Good Morning Chairman Mitchell, Ranking Member Roe and distinguished members of the Subcommittee. My name is Neal Denton and I serve as the Senior Vice President for Government Relations and Strategic Partnerships at the American Red Cross. We salute your attention to emergency preparedness and appreciate the opportunity to join with our partners to share our work when preparing for and responding to large-scale disasters.  Particularly, I am grateful for this opportunity to speak to the partnership between the American Red Cross and the Department of Veterans Affairs when it comes to disaster response. 

For more than 125 years, the American Red Cross has provided relief to victims of disaster and helped families and individuals prevent, prepare for, and respond to emergencies.  Our Congressional Charter mandates that the Red Cross carry out a system of national and international relief.  We meet our mission through a national network of nearly 700 chapters that respond to approximately 70,000 disasters annually–about 200 disasters each day.  From single family house and apartment fires to large scale disasters such as hurricanes and floods, the Red Cross works to provide essential lifesaving and sustaining services to those in need.  We shelter, feed, and provide critical supplies and emotional support to those impacted by disasters in communities across our country.  The Red Cross also provides support to members of the military, veterans and their families, supplies nearly half of the nation’s blood supply, and teaches lifesaving skills in communities across the country.  As you know, the Red Cross is a charitable organization—not a government agency—and depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to perform its mission, including donations of time, money and blood.

Whether it is a hurricane or a heart attack; a call for blood or a call for help, the American Red Cross is there.

Red Cross volunteers and staff are on the front lines when emergencies occur in their communities. Our national system builds upon our local chapter presence to supplement staff and to provide additional resources when necessary.  Together, we offer immediate emergency assistance to those in need during disasters of all sizes.  The Red Cross is committed to delivering the best possible response, and we strive to continuously improve our operations and services.

Our organization operates in a constant cycle of responding to disasters and preparing for the future.  The Red Cross—at the local and national levels—regularly participates in activities to build capacity, partner, plan, prepare, exercise, and evaluate our capabilities.  We periodically review and, when necessary, refine our roles and responsibilities.  This is a critical time of the year, as the Red Cross is currently responding to tornadoes, floods and wildfires at the same time that we are preparing for the potential demands of what is predicted to be a very active hurricane season. 

In preparation for disasters large and small, we carefully analyze data and project potential needs for shelters, food, personnel, and other operational functions. To meet expected needs, material resources have been pre-positioned in warehouses across the country for easy access and prompt mobilization.  We also have completed a detailed assessment of our communication equipment inventory and have verified and pre-positioned our nationwide disaster fleet of more than 300 vehicles.  This fleet includes emergency response vehicles, communication vehicles, tractor trailers, and utility vehicles.   

In addition, the National Shelter System (NSS), which tracks potential shelter locations and capacities, is populated with up-to-date data.  It now contains location and capacity information for over 55,000 buildings that could potentially be used as shelters across the country.  The system, used for both planning and operational decisions, records all shelter openings, closings and overnight populations on a daily basis.  The NSS is available to FEMA and to all states free of charge and it is currently being used by 12 additional national non-government partners. I also am happy to report that the American Red Cross features a link to the NSS and shelter locations on the home page of our web site, www.redcross.org.

Staffing of relief operations is a critical function that requires advance planning.  We focus on the use of local volunteers whenever possible, and also have more than 50,000 trained volunteers who are available to travel outside of their home communities.  These disaster workers are trained for specific jobs, and we are assessing their availability for disaster assignments during this hurricane season.  Including locally available disaster-trained volunteers, the Red Cross has more than 90,000 volunteers–a considerable increase from the 23,000 that were available prior to Hurricane Katrina nearly five years ago.

Working with Partners—U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs

While service delivery happens at the local level, it is supported by a national system.  Our disaster field structure is aligned by state and provides a point of contact and integration of plans with Federal, state and local officials across the nation.  In recent years, the American Red Cross has focused more resources on coordination with Federal, state, and local government.  This increased presence has improved coordination and is strengthening key relationships with our Federal partners like the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).

With support from FEMA, we have full-time Red Cross employees to staff each of the ten FEMA regional offices and the two area offices in the Caribbean and Pacific.  We also have one full-time representative to the National Disaster Housing Taskforce and two additional full-time staff positions to represent our organization at FEMA National Headquarters.  We continue to be closely aligned with FEMA and are currently collaborating on how to ensure even more information sharing and situational awareness during operations as we prepare for what is predicted to be a higher-than-average hurricane season.

In a disaster response capacity, the American Red Cross sits at the same table with the Department of Veterans Affairs during planning, exercises and operations. With FEMA as the lead agency for synchronizing the Federal support to tribal, state and local partners, we coordinate closely before, during and after a disaster. Both the VA and the Red Cross work in close coordination to identify assets, capabilities, and plans with the Federal interagency community. The Red Cross and the VA both serve as a support agency for the National Response Framework and work closely together on Emergency Support Function #6 (ESF #6), providing technical support for Federal mass care activities, emergency assistance, housing and human services.  During a Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) incident, both agencies work within the ESF #15 External Affairs coordination structure to ensure unity of effort on public communication and guidance.

