Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good morning everybody and welcome to the
Inner Harbor cast.
This is the podcast where weexplore the inspiring stories of
impactful work happening righthere in our community.
Today, we're honored to have avery special guest.
She is the I know I'm going tomess this up the executive
director of the Red Cross, but Iknow there's a lot more to that
title.
(00:20):
All right, lisa Smith is withus this morning.
From providing criticaldisaster relief to offering
life-saving services, the RedCross plays an essential role
right here in central New York,all over the country, as a
matter of fact, in our society,and in this episode, we'll hear
firsthand about theorganization's mission,
challenges and the incredibleways of making a difference
(00:40):
every day.
So I want you to sit back,relax 20, 30 minutes and let's
dive into a conversation thatsheds the light of humanitarian
efforts in the incredible workof the Red Cross.
Lisa, I do first of all, goodmorning and welcome.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Good morning.
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
I think I have that morning voice going today.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Me too, so we're a great pair.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Right, it works out well.
They're going to go.
Their voices are awesome.
They're're a great pair.
It works out well.
Their voices are awesome.
They're not always like that.
But first of all, what is yourexact title?
You are the executive director.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
I am the executive director, but of Central and
Northern New York.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Wow, you cover a whole lot of territory,
absolutely.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
The most beautiful part of New York.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
You know, and right off the top, maybe if somebody's
watching this a few days downthe road, but just recently
though, there's a major fire inMessina, new York.
That would be your territoryright, that is yes.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Where six?
Speaker 1 (01:33):
individuals lost their lives.
How does the Red Cross step upto help them in this situation?
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Sure.
So you know this chapter andchapters across the whole
country respond to two to threedisasters a day and most of them
for us are home fires.
So we work very closely withemergency management and all of
the counties that we cover andwe're actually asked to respond.
So we are invited in if youwill.
(02:02):
So for instance, in Messina, aswell as Baldensville, the big
fire in.
Baldensville.
We're still working with thefamilies there.
That just happened this weekend.
So we go in, we bring ourvolunteer disaster responders,
come in immediately, take thevictims of the fire away from
(02:24):
the area, working with the firedepartment to really allow the
fire personnel, the responders,to do their jobs.
So we take the victims, we makesure that they have a safe
place to stay that evening, wemake sure they have things on
their feet, shoes on their feet,that children have some comfort
(02:45):
care, that kind of thing, andthen eventually we will case
manage them.
There's financial aid.
We will make sure they havefood, we'll replace their
medicine, we offer mental andspiritual care, all those types
of things.
But when you look specificallyat I'm going to use Baldensville
because it just happened- thisweekend.
We're here.
It was a huge fire.
(03:06):
We had about five respondersthat went, you know, at night to
help the people there.
There were about 20 familiesthat were affected.
We opened a shelter at OCC,which is one of our big partners
in this county, and to have aplace that people could go
immediately, and some of thosefamilies literally they grabbed
(03:29):
their little children and headedout the door with nothing else,
nothing.
They were barefoot.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
They're in toiletries no clothes, no, nothing.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
They didn't have their car keys.
They didn't have their creditcards.
The children literally havetheir car keys.
They didn't have their creditcards.
The children literally werejust in pajamas.
They didn't have diapers, theyhad nothing.
So, you know, we make sure theyget to the shelter, we take care
of it, we feed them, give atleast mom and dad slippers for
their feet, blankets, wrap thekids up so they can go to sleep.
(04:02):
And then in the morning I gotthere about six or seven, took a
list from the people that werethere of those specific needs
that they needed right away andI went out again working with
another one of our partners,which is Walmart, and purchased
shoes and underwear and diapersand all that type of thing just
to get people, you know, settled.
(04:24):
And then we work with communitypartners.
So in this case, the communityof Baldwinsville, I'm sorry,
really stepped up, as so manycommunities do.
We started getting callsbecause the Red Cross won't take
donations.
You know that's not what we do.
You know we don't have themanpower to manage that because,
(04:47):
as you can imagine, a communitythat's generous, you know, the
school district collected thingsand within 15 minutes they were
completely overwhelmed.
100,000 items Absolutely, whichis fantastic, but think about
how to manage that.
So you really need people inthe community to step up.
And I've got a bunch of callsand then we started coordinating
(05:09):
with the volunteer center, theBaldwin and Sobel Volunteer
Center, who is now managing allof that and will manage
donations and that kind of thing.
So what we do is that firstresponse, we help with recovery
and then we work with thecommunity to get people back on
their feet.
So we're not meant to be thereforever, but we are meant to be
(05:31):
there initially to make surepeople are safe and taken care
of.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
Let me ask you how does it get to that point,
though?
Who calls the Red Cross, Is itthe 911 center?
Reaches out when they know theyhave a disaster.
Well, you know, we have aprocess but each county is a
little different.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Okay, but we definitely.
We either hear from the firechief, the fire marshal,
emergency management is normallywhat happens.
So they call us because oftenwe won't respond.
If it's a building fire, right,and there's no people involved,
you know, we usually just focuson home fires.
