September is National Preparedness Month, and the American Red Cross Southeastern Pennsylvania (SEPA) Chapter is encouraging residents through dozens of events this month to help create a more prepared region by taking three simple actions to "Be Red Cross Ready" for future disasters and severe weather emergencies:

Washing hands and paying close attention to symptoms of illness are just some of the things the public can to do help reduce the risk from the swine flu (H1N1) outbreak.

We always end our Chapter fiscal year with an "all staff" picnic/event, at which I present a "State of the Red Cross SEPA" report to our staff. This year, due to budget constraints, we held the session right here at the Chapter, and I focused the report on the following three items:

Emergency Services volunteer Meredith Buck received the Florence Nightingale medal, the highest international honor a nurse can receive, in a special ceremony at American Red Cross National Headquarters on June 25.

Volunteers with the American Red Cross Southeastern Pennsylvania (SEPA) Chapter will be honored at the 2009 Annual Meeting and Celebration of Volunteers in September.

The Emergency Services department has finished up a busy year for FY09. Between July 2008 and June 2009, we proudly served the five-county region. Here are the highlights from our Preparedness, Response and Recovery (Red Cross House) divisions:

On Sunday, August 2nd, 2009, a series of storms impacted the Delaware Valley. Heavy rain, hail, and flooding occurred throughout much of our area. In both Hatboro and Upper Moreland Township, multiple apartment buildings were affected due to flooding. This caused the evacuation of over 100 units consisting of 200-300 people.

With fire season just a few short months away, you should take the opportunity now to do some preparation for winter. You should make yourself a "to do" list of the following things:

On Wednesday, July 22nd, the Bucks County Disaster Action Team held a fundraiser hosted by T.G.I.Friday's restaurant in Warminster, PA. The team was ably represented by Meredith Buck, Madeline Wherrity, Chuck McElroy, Fred Vielhauer, Marcy Wodds and Mike Damuth, and led by their ever-present and indefatigable DAT Captain Ron Warriner.

During the summer months, we responded to 154 local disasters, helping 784 people with emergency food, clothing and shelter. We would not have been able to assist those hundreds of clients in need without the help of the 117 individual volunteers and staff who responded (many of them multiple times) when called day or night.

This summer, the American Red Cross Southeastern PA (SEPA) Chapter hosted its second annual Camp Save A Life (CSAL) for youth throughout the Greater Philadelphia area.

The American Red Cross SEPA Chapter is honored to host its 13th class of AmeriCorps National Preparedness and Response (NPRC) members. Five AmeriCorps members will be serving for 10 months in various internships throughout the Emergency Services department.

Please join us in welcoming the newest members of the Emergency Services team: