American Red Cross Assignments

[raymell80]

I will be graduating from nursing school this May and was wondering if anyone hd any ideas on how to get involved with the Red Cross. I would love to work with them and help provide health education, immunizations, etc to communities at risk.. or underdeveloped. Does anyone have any idea, how a student/ new grad would get invloved in that type of work/volunteering?

Thanks so much!

raymell80:redbeathe

[Black Jade, BSN, RN]

Where are you located? You can go to their website and be part of the Disaster Action Team, etc... If you are willing to make a long term commitment (about two years), you can also volunteer with the Peace Corps. You have tons of oppotunities to do health education and help the underserved.

BJ

[noahsmama]

Find the Red Cross chapter nearest to you and give them a call. I volunteered for them for a while before going to nursing school -- I was taking calls on their 800 number from people in the Hurricane Katrina disaster area shortly after that happened -- the idea was to connect people to resources in their area, but since most of the resources were already tapped out, I couldn't help them much, except to lend a sympathetic ear and let people vent.

I don't think they do immunizations, but they certainly do plenty of education, mostly on the topic of disaster preparedness. I think you can also become a CPR instructor if you go through their training for that.

[Blinc78]

You could also check with your nursing school director for any resources/connections he/she may have to the Red Cross in your area. I remember the American Red Cross coming to the nursing school I attended and gave a presentation on their services offered and types of jobs/volunteer work available for nurses. Closer to graduation time I asked my nursing school director the name of a person I could contact regarding a job with the Red Cross. When I called to discuss the possible job options I mentioned my school/director which I think helped....that person remembered my school director and explained the process of what I needed to do right over the phone. I decided to take a different job but I feel that now I have that option to check into in the future if needed. Never hurts to check because who you know can go a long way!!! Good Luck!

[hiddencatRN, BSN, RN]

You can volunteer with the Disaster Action Team and the Health Services Team. Neither do vaccinations, but they respond to local disasters (mostly fires, building collapses, floods, hurricanes, etc). With the DAT you get disaster victims connected with case management resources and provide emergency aid. Health Services helps get lost prescriptions and medical equipment replaced and provides medical support to shelters (opened when there's a large number of people effected). After you have some experience locally you are eligible to deploy to national disasters as well.

Call your local Red Cross chapter or find them online for the application process. i had to apply, go to an applicant orientation, do a background check, and then wait to be placed on a shift for the DAT. I highly recommend it- I've met some great people.

[2011NursingStudent]

I'm in their training program to be a CPR Instructor. I had to pay $50 for the supplies, 7 hour CPR class, 2 day Lay Responder Instructor class & another day for Fundamentals of Instructor training........lots of training!! I know they are always looking for volunteers - when I volunteered they called me back within hours. I'm excited to be working with them.