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Red Cross volunteer David Summerby-Murray never expected a need to apply his expertise regarding infectious diseases in a place like Nova Scotia, but that quickly changed with the COVID-19 pandemic.

As a young child in Canada, Rateb always acknowledged that his internal calling was to help those in need. Following his parents’ immigration to the Middle East, Rateb obtained his medical degree in the Kingdom of Bahrain. Rateb saw the opportunity to directly apply his training and skills through the greater good of humanitarian work, and joined the Canadian Red Cross to help on the front lines.

In late June, a plane full of firefighters touched down in Sudbury to help protect communities in Northern Ontario. Shortly after the team stepped off the aircraft, the Canadian Red Cross immediately set to work, ensuring their task would not be more difficult than usual.

As a COVID-19 outbreak in late April and early May 2021 impacted Iqaluit, Mayor Kenny Bell knew that help was needed. The Canadian Red Cross was brought to Iqaluit in mid-May to provide additional support to a homeless shelter in the city but, by the time the team left, they had also done Epidemic Prevention and Control (EPC) assessments for 13 organizations across the city. 

In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, as information began to flow into Canada about how serious this disease might become, Alberta Health Services started ramping up their testing capacity. Some 10,000 kilometres away in Southeast Asia, the Philippine Red Cross took notice.

Cindy Chiu volunteers to support the Health Equipment Loans Program and the Friendly Calls Program, two vital Red Cross community health and well-being services in Alberta. 
“The most rewarding part about volunteering with HELP is hearing people express their gratitude for the equipment they received; how it greatly aided in their recovery or helped them continue to live independently.”

Statistics show that only one out of three Canadians will take steps to be prepared for a disaster - which means the majority of us are not prepared in case of emergency. This could be for few reasons so we want to dispel five common disaster myths.

Think your kids may be having too much screen time while we’ve been at home more these days? You’re not alone. While screen time has its uses, we thought to provide a few offline activities that can help kids transition from the virtual world to the real world again.