However, if we're calledbecause it's a large fire to
(06:08):
take care of the responderswhich we will do as well we'll
set up canteening and have waterand Gatorade and wet towels for
smoke.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
Yeah, no, exactly, I was the fireman for 20 years.
A little bit to what you'resaying, but it's our viewers and
our listeners need tounderstand.
You know the workings of theRed Cross and what's going on
here.
What is the most challengingpart of responding to these
types of emergencies?
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Well, our workforce is 90% volunteers, because we
could not do what we do withoutvolunteers.
So our paid staff is a verysmall component of our workforce
.
So keeping volunteers, you know, trained and at the ready is a
lot of work and we need a lot ofpeople.
(06:57):
So our biggest issue is,especially as people age, our
people tend to stay with usforever and then they get to a
period of time, like you and I,you know, we get to that period
of time where you start settlingback a little bit.
You know we need to keepreplacing people.
So what I can, what I always sayis, you know, we, we need more
(07:18):
people so that we can respondcorrectly and appropriately and
quickly.
You know we're able to do thatright now, but you know we have
to build capacity.
But more importantly, I thinkour biggest challenge so you
know we're really great atresponding to fires here because
we do so many you know the cityof Syracuse is the highest risk
(07:42):
in our whole region and, ofcourse, the people that are
affected the most are the peoplethat have the least to lose,
you know.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
Yeah, no exactly.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
Always yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
You mentioned the city of Syracuse.
I just know in the news justrecently there were like four
structure fires.
You know people were leftwithout homes and they've lost
all their belongings and the RedCross had to step up.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Like I said, we wanted to help them but we do
this, like I said, two to threetimes a day.
So it's just amazing.
You know, every six minutessomeone needs the services of
the Red Cross.
But what's also happening whenyou look across the country, you
know we respond everywhere.
You know it's not just righthere, obviously, and we also
work internationally.
(08:25):
We have other divisions inother countries.
But when you look across thecountry, everything that's
happening with climate change isyou know we are, we're out
working in the wildfirewildfires in California.
Yeah, so we have our peopleusually deploy out for two to
three weeks, so our first waveis coming back, but we had about
(08:47):
we had 12 people from thischapter that went out and then
25 in our region that gave uptheir time, their lives, to go
out and help other people.
But just look what happened inthe fall.
You know we had Helene MiltonBack to back.
Yeah, and I deployed for Helene.
(09:09):
I was part of the earlyresponse team that was in
Asheville.
Well, so Helene was supposed tohit in Tallahassee, okay.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
So that was down along the Gulf Coast.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
Right.
So we started deploying peopleout to be prepared to open
shelters and that type of thing.
So I was out there for threeweeks.
We got through Helene doinggood work, a lot of people
affected, and then Milton hit aweek later and this was
literally our biggest response,our most, our biggest disaster
(09:42):
we've ever had, because itaffected all of Florida.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
Milton was just so you've already had Helene.
Milton came through.
Thankfully did not hit Tampa asthey thought it would, because
the loss of life would have beentremendous, so it went a little
south.
But then 25 tornadoes came aswell, all at the same time.
So you already had this wholeinfrastructure helping people.
We ended up with 85,000 peoplein shelters when Milton hit in
(10:13):
the state of Florida.
Now that doesn't even countwhat's going on in Georgia and
South Carolina and Tennessee andNorth Carolina.
North Carolina was hit so badlythey had over 200 people lost
their lives.
It was a in government servicesand working with the local
governments and I went out andlooked and whole communities
(10:53):
were just gone.
Mountainsides were the mud thatjust broke off of mountains and
wiped out.
Communities were crazy.
We couldn't even drink thewater yet.
And this was two months afterit happened.
So you know the Red Cross isgoing to be there working with
these people for a long time.
But so so everybody sees thesethings on the news, but look at
(11:16):
what's happening right here.
You know mother nature isknocking on our door and she is
angry.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
Somebody upset her.
That's all I know.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
So we are not immune anymore.
You know, we have spent many,many, many years really kind of
skating by, and this chapter inparticular is such a great feed
to send our volunteers out,because, you know, the worst we
can ever say is we get a lot ofsnow, you know, and we don't
even notice that anymore.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
And it doesn't even snow as much as it used to Not
as it used to.
But I have to say just what hashappened recently is like the
way it used to be years ago,Exactly when I was growing up,
there used to be the snow banks.
End of November there were snowbanks alongside the road.
We haven't seen that in a longtime.
And here we are, and here weare.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
But look what's happened.
Just since May I think, we hada tornado in Lewis County,
followed by a flood, and then,within two weeks, we had a
tornado hit Canastota whichwiped out a whole city block and
a gentleman lost his life inthat disaster.
(12:20):
And hours later, a tornado camethrough and wiped out downtown
Rome, which was the mostdevastating thing that the city
of Rome has ever had happen Ever.
And that's right here.
That's here in our backyard.
So you know, we need to beprepared.
A lot of what the Red Crossdoes is preparedness training as
(12:42):
well.
