Our chapter provides disaster relief assistance to individuals and families affected by natural and manmade disasters in Chester, Montgomery, Philadelphia, and most of Bucks and Delaware Counties. Red Cross disaster relief focuses on meeting people's immediate emergency disaster-caused needs. When disaster strikes, the Red Cross provides shelter, food, clothing, and health and mental health services to address basic human needs. The core of Red Cross disaster relief is the assistance given to individuals and families affected by disaster to enable them to resume their normal independent lives.
To inquire about the chapter’s disaster relief services, contact Terry Johnson, Manager of Disaster Services, at johnsont@redcross-philly.org or 215-299-4062. To reach our emergency operations center, staffed 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, dial (215) 299 4889.
Mass Care
The Red Cross provides for the immediate emergency needs of disaster victims and/or emergency workers in a disaster affected area in a large disaster, without identifying specific needs of individuals or families on a case-by-case basis. Mass Care services are provided through sheltering, feeding and/or direct distribution of relief supplies. Mass Care can be initiated upon notification of an impending disaster, such as a hurricane, or immediately following a disaster event, such as an earthquake or tornado.
Shelters may be opened in anticipation of a disaster, during an evacuation or after a disaster occurs. Shelters may be opened in commercial facilities, such as motels or hotels, community centers, schools or any other location that is safe and far enough away from the affected area. Shelters are intended as a safe haven from impending disaster and/or short-term emergency housing until disaster victims can return to their homes or locate alternate housing after a disaster.
Mass feeding provides regular meals in shelters and other appropriate food and snacks at additional fixed sites or via mobile distribution for victims and workers in the affected areas. Mobile canteens may also be sent to areas to provide meals and refreshments to families who are cleaning up and repairing their homes after a disaster.
Disaster relief items, such as clean-up kits, comfort kits, food, water, ice, fuels and other items related to disaster relief and recovery may be distributed by Red Cross staff and volunteers either at shelter locations, service centers or via mobile crews who travel to affected areas to distribute these items.
Family Services
Red Cross Family Service caseworkers provide disaster assistance to individuals or families on a case-by-case basis. Disaster victims are responsible for their own recovery, and Red Cross assistance is provided to facilitate and support disaster victim recovery efforts.
Assistance that is provided by family service workers may include direct assistance, in the form of vouchers, or disbursing orders, to purchase new clothing, eyeglasses, prescriptions, hotel stays, groceries, household goods or other items that were lost in the disaster. All Red Cross disaster assistance is an outright grant and is based on disaster-caused needs a family cannot meet because of lack of resources. No repayment or reimbursement for any assistance provided is sought or accepted from disaster victims.
Other assistance provided by family service caseworkers includes referrals to other agencies that may be able to assist disaster victims, including community-based and government agencies. The chapter works with a number of community-based and government agencies to identify resources available to help those who need assistance with housing and other post-disaster needs.
Disaster Mental Health Services
The chapter has a corps of trained, licensed mental health workers whose mission it is to provide emergency and preventative mental health services to disaster victims and workers. The mental health workers provided by the Red Cross are designed to supplement the community’s existing mental health care delivery systems. The mental health workers who respond to a disaster are there to provide brief counseling to disaster victims in Red Cross service delivery facilities or other settings. Red Cross disaster mental health workers may also, based on the needs of the affected community, work with the local mental health community to provide an orientation, training and/or materials relating to disaster victims’ mental health needs.
Disaster Health Services
The chapter has a corps of trained nurses, paraprofessional personnel and other individuals with appropriate first aid training and experience who, when called upon, provide emergency and preventative health services to disaster victims and workers. The primary responsibility of the Red Cross disaster health service workers is to supplement the community’s existing health care delivery systems. In addition, disaster health service workers gather accurate information about the impact of the disaster on the health of affected individuals and on the health care delivery system of the communities affected.
Family Wellbeing Inquiries
After those affected by a disaster feel assured that their immediate needs for food, clothing, shelter and medical attention have been addressed, they may experience considerable anxiety arising from concerns that their family members may be unaware of their whereabouts and well-being. Persons outside a disaster area may experience similar anxiety about the welfare of relatives who live or work in the affected area.
The Red Cross Family Wellbeing Inquiry system provides services that alleviate anxiety by acting as a contact between those affected by the disaster and their family members. The Red Cross collects information from reliable sources and attempts to match the information with inquiries made by family members outside the disaster affected area. When family members are located, the Red Cross will connect the family member with the person making the inquiry.
Spiritual Counseling
Disaster recovery requires a myriad of skills and resources. Financial assistance alone cannot heal the wounds caused by a cataclysmic disaster. The devastating loss of personal property caused by a disaster is a visible and tangible testament to the destructive forces of nature and man. Lost things are easily replaced, but emotional and spiritual wounds caused by a traumatic event can be just as painful as physical wounds and even more difficult to manage. To assist in healing all of the wounds caused by a disaster, the chapter has created Spiritual Care Teams to help victims deal with their tragedy not only on the physical level, but at the mental and spiritual levels as well.
