Red Cross set to answer the call in 2010

  • February 5, 2010
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For more than 93 years, the Muskingum Lakes Chapter of the American Red Cross, serving Tuscarawas, Carroll and Harrison counties, has been giving people who can help others a means to reach those in need, in the process preventing and relieving human suffering. At the same time, it is providing lifesaving safety training for adults and youth. Year-round, local Red Cross workers respond to disasters ranging from single-family fires to brutal major flooding such as those that hit Dennison and Uhrichsville in 1998 and the Bolivar area in 2005 and 2008. Workers help individuals and their families cope with devastating loss. Most recently, volunteers delivered drinking water to aid in the Scio village water outage in January. For each disaster, caring neighbors and volunteers from the Muskingum Lakes Chapter are there to help in a time of crisis with free disaster aid made possible by generous donations from the community. To meet the latest safety challenges, the chapter is striving to save lives with automated external defibrillators (AEDs) and CPR in partnership with the Eastern Ohio AED Initiative. The goal of the initiative is to obtain and distribute AEDs within Carroll, Harrison and Tuscarawas counties and to train individuals to respond with an AED in the event of a sudden cardiac arrest. To date, more than 90 AEDs have been placed in the first year of a five-year plan to position 500 units throughout the three counties. Studies show that AEDs can help improve cardiac arrest survival rates 20 to 30 percent. Volunteer instructors annually train hundreds of youth and adults in emergency planning, first aid, CPR and the use of lifesaving equipment. In 2009, that included 3,025 in first aid, CPR and AED; 526 in water safety; and 7,338 in youth safety programs. Volunteerism is the backbone of the Red Cross and its 175 ordinary volunteer “heroes” do more than help others. They often inspire the people they serve and motivate them to reach out to others in need, regardless of their differences. Make a difference and answer the call to help the community and the Red Cross. “That’s the real story behind the Red Cross,” said Chad Conrad, director of the Muskingum Lakes Chapter. “And that’s what this is all about—the people who help and the people who are assisted—ordinary people, just like you, who one day find themselves living through extraordinary circumstances, doing remarkable things.” In providing services, the Red Cross is not a government agency. It must rely on the community’s generous donations of time, money and blood to assist others. They can’t help without donations. For information on Red Cross programs or how to get involved in 2010, call 330-343-8633 or visit www.mlcredcross.org.


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