So we do respond to disasters,but we try to make sure that
people are prepared for adisaster.
So one of the biggest piecesthat we do is our smoke alarm
installation.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
I was going to ask you about it.
It's on my list of questionshere.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
I can just keep talking.
I'll just sit down and smile,but you're reading my mind and
very good.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
All right, smoke detectors.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
Yeah, so it's so important and often when we, you
know, when we talk to the firedepartment, especially on a big
response, especially if there'sloss of life, you know, we
always ask you know, did youhear anything?
And often they hear no alarmsat all, which indicates that
there probably wasn't a workingsmoke alarm in the home.
You know, I will say thisalarms at all, which indicates
that there probably wasn't aworking smoke alarm in the home
(13:25):
you know I will say this.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
We going back to the, the fire at legacy apartments
in baldwinsville.
Um, there was a video onfacebook a day after and you
could hear a smoke alarm beeping.
It was still beeping and thatwas such an eerie feeling seeing
that right and hearing it.
You know watching the video andyou just hear beep, beep, right
(13:47):
which means that the place isstill hot.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
Yeah, yeah, so something not safe to be there
taking pictures, for surehopefully they kept their
distance.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
Yeah, exactly yeah, but it is you know not to make
light of it, but no, you knowsmoke alarms is your best
protection against loss of life.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
You know it's not going to stop a fire from
happening, but it's going to letyou know.
So if you think about whenfires happen the most, you know
it's in the middle of the night,when everybody's sleeping.
So how are you going to know ifyou don't have an alarm going
off to wake you up?
How are you going to know yourplace is on fire?
Whether it's an apartment or ahouse Doesn't make any
difference.
So what the Red Cross does iswe will install 10-year smoke
(14:31):
alarms free of charge.
Our volunteers go in.
All you have to do is ask andthen we assess the situation.
We put one in each bedroom, weput one on each floor, we
install them.
Then we do a homes made safertraining, which really helps
people think what happens ifthere is a fire.
You know how do we escape.
(14:51):
If there's children, we do alittle exercise with them so
they understand what the soundis.
Talk about escape routes.
You know nobody should wait foreach other.
You know you should get out andhave a place to meet outside,
and we've talked to peopleafterwards because we always go
back after fire, especially ifwe know we keep records.
Did we install smoke alarms?
(15:12):
So we go back to them to makesure the smoke alarm worked and
everything and the stories weget you know one in particular
that happened in Syracuse lastyear.
The family said you know, weknew there was a fire, you know
the alarm went off, it wasduring the day.
But what we didn't?
The exit that we would normallytake was trapped, it was
(15:33):
blocked and we were so nervousand so you know you get so
caught up in it.
But they remembered theiralternate escape route that we
went through with them andthat's how they got out of the
place.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
That's amazing, though, because usually, when
somebody is, for the most part,somebody gets excited, or they
get nervous, or whatever all ofa sudden, all those thoughts go
out of your mind.
You know, if something likethat, all right, this is wrong,
this is blocked.
I can't go this way.
Oh my God.
Now what do we do, right?
Speaker 2 (15:57):
So yeah, it's something that, so it's so
important everywhere, you know,and but that's a challenge as
well, because you have to ask usfor them.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
You know, we don't know you need them.
Is it open to everybody,everyone in this region?
Speaker 2 (16:16):
It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter.
There's no financial tests atall.
You know, if you ask us, wewill come in and do it.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
Because we do hear way too often after a fire that
the smoke detectors weren'tworking or there were no
batteries in the smoke detectorsor you know anything along
those lines that you know whatthey could have died.
You know, and hopefullyeverybody gets out, but still
you need to follow up on thatand it doesn't matter who you
(16:43):
are, what your income level is,whatever that they can call the
Red Cross and say I need smokedetectors.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
Right, and we'll send , we'll send a group out to
install them and we go throughyour house and help you.
You know, if you'reoverburdening your outlets or
you know whatever, we'll talk toyou about that as well.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
And you work with the fire department with that as
well, because they have peoplethat go around and inspect and
make sure that you're notoverloading the.
We're very, you know.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
I would say we have so many partners out there, we
can do what we do without them.
But you know, the firedepartments truly are our heroes
um and we work really closelywith the fire departments and
you know we're here to supportthem as well, you know, I want
to back up a little bit.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
You, you talk about volunteers, but how does one
become a volunteer?
Plus, what training do theyneed?
Or does the Red Cross trainthem?
Can we talk about that a littlebit?
Speaker 2 (17:33):
I always say we are the closest thing to the
military, we're the non-militarymilitary.
So, yes, we have a lot oftraining.
Even for me, a lot of thethings that I do when I deploy,
I do here as my regular job.
But I have gone through hoursand hours and hours of training.
(17:54):
It's really incredible.
So to volunteer, you know,basically it's just going onto
our website and filling out aform to volunteer and then
you're called by someone fromvolunteer services and they kind
of triage what your interestsare, what your skill sets are.
