American Red Cross - Westmoreland County Chapter, Greensburg, Pennsylvania

Your American Red Cross...

SERVICES

AFES (military)

the Westmoreland County Chapter

101 N. Main Street, Suite 101, Greensburg, PA 15601

TEL: (724) 834-6510 ~ FAX: (724) 834-6515

Serving portions of Westmoreland, Fayette and Washington Counties.

“Learning CPR was the most valuable skill I’ve ever learned.

It truly saved my daughter’s life.”

~Chris & Emily of Scottdale

Last summer, I decided to take my three year old daughter Emily camping for the first time. While we were at the campground Emily spiked a very high fever which threw her body into a febrile seizure. After coming out of an eight minute long seizure, Emily was not breathing and I had to administer CPR on my own daughter.

I later found out in the Children’s Hospital ER that the valuable

skill of CPR saved her life.

American Red Cross Designates Westmoreland County Chapter as One of Top Performing in Nation For the Third Year in a Row

The Westmoreland County Chapter of the American Red Cross has been named one of the best-performing chapters in the United States by the national American Red Cross, headquartered in Washington, D.C. To achieve this outstanding designation, the chapter was scored on a comprehensive set of performance criteria through its Chapter Performance Standards system.

The Westmoreland County Chapter, which is made of up seven employees and more than 1800 volunteers supports the Westmoreland County and Mon Valley communities by providing lifesaving health and safety training, responding to disaster incidents, assisting members of the military and their families, hosting lifesaving blood drives, and international and other community services.

This is an outstanding achievement for our chapter. This award is the direct result of the hard work of our employees and volunteers including the members or our local board, and would not have been possible without the support of the communities we serve.

Last year alone, the chapter trained more than 12,000 in CPR, First Aid, and other training courses and responded to the needs of approximately 300 victims of house fires. The chapter also reached out to 300 military families in need and collected more than 14,000 units of life-saving blood for our hospitals. All of this is possible thanks to the generous gift of time, blood and money provided by the residents served by the Westmoreland County Chapter.

The Red Cross can always

use help with supplies!

To donate any of these items, please contact Julie Smith at

admin@westred.org or call 724-834-6510.

Our Wish List

· Retail Store Gift Cards (Staples, Office Max, Wal-Mart, etc.)

· Gasoline Gift Cards

· Multi-use Copier Paper

· Laser Printer Paper

· Office Supplies (post-it notes, envelopes, labels, file folders, tape, paper clips, pens, pencils, etc.)

· Stamps

· Paper Products (toilet paper, plates, napkins, cups, etc.)

· Coffee & Coffee Supplies

· Cleaning Supplies (trash bags, paper towels, dish detergent, bleach, etc.)

· Bottled Water or Soda

· Presentation Board

· GPS receiver for our Disaster Van

The need for Red Cross services and programs has never been greater. The Westmoreland County Chapter of the American Red Cross is working around the clock to bring help and hope to victims of disasters. In the past year, more volunteers served more people than ever before, touching our local community over 24,000 times.

Responding to Disasters

The Westmoreland County Chapter delivers aid and support to victims of disasters and other emergencies 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Thanks to your volunteer and financial support, we were able to meet the needs of 89 families who lost their homes to fire last year, providing them with shelter, food, clothing, financial assistance and other disaster relief. In addition to helping with emergencies here at home, the staff and disaster volunteers also gave their time to provide disaster relief around the country responding to Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and other natural disasters. The chapter recruited and trained hundreds of volunteers, solicited, collected and processed your generous contributions and deployed over 100 disaster relief volunteers, each giving two to three weeks at a time to help fellow Americans through the most difficult times.

Preparing for Emergencies

Hurricane Katrina reminded us all that preparing for the unexpected is important—and that disasters can happen anytime, anywhere. Raising awareness of the importance of disaster preparedness continued to be an organizational priority this year. Almost 7,000 people heeded our call to prepare for disasters by participating in community disaster education and preparedness drills. Your chapter taught another 12,557 people critical lifesaving skills like first aid, CPR and the use of automated external defibrillators (AEDs).

Serving Military Families

As the U.S. military continued its reliance on reservists and National Guard troops deployed around the world, Your American Red Cross continues to provide trained caseworkers on call 24 hours a day to respond to the needs of our soldiers and their families when a Military family emergency occurs. This past year, Red Cross Armed Forces Emergency Services assisted over 500 military families with emergency messages, financial assistance on behalf of military aid societies, and support for families who lost a loved one.

Ensuring Blood is Available to Those in Need

Since 1944 the Westmoreland County Chapter has assisted in the collection of a safe, adequate supply of blood for our hospitals and their patients. Our 500 blood services volunteers have staffed 486 blood drives and assisted in the collection of over 11,790 units of whole blood and over 11,000 residents received preventative screenings for blood pressure, hematocrit, and seven infectious diseases.

Embracing International Initiatives

Our Chapter joined in the national Measles Initiative this past year, an international effort of the American Red Cross, World Health Organization, the United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Through the Measles Initiative, we hope to eliminate measles deaths in Africa by vaccinating more than 200 million children over five years. It costs less than one dollar to vaccinate a child, but measles still kills more than 1,200 children per day in Africa.

Volunteers & Financial Supporters

Our greatest resource at the Red Cross is you. Our 1,800 volunteers continue to give their time to the Westmoreland County Chapter. When you see Red Cross workers in our community, chances are great that they are volunteers. Ninety-six percent of our workforce is volunteer—health and safety instructors, blood collection volunteers, and disaster action team members. This past year, volunteers helped neighbors affected by 90 disasters, helped to train more than 4,000 people in first aid, CPR and AED instruction, and helped to teach more than 7,500 people how to swim and be safe in and around the water. Your generosity of time and money ensures that Red Cross programs and services are available to all, every day.

History of the American Red Cross

BIOMEDICAL

DISASTER

PREPAREDNESS: HEALTH & SAFETY

NATIONAL RED CROSS WEB SITE

OUR MISSION