The American Red Cross: services, nursing roles, and community health challenges

American Red Cross

services provided by a community agency and it's challenges in servicing a certain health issue within the community

The American Red Cross

This research paper looks at the services provided by a community agency and its challenges in servicing certain health issues within the community. The research will mainly dwell on the American Red Cross which is a community agency based in the U.S. that provides public health services not only to the American people but also to other people in other parts of the World who need help.

The research paper will first of all give a detailed description of the American Red Cross that will include the services it provides and the population it serves, secondly it will highlight on some of the roles that nurses play in the agency and how the nurses provide essential services of public health. The third section will spell out notable collaborations that the American Red Cross has with individuals, groups and other agencies in the community, lastly in the fourth section some future challenges that the agency may face will also be mentioned.

The American Red Cross

Also known as the American national Red Cross. It is an agency issued with a corporate charter by United States of America congress and it provides community services or public health services for the entire American community. Its' an affiliate of the Red Crescent societies and International Federation of Red Cross with a nationwide network of 36 blood services centers in addition it has more than six hundred and fifty chapters. The organization which is dedicated to saving lives and assisting the American community to prevent, prepare for and respond to emergencies has it main headquarters located in Washington D.C.

The American national Red Cross is a humanitarian organization that is mainly driven by the spirit of voluntarism and it is funded by donations from the American community, income generated from blood, safety and health products, and also fees collected from training programs on health and safety. Reports show that in 2006 it had total revenue of more than six billion dollars of which two billion dollars were income generated from blood and blood products. The community agency mainly focuses on providing disaster relief, emergency assistance and informative education to the American community that pertains to public health.

At the present moment it provides other services besides disaster relief and emergency assistance which include; collection of donor blood and blood products, the processing of these blood collected and their distribution to those who need them. The other service is offering comfort and communication services to the American military men and their immediate family members. Providing community services aimed at aiding the needy in the American society is also part of their agenda in addition to providing informative education services on public health, safety and disaster preparedness.

According to information from the organization's website it has a workforce that comprises of more than thirty thousand permanent employees and nearly a million volunteers whom are capable of providing relief services to victims of at least sixty seven thousand cases of disaster in a period of stipulated in their budget. The organization also offers training on medical skills to almost twelve million Americans and in addition to that it facilitates the exchange of emergency messages between America military men and their immediate family members. The America Red Cross also known for its blood services is the largest supplier to more than three thousand hospitals in America which depend on it for blood and blood products. The organization not only offer assistance to the American public but it also offer aid to victims of conflict in other parts of the World and international disasters such as the Haiti earthquake.

Among the notable deeds of the American national Red Cross apart from the blood, health and safety services is the response to disaster. The organization did a commendable work during times of disaster such as the 2005 hurricanes, the Florida and Kansas tornadoes of 2007, the Conair air crash, the Midwest floods of June 2008, the Minneapolis bridge collapse and the recent Haiti earthquakes. Their response to these disasters has propelled them to international spotlight for their community services.

Collaboration of the American Red Cross with others

Due to the fact that the American national Red Cross is a humanitarian organization and also a non-governmental organization it depends a lot on contribution and collaboration from other third party stakeholders within and outside the American community. Apart from the income generated from blood, health and safety products the America Red cross also depends on its collaboration with the American people, and according to the organization's database it has a network of many Americans who not only donate their money and blood to them but also their time to participate in humanitarian activities carried out by the organization.

A remarkable collaboration between the organization and other agencies in the American community was with the federal emergency management agency also known as FEMA which is a branch of the U.S. department of homeland security. The two agencies signed a memorandum of agreement that could see both of them jointly lead the planning and co-ordination of mass care services, which will have the positive effect of strengthening and expanding the resources available for providing food, shelter, emergency first aid and delivery of supplies to victims of disaster in the American community.

In 2007 the American Red Cross and the Lionsgate, which is an independent film entertainment studio formed collaboration in which the organization was set to benefit from a blood drive. The campaign titled "give till it hurts" was to be consistent with release of SAW IV, a production from the Lionsgate and Twisted pictures. The American Red Cross was set to utilize this partnership to expand its support of blood donation that consequently would increase its' blood bank from the donations of SAW IV fans.

Future challenges of the American Red Cross

According to the president and chief executive officer of American Red Cross, Mr. Gail McGovern the organization is set to suffer again in the advent of any economic recession if it ever occurs in the future again. Considering that the organization largely depends on donations from well wishers, an economic meltdown like the one witnessed in the period of 2007-2010 could pose a major challenge to its operations mostly in the times of national disasters. During harsh economic conditions well wishers rarely make any donations be it in monetary form or in form of their time, because even to themselves things are usually tight.

The other challenge that the agency can face in the future is the number of disasters that might occur, in a case where too many disasters occur within a short span of time then the organization's fund will be depleted even before it can be able to offer assistance to the last disaster the will occur and even during such times the number of donations that will be coming in shall also reduce drastically. An example of such a challenge was in 2008 were at least eight hurricanes occurred, Midwest was flooded, a tornado and worst wildfires in California also happened all in a period of one year, this lead to the organization operating with a deficit of more than two hundred million dollars.

According to Berkowitz (2005, 1-6), he noted that organizations such as the Red Cross can be faced with future challenges that arise from issues to do with rising health care cost that will mean an increase in the operation cost of such organizations and restrained federal government role in the activities if this organizations, to the American Red Cross it would mean a dissolution to the partnership that was signed with the federal emergency management agency (FEMA) which could also have a negative impact on it operations.

Work cited

Bayona, M., Leaverton, P.E., Rangel-Sharpless, M.C., and Williams, P.D. (2004), Short course training in epidemiology and biostatistics for graduate and undergraduate public health professionals, Public Health Rep, pp 434-438

Berkowitz, B. (2005). Health system reform: a blueprint for the future of public health. Public Health Management Practice, pp 1-6.

The America Red Cross Web Site

23 January 2011