You know what you are thinkingof doing and then they will send
(18:14):
you to whichever departmentthat makes sense, because, of
course, we have so muchvolunteer opportunity.
It's not just responding todisasters you can never have
enough.
Yeah, I, you know, we have needsin volunteer services, just
data entry.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
you know everything we do, there's always something.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
Yeah, everything we do there's a volunteer behind.
You know that role so, and thenthey just go through, they meet
with whomever in that line ofservice that they're interested
in and then find out what itwould take to, you know, become
a, to do that job.
And we do a background checkand you know everybody that's
(18:51):
part of the Red Cross goesthrough a background check and
then they do the training thatthey need.
Some of the training we've donesome boot camp training, if you
will, because the need was sogreat during Helene that we had
to find new people to go out.
You know we couldn't keep up.
You know we had over a thousandpeople down there that change
every two weeks, you know.
(19:19):
So it we needed new people.
So we were able to train peoplevery quickly and get them out
the door and send them downthere.
But even that training themvery quickly took a few weeks.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
Yeah, the age requirement.
I'm thinking like, okay, like abuddy of mine just retired,
he's looking for something to do, he's enjoying life, but he
wants a little something to do.
So I think there'd be a greatopportunity.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
There's no age requirement at all and again it
depends on the type of role.
A lot of retirees, of course,are responding to what we call
DAT calls, to the fire calls,but there also is a huge need
for volunteers to pick up bloodand transport it.
So that's a big piece and thereare a lot of retired volunteers
(20:02):
that just love to do that, youknow they want.
They pick up the blood fromeither the donation center or a
mobile center and then transportit to Rochester for, you know,
for processing, or take itdirectly to the hospital that
it's supposed to go to, andthere's nothing better than
pulling up in a Red Crossvehicle and walking through a
(20:22):
hospital with that, with thatcase that says blood.
You know, I mean it's a greatfeeling.
Speaker 1 (20:28):
So I bet it is.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
Yeah, so there's that as well.
You know, there's so manydifferent things.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
You know, before we let you go today, I have to ask
you give so much to thecommunity food, clothing housing
Right.
It all comes at a price.
So how does?
Is it all donations from, youknow, the public, or how does
that work?
So we are.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
We are funded by the generosity of our donors.
So you know, the big piece is,of course we have.
You know, our workforce ismainly volunteers.
The public funds us to do thethings we do, and that's how
people can help us.
They can volunteer or they cansend a donation.
(21:11):
Both is needed and both areexpected.
And I don't want to walk awaywithout saying you know, we
talked about blood very quickly.
But you know, every two secondssomeone needs blood.
Every two seconds, and bloodonly lasts so long, you know.
So we have to constantlyrefresh the supply here.
(21:31):
We manage 90% of all the bloodin this community, so we need to
make sure we have enough tomeet the need.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
And the blood drives.
They're located right on thewebsite, correct?
Speaker 2 (21:43):
Correct.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
So you can pick and choose where you want to go.
Absolutely, it's very simple.
It's very important.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
And you know one you can give.
You know, one donation willsave three lives.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
So no reason not to do it.
That's amazing, yeah, and theydon't even prick your finger
anymore.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
You know, they do something else.
Yeah, they don't even do thatanymore.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
No, you just walk in and answer a few questions and
you're off to get blood and youget snacks, you know.
Lisa Smith, the executivedirector Central New York region
Central and Northern New York.
Speaker 2 (22:13):
Bam, that's all right .
Speaker 1 (22:15):
Steve was, like you know, our producer over there.
He sent me an email.
He's like.
Her official title is this andit's a lot longer than what I
gave you before, but no you havea lot of responsibility and
you're doing a hell of a job.
I mean just everything thatyou're doing and touching the
community, especially right herelocally, with everything that
has happened recently, and youknow, we don't know what the
(22:35):
future is going to bring, but weneed the Red Cross and we need
the generosity of our donors toto keep the Red Cross as strong
as it is right now, if notstronger.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
Thank you for helping us get the word out.
We appreciate it.
We couldn't do that without you.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
I had my list of questions, but I didn't need it.
But thank you so much forcoming by.
It's been the Inner Harbor castand this is something we do all
the time and if you like whatyou're seeing in my discussion
with Lisa Smith, just subscribeto the Inner Harbor cast because
we have a lot of organizations,for example the Red Cross.
They come in and chat with us.
So it's just we're in touchwith the community.
(23:12):
We are hometown, we are bornand raised right here in
Syracuse, just like you.
So that's pretty cool, lisa.
Thank you so much for joiningus today.
Thank you, Hit the stoprecording button.
I'll edit this part out Up inthe upper left.
No, mouse doesn't work withthat.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
You're awesome, thank you, I yeah, I just like you,
just you're so good, you're sogood.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
Oh, thank you.
I was a fireman, I was a firechief in fairmont for three
years.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
So I kind of had a little bit yeah I try to that's
god.
That's real god's work.
I love fire, fire people I did20 years yeah, and there's so
much we didn't even touch on,but at some point people don't
even pay attention anymore.
