the organizations supported by the United Way Estevan, when an October fire forced his family out of their home in the middle of the night.

It was midnight on November 10, 2020. An already eventful evening, one of their three dogs was having puppies, 11 puppies. Excited by all the action, Katlin’s two young daughters, who would have normally been asleep in their own bedroom, had been up and about and were sleeping in their mom’s bed. That likely saved their lives.

Liane Greter is an emergency management volunteer from New Brunswick who deployed to Winnipeg, MB, where the Canadian Red Cross has been assisting some long-term care (LTC) homes with their COVID-19 response.

For a four-year-old child, receiving a package in the mail is about as exciting as it gets. So imagine the delight when a book is delivered every month. That’s the idea behind the Imagination Library of Wood Buffalo in northern Alberta. The organization delivers an age-appropriate book monthly to more than 1,800 children, from birth until they reach the age of five.

“I have learned that I am very capable of doing anything that I put my mind to,” says Dr Denisse Borbor following her shift at a long-term care home in Quebec.
The international medical graduate is currently a public health care advisor for the Canadian Red Cross, leading epidemic, prevention and control teams on the frontlines of the COVID-19 response.

Lok Maya Thapa is the focal person for the Comprehensive Community-Based Health Program in the Khotang District for the Nepal Red Cross Society, she recently shared with us her experiences working during COVID-19.

It was a time of both great joy and profound sadness.
For several weeks, Kara Schiestel worked as an Emergency Care Support Aide with the Canadian Red Cross amid the battle against the spread of COVID-19 in a long-term care home in Manitoba.