Red Cross Services Available in Adams County, Indiana
The Adams County Chapter of the American Red Cross provides a wide variety of services to residents of Decatur, Monroe, Berne, and Geneva as well as other communities in the county. These services are divided into five primary groups: Disaster Services, Health and Safety Services, Armed Forces Emergency Services, Biomedical Services, and International Services.
Disaster Services
Disaster Services from the Adams County Chapter of the American Red Crossinclude the planning, preparedness, community disaster education, mitigation, and relief to victims of disasters. This includes prompt relief to victims of local single family disasters such as house fires.
Each year, the Red Cross responds to more than 70,000 disasters, including:
- House or multi-family unit fires (The majority ol disaster responses are single-family house fires which occur approximately one in every eight minutes).
- Hurricanes
- Floods
- Earthquakes
- Tornadoes
- Hazardous material spills
- Transportation accidents
- Explosions, and
- Other natural and man-made disasters.
The Red Cross, through a network of chapters (such as the Adams County, Indiana chapter), Service Areas, and national headquarter operations, provides disaster relief services to people affected by disasters 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year.
Disaster relief focuses on meeting people's immediate needs, which includes shelter, food, health and mental health services. The core of Red Cross disaster relief is to enable individuals and families to resume their normal daily activities independently. American Red Cross disaster relief services are iree. a donated gift of the American people.
To learn how you can help respond to disasters, contact us about becoming a member of the Disaster Services Human Resources (DSHR) system. The DSHR system is the nationwide network of people who respond to disasters in their community and in communities across the nation.
Health and Safety Services
Health and Safety Services from the Adams County Chapter of the American Red Crossinclude community education and training in first aid, CPR, aquatics and water safety, HIVAIDS prevention, and mission-related caregiving for the elderly and other priority groups.
Health and Safety Sendees (H&SS) helps save lives and strengthen communities. Last year, approximately 12 million Americans enrolled in lifesaving Red Cross courses. Currently 28% of American Red Cross registered volunteers help sustain and deliver H&SS including:
- First Aid/CPR/AED (with Automatic External Defibrillation "AED" information and skills)
- Aquatics (Lifeguarding, Water Safety)
- Caregiving (Babysitter's Training, Family Caregiving)
- HIV/AIDS Education (Multi-Cultural, Culturally Specific African-American and Hispanic, Workplace)
Armed Forces Emergency Services
Armed Forces Emergency Services (AFES) from the Adams County Chapter of the American Red Cross include emergency communication and supporting social services that enable those with family members serving in the United States Armed Forces to resolve family emergencies and that provide members of the United States Armed Forces and their families access to emergency financial assistance.
The American Red Cross provides reporting and communication services through a network that links members of the military any place in the world with their loved ones. Calls and messages are relayed every 22 seconds between Armed Forces F.mcrgcncy Services centers, stations, and chapters.
AFES also provides emergency financial aid to service members, their families, retired military personnel and widows of retired military personnel, in partnership with the
military aid societies.
Members of the military and their families may access services 24 hours a day, 7 days a week through local chapters, AFES stations on military posts or by calling an AFES Service Center (one in Fort Sill, Oklahoma and one at national headquarters in Washington, DC).
Biomedical Services
Biomedical Services conducts research and provides collection, testing, processing and distribution of blood and blood products for almost 50% of the American public.
In the United States, a blood transfusion is needed about every two seconds. Blood is perishable and must be regularly replaced lo meet the growing needs of recipients. Although an estimated 60 percent of the U.S. population is eligible to donate, only five percent of those eligible actually donate. The Red Cross collects approximately 6.5 million volunteer blood donations each year.
View our Bloodmobile page for a schedule of upcoming blood donation events in your community, or contact us for more information.
International Services
International Services from the Adams County Chapter of the American Red Cross include iternational tracing, dissemination of international humanitarian law, support of international disaster relief and development, and support of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.
International Services works with a global network of Red Cross, Red Crescent and equivalent societies to restore hope and dignity to the world's most vulnerable people. Through relief and development projects and its specialized International Disaster Response Unit, International Services provides:
- Emergency response
- Food programming
- Primary health care, and
- Water and sanitation services.
Red Cross tracing services and Red Cross messages help families separated by war or disaster to locate each other, send communication and learn each other's fate. In addition, the Red Cross has die unique mandate to educate the American public about die guiding principles of international humanitarian law. In 2003. more than 61 million beneficiaries around the world were served through International Services.