Like I'd like to talk specificsand
Good morning everybody and welcome to the
Inner Harbor cast.
This is the podcast where weexplore the inspiring stories of
impactful work happening righthere in our community.
Today, we're honored to have avery special guest.
She is the I know I'm going tomess this up the executive
director of the Red Cross, but Iknow there's a lot more to that
title.
(00:20):
All right, lisa Smith is withus this morning.
From providing criticaldisaster relief to offering
life-saving services, the RedCross plays an essential role
right here in central New York,all over the country, as a
matter of fact, in our society,and in this episode, we'll hear
firsthand about theorganization's mission,
challenges and the incredibleways of making a difference
(00:40):
every day.
So I want you to sit back,relax 20, 30 minutes and let's
dive into a conversation thatsheds the light of humanitarian
efforts in the incredible workof the Red Cross.
Lisa, I do first of all, goodmorning and welcome.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Good morning.
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
I think I have that morning voice going today.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Me too, so we're a great pair.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Right, it works out well.
They're going to go.
Their voices are awesome.
They're're a great pair.
It works out well.
Their voices are awesome.
They're not always like that.
But first of all, what is yourexact title?
You are the executive director.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
I am the executive director, but of Central and
Northern New York.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Wow, you cover a whole lot of territory,
absolutely.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
The most beautiful part of New York.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
You know, and right off the top, maybe if somebody's
watching this a few days downthe road, but just recently
though, there's a major fire inMessina, new York.
That would be your territoryright, that is yes.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Where six?
Speaker 1 (01:33):
individuals lost their lives.
How does the Red Cross step upto help them in this situation?
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Sure.
So you know this chapter andchapters across the whole
country respond to two to threedisasters a day and most of them
for us are home fires.
So we work very closely withemergency management and all of
the counties that we cover andwe're actually asked to respond.
So we are invited in if youwill.
(02:02):
So for instance, in Messina, aswell as Baldensville, the big
fire in.
Baldensville.
We're still working with thefamilies there.
That just happened this weekend.
So we go in, we bring ourvolunteer disaster responders,
come in immediately, take thevictims of the fire away from
(02:24):
the area, working with the firedepartment to really allow the
fire personnel, the responders,to do their jobs.
So we take the victims, we makesure that they have a safe
place to stay that evening, wemake sure they have things on
their feet, shoes on their feet,that children have some comfort
(02:45):
care, that kind of thing, andthen eventually we will case
manage them.
There's financial aid.
We will make sure they havefood, we'll replace their
medicine, we offer mental andspiritual care, all those types
of things.
But when you look specificallyat I'm going to use Baldensville
because it just happened- thisweekend.
We're here.
It was a huge fire.
(03:06):
We had about five respondersthat went, you know, at night to
help the people there.
There were about 20 familiesthat were affected.
We opened a shelter at OCC,which is one of our big partners
in this county, and to have aplace that people could go
immediately, and some of thosefamilies literally they grabbed
(03:29):
their little children and headedout the door with nothing else,
nothing.
They were barefoot.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
They're in toiletries no clothes, no, nothing.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
They didn't have their car keys.
They didn't have their creditcards.
The children literally havetheir car keys.
They didn't have their creditcards.
The children literally werejust in pajamas.
They didn't have diapers, theyhad nothing.
So, you know, we make sure theyget to the shelter, we take care
of it, we feed them, give atleast mom and dad slippers for
their feet, blankets, wrap thekids up so they can go to sleep.
(04:02):
And then in the morning I gotthere about six or seven, took a
list from the people that werethere of those specific needs
that they needed right away andI went out again working with
another one of our partners,which is Walmart, and purchased
shoes and underwear and diapersand all that type of thing just
to get people, you know, settled.
(04:24):
And then we work with communitypartners.
So in this case, the communityof Baldwinsville, I'm sorry,
really stepped up, as so manycommunities do.
We started getting callsbecause the Red Cross won't take
donations.
You know that's not what we do.
You know we don't have themanpower to manage that because,
(04:47):
as you can imagine, a communitythat's generous, you know, the
school district collected thingsand within 15 minutes they were
completely overwhelmed.
100,000 items Absolutely, whichis fantastic, but think about
how to manage that.
So you really need people inthe community to step up.
And I've got a bunch of callsand then we started coordinating
(05:09):
with the volunteer center, theBaldwin and Sobel Volunteer
Center, who is now managing allof that and will manage
donations and that kind of thing.
So what we do is that firstresponse, we help with recovery
and then we work with thecommunity to get people back on
their feet.
So we're not meant to be thereforever, but we are meant to be
(05:31):
there initially to make surepeople are safe and taken care
of.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
Let me ask you how does it get to that point,
though?
Who calls the Red Cross, Is itthe 911 center?
Reaches out when they know theyhave a disaster.
Well, you know, we have aprocess but each county is a
little different.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Okay, but we definitely.
We either hear from the firechief, the fire marshal,
emergency management is normallywhat happens.
So they call us because oftenwe won't respond.
If it's a building fire, right,and there's no people involved,
you know, we usually just focuson home fires.
However, if we're calledbecause it's a large fire to
(06:08):
take care of the responderswhich we will do as well we'll
set up canteening and have waterand Gatorade and wet towels for
smoke.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
Yeah, no, exactly, I was the fireman for 20 years.
A little bit to what you'resaying, but it's our viewers and
our listeners need tounderstand.
You know the workings of theRed Cross and what's going on
here.
What is the most challengingpart of responding to these
types of emergencies?
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Well, our workforce is 90% volunteers, because we
could not do what we do withoutvolunteers.
So our paid staff is a verysmall component of our workforce
.
So keeping volunteers, you know, trained and at the ready is a
lot of work and we need a lot ofpeople.
(06:57):
So our biggest issue is,especially as people age, our
people tend to stay with usforever and then they get to a
period of time, like you and I,you know, we get to that period
of time where you start settlingback a little bit.
You know we need to keepreplacing people.
So what I can, what I always sayis, you know, we, we need more
(07:18):
people so that we can respondcorrectly and appropriately and
quickly.
You know we're able to do thatright now, but you know we have
to build capacity.
But more importantly, I thinkour biggest challenge so you
know we're really great atresponding to fires here because
we do so many you know the cityof Syracuse is the highest risk
(07:42):
in our whole region and, ofcourse, the people that are
affected the most are the peoplethat have the least to lose,
you know.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
Yeah, no exactly.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
Always yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
You mentioned the city of Syracuse.
I just know in the news justrecently there were like four
structure fires.
You know people were leftwithout homes and they've lost
all their belongings and the RedCross had to step up.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Like I said, we wanted to help them but we do
this, like I said, two to threetimes a day.
So it's just amazing.
You know, every six minutessomeone needs the services of
the Red Cross.
But what's also happening whenyou look across the country, you
know we respond everywhere.
You know it's not just righthere, obviously, and we also
work internationally.
(08:25):
We have other divisions inother countries.
But when you look across thecountry, everything that's
happening with climate change isyou know we are, we're out
working in the wildfirewildfires in California.
Yeah, so we have our peopleusually deploy out for two to
three weeks, so our first waveis coming back, but we had about
(08:47):
we had 12 people from thischapter that went out and then
25 in our region that gave uptheir time, their lives, to go
out and help other people.
But just look what happened inthe fall.
You know we had Helene MiltonBack to back.
Yeah, and I deployed for Helene.
(09:09):
I was part of the earlyresponse team that was in
Asheville.
Well, so Helene was supposed tohit in Tallahassee, okay.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
So that was down along the Gulf Coast.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
Right.
So we started deploying peopleout to be prepared to open
shelters and that type of thing.
So I was out there for threeweeks.
We got through Helene doinggood work, a lot of people
affected, and then Milton hit aweek later and this was
literally our biggest response,our most, our biggest disaster
(09:42):
we've ever had, because itaffected all of Florida.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
Milton was just so you've already had Helene.
Milton came through.
Thankfully did not hit Tampa asthey thought it would, because
the loss of life would have beentremendous, so it went a little
south.
But then 25 tornadoes came aswell, all at the same time.
So you already had this wholeinfrastructure helping people.
We ended up with 85,000 peoplein shelters when Milton hit in
(10:13):
the state of Florida.
Now that doesn't even countwhat's going on in Georgia and
South Carolina and Tennessee andNorth Carolina.
North Carolina was hit so badlythey had over 200 people lost
their lives.
It was a in government servicesand working with the local
governments and I went out andlooked and whole communities
(10:53):
were just gone.
Mountainsides were the mud thatjust broke off of mountains and
wiped out.
Communities were crazy.
We couldn't even drink thewater yet.
And this was two months afterit happened.
So you know the Red Cross isgoing to be there working with
these people for a long time.
But so so everybody sees thesethings on the news, but look at
(11:16):
what's happening right here.
You know mother nature isknocking on our door and she is
angry.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
Somebody upset her.
That's all I know.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
So we are not immune anymore.
You know, we have spent many,many, many years really kind of
skating by, and this chapter inparticular is such a great feed
to send our volunteers out,because, you know, the worst we
can ever say is we get a lot ofsnow, you know, and we don't
even notice that anymore.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
And it doesn't even snow as much as it used to Not
as it used to.
But I have to say just what hashappened recently is like the
way it used to be years ago,Exactly when I was growing up,
there used to be the snow banks.
End of November there were snowbanks alongside the road.
We haven't seen that in a longtime.
And here we are, and here weare.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
But look what's happened.
Just since May I think, we hada tornado in Lewis County,
followed by a flood, and then,within two weeks, we had a
tornado hit Canastota whichwiped out a whole city block and
a gentleman lost his life inthat disaster.
(12:20):
And hours later, a tornado camethrough and wiped out downtown
Rome, which was the mostdevastating thing that the city
of Rome has ever had happen Ever.
And that's right here.
That's here in our backyard.
So you know, we need to beprepared.
A lot of what the Red Crossdoes is preparedness training as
(12:42):
well.
So we do respond to disasters,but we try to make sure that
people are prepared for adisaster.
So one of the biggest piecesthat we do is our smoke alarm
installation.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
I was going to ask you about it.
It's on my list of questionshere.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
I can just keep talking.
I'll just sit down and smile,but you're reading my mind and
very good.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
All right, smoke detectors.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
Yeah, so it's so important and often when we, you
know, when we talk to the firedepartment, especially on a big
response, especially if there'sloss of life, you know, we
always ask you know, did youhear anything?
And often they hear no alarmsat all, which indicates that
there probably wasn't a workingsmoke alarm in the home.
You know, I will say thisalarms at all, which indicates
that there probably wasn't aworking smoke alarm in the home
(13:25):
you know I will say this.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
We going back to the, the fire at legacy apartments
in baldwinsville.
Um, there was a video onfacebook a day after and you
could hear a smoke alarm beeping.
It was still beeping and thatwas such an eerie feeling seeing
that right and hearing it.
You know watching the video andyou just hear beep, beep, right
(13:47):
which means that the place isstill hot.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
Yeah, yeah, so something not safe to be there
taking pictures, for surehopefully they kept their
distance.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
Yeah, exactly yeah, but it is you know not to make
light of it, but no, you knowsmoke alarms is your best
protection against loss of life.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
You know it's not going to stop a fire from
happening, but it's going to letyou know.
So if you think about whenfires happen the most, you know
it's in the middle of the night,when everybody's sleeping.
So how are you going to know ifyou don't have an alarm going
off to wake you up?
How are you going to know yourplace is on fire?
Whether it's an apartment or ahouse Doesn't make any
difference.
So what the Red Cross does iswe will install 10-year smoke
(14:31):
alarms free of charge.
Our volunteers go in.
All you have to do is ask andthen we assess the situation.
We put one in each bedroom, weput one on each floor, we
install them.
Then we do a homes made safertraining, which really helps
people think what happens ifthere is a fire.
You know how do we escape.
(14:51):
If there's children, we do alittle exercise with them so
they understand what the soundis.
Talk about escape routes.
You know nobody should wait foreach other.
You know you should get out andhave a place to meet outside,
and we've talked to peopleafterwards because we always go
back after fire, especially ifwe know we keep records.
Did we install smoke alarms?
(15:12):
So we go back to them to makesure the smoke alarm worked and
everything and the stories weget you know one in particular
that happened in Syracuse lastyear.
The family said you know, weknew there was a fire, you know
the alarm went off, it wasduring the day.
But what we didn't?
The exit that we would normallytake was trapped, it was
(15:33):
blocked and we were so nervousand so you know you get so
caught up in it.
But they remembered theiralternate escape route that we
went through with them andthat's how they got out of the
place.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
That's amazing, though, because usually, when
somebody is, for the most part,somebody gets excited, or they
get nervous, or whatever all ofa sudden, all those thoughts go
out of your mind.
You know, if something likethat, all right, this is wrong,
this is blocked.
I can't go this way.
Oh my God.
Now what do we do, right?
Speaker 2 (15:57):
So yeah, it's something that, so it's so
important everywhere, you know,and but that's a challenge as
well, because you have to ask usfor them.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
You know, we don't know you need them.
Is it open to everybody,everyone in this region?
Speaker 2 (16:16):
It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter.
There's no financial tests atall.
You know, if you ask us, wewill come in and do it.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
Because we do hear way too often after a fire that
the smoke detectors weren'tworking or there were no
batteries in the smoke detectorsor you know anything along
those lines that you know whatthey could have died.
You know, and hopefullyeverybody gets out, but still
you need to follow up on thatand it doesn't matter who you
(16:43):
are, what your income level is,whatever that they can call the
Red Cross and say I need smokedetectors.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
Right, and we'll send , we'll send a group out to
install them and we go throughyour house and help you.
You know, if you'reoverburdening your outlets or
you know whatever, we'll talk toyou about that as well.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
And you work with the fire department with that as
well, because they have peoplethat go around and inspect and
make sure that you're notoverloading the.
We're very, you know.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
I would say we have so many partners out there, we
can do what we do without them.
But you know, the firedepartments truly are our heroes
um and we work really closelywith the fire departments and
you know we're here to supportthem as well, you know, I want
to back up a little bit.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
You, you talk about volunteers, but how does one
become a volunteer?
Plus, what training do theyneed?
Or does the Red Cross trainthem?
Can we talk about that a littlebit?
Speaker 2 (17:33):
I always say we are the closest thing to the
military, we're the non-militarymilitary.
So, yes, we have a lot oftraining.
Even for me, a lot of thethings that I do when I deploy,
I do here as my regular job.
But I have gone through hoursand hours and hours of training.
(17:54):
It's really incredible.
So to volunteer, you know,basically it's just going onto
our website and filling out aform to volunteer and then
you're called by someone fromvolunteer services and they kind
of triage what your interestsare, what your skill sets are.
You know what you are thinkingof doing and then they will send
(18:14):
you to whichever departmentthat makes sense, because, of
course, we have so muchvolunteer opportunity.
It's not just responding todisasters you can never have
enough.
Yeah, I, you know, we have needsin volunteer services, just
data entry.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
you know everything we do, there's always something.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
Yeah, everything we do there's a volunteer behind.
You know that role so, and thenthey just go through, they meet
with whomever in that line ofservice that they're interested
in and then find out what itwould take to, you know, become
a, to do that job.
And we do a background checkand you know everybody that's
(18:51):
part of the Red Cross goesthrough a background check and
then they do the training thatthey need.
Some of the training we've donesome boot camp training, if you
will, because the need was sogreat during Helene that we had
to find new people to go out.
You know we couldn't keep up.
You know we had over a thousandpeople down there that change
every two weeks, you know.
(19:19):
So it we needed new people.
So we were able to train peoplevery quickly and get them out
the door and send them downthere.
But even that training themvery quickly took a few weeks.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
Yeah, the age requirement.
I'm thinking like, okay, like abuddy of mine just retired,
he's looking for something to do, he's enjoying life, but he
wants a little something to do.
So I think there'd be a greatopportunity.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
There's no age requirement at all and again it
depends on the type of role.
A lot of retirees, of course,are responding to what we call
DAT calls, to the fire calls,but there also is a huge need
for volunteers to pick up bloodand transport it.
So that's a big piece and thereare a lot of retired volunteers
(20:02):
that just love to do that, youknow they want.
They pick up the blood fromeither the donation center or a
mobile center and then transportit to Rochester for, you know,
for processing, or take itdirectly to the hospital that
it's supposed to go to, andthere's nothing better than
pulling up in a Red Crossvehicle and walking through a
(20:22):
hospital with that, with thatcase that says blood.
You know, I mean it's a greatfeeling.
Speaker 1 (20:28):
So I bet it is.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
Yeah, so there's that as well.
You know, there's so manydifferent things.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
You know, before we let you go today, I have to ask
you give so much to thecommunity food, clothing housing
Right.
It all comes at a price.
So how does?
Is it all donations from, youknow, the public, or how does
that work?
So we are.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
We are funded by the generosity of our donors.
So you know, the big piece is,of course we have.
You know, our workforce ismainly volunteers.
The public funds us to do thethings we do, and that's how
people can help us.
They can volunteer or they cansend a donation.
(21:11):
Both is needed and both areexpected.
And I don't want to walk awaywithout saying you know, we
talked about blood very quickly.
But you know, every two secondssomeone needs blood.
Every two seconds, and bloodonly lasts so long, you know.
So we have to constantlyrefresh the supply here.
(21:31):
We manage 90% of all the bloodin this community, so we need to
make sure we have enough tomeet the need.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
And the blood drives.
They're located right on thewebsite, correct?
Speaker 2 (21:43):
Correct.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
So you can pick and choose where you want to go.
Absolutely, it's very simple.
It's very important.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
And you know one you can give.
You know, one donation willsave three lives.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
So no reason not to do it.
That's amazing, yeah, and theydon't even prick your finger
anymore.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
You know, they do something else.
Yeah, they don't even do thatanymore.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
No, you just walk in and answer a few questions and
you're off to get blood and youget snacks, you know.
Lisa Smith, the executivedirector Central New York region
Central and Northern New York.
Speaker 2 (22:13):
Bam, that's all right .
Speaker 1 (22:15):
Steve was, like you know, our producer over there.
He sent me an email.
He's like.
Her official title is this andit's a lot longer than what I
gave you before, but no you havea lot of responsibility and
you're doing a hell of a job.
I mean just everything thatyou're doing and touching the
community, especially right herelocally, with everything that
has happened recently, and youknow, we don't know what the
(22:35):
future is going to bring, but weneed the Red Cross and we need
the generosity of our donors toto keep the Red Cross as strong
as it is right now, if notstronger.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
Thank you for helping us get the word out.
We appreciate it.
We couldn't do that without you.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
I had my list of questions, but I didn't need it.
But thank you so much forcoming by.
It's been the Inner Harbor castand this is something we do all
the time and if you like whatyou're seeing in my discussion
with Lisa Smith, just subscribeto the Inner Harbor cast because
we have a lot of organizations,for example the Red Cross.
They come in and chat with us.
So it's just we're in touchwith the community.
(23:12):
We are hometown, we are bornand raised right here in
Syracuse, just like you.
So that's pretty cool, lisa.
Thank you so much for joiningus today.
Thank you, Hit the stoprecording button.
I'll edit this part out Up inthe upper left.
No, mouse doesn't work withthat.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
You're awesome, thank you, I yeah, I just like you,
just you're so good, you're sogood.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
Oh, thank you.
I was a fireman, I was a firechief in fairmont for three
years.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
So I kind of had a little bit yeah I try to that's
god.
That's real god's work.
I love fire, fire people I did20 years yeah, and there's so
much we didn't even touch on,but at some point people don't
even pay attention anymore.
Like I'd like to talk specificsand
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