The VA and the Red Cross also are collaborating with the Department of Defense, the Department of Health and Human Services and FEMA as we develop a reliable patient and evacuee tracking system.  While this long term project is in its initial phases, VA hospitals have participated in patient evacuation as receivers of medical transferees. Red Cross tries to help non-medical evacuees co-locate in shelters near their loved ones and assists in connecting families by using the Safe & Well notification system, which is an effective online communication tool that helps those affected by the disaster alert family and friends outside the immediate area that they are “safe and well.”  

The American Red Cross is also excited about a possible opportunity that will allow us to train and provide resources to the families of veterans.  In partnership with the VA, the Red Cross can assist families through the delivery of Red Cross Family Caregiving and Nursing Assistant programs, which will enable them to address the challenges of caring for their loved ones.  These programs will help participants develop skills in personal care, nutrition, home safety and legal and financial issues. We believe this information is vital to those caring for loved ones who suffer from chronic illness and temporary or permanent disabilities.  Training builds confidence and instills knowledge a caregiver will need when providing support to a veteran. 

Identifying new partners and strengthening existing partnerships is a key priority for our organization.  We strive to be an effective leader and valuable partner before, during and after a disaster.  Our outreach, however, extends beyond traditional disaster response agencies.  We continually seek and engage organizations that possess a particular critical expertise, community trust, or credibility that can greatly expand and improve a community’s response.  Organization-wide, we are committed to fostering a culture of collaboration, diversity and inclusion in our partnering efforts.

On the local level, chapters partner with local community, faith-based and civic organizations.  We also have stepped up efforts to ensure that community 2-1-1 organizations have current disaster information.  On a national level, we continue to rely on our long standing partners in disaster, such as Southern Baptist Disaster Relief, The Salvation Army, and Catholic Charities.  In addition, we are cultivating and strengthening more diverse partnerships with groups like HOPE worldwide, the NAACP, Legal Services Corporation, National Baptist Convention and Tzu Chi Buddhist Foundation.  We work closely with disability rights groups, immigration rights groups, and language interpretation and translation groups such as the National Association of Judiciary Interpreters and Translators, the National Virtual Translation Center, the National Council of La Raza, National Disability Rights Network, Save the Children, and tribal organizations.  Our work with pet rights groups such as the U.S. Humane Society has also been important.  All of these groups provide invaluable expertise to help clients, in particular diverse clients and those with unique needs. 

Together with our partners, we can continue to strengthen the country’s capacity to better meet the needs of the diverse communities we serve.

Encouraging Community and Citizen Preparedness

Individuals and families across this nation rely upon the American Red Cross to deliver on our promise—provide for emergency needs in times of disaster.  However, the system of relief will not work well without continued emphasis on community and personal preparedness.  One Red Cross national survey last summer showed that approximately 68 percent of individuals and families have not made an emergency communications plan and 79 percent have not identified a meeting place should family members become separated during a disaster.

In August 2009, the American Red Cross Emergency Preparedness Survey indicated that approximately half of Americans (51 percent) have experienced at least one significant emergency where they have lost utilities for at least three days, had to evacuate, could not return home, were unable to communicate with family members or had to provide first aid to others. More than a third (37 percent) lost utilities for at least three days. Although 89 percent of those surveyed believe it’s important to be prepared, far fewer are ready for an emergency.

American Red Cross preparedness programs and tools help to save lives and empower people to prepare for and respond to disasters and other life-threatening emergencies.  Just as every disaster is ultimately an intensely personal experience; the American Red Cross has found that a commitment to making our homes and communities safer also must be personal. Therefore, Preparedness staff members work closely with local, state and national partners to help people personalize their risk to natural hazards and make preparedness and mitigation a personal priority. The overall goal is to build a “culture of preparedness” by encouraging Americans to understand their individual risk and geographical threats and then take action to adopt specific preparedness behaviors. The American Red Cross is playing a leadership role in hundreds of communities across the nation that has made a commitment to be more disaster resistant.

Conveying a single national message of preparedness is critical.  Our “Be Red Cross Ready” campaign, which parallels the Department of Homeland Security’s Ready Campaign, offers three important steps: (1) Get a Kit; (2) Make a Plan; and (3) Be Informed.  This message serves as our public call to action for citizen preparedness.

The valuable partnership among the American Red Cross, FEMA, Ready.gov and others was showcased at the Military Family Preparedness Event hosted at Fort Belvoir earlier this month.  Together, on June 5, we distributed approximately 1,500 preparedness kits to military families including active duty, retired and reserve soldiers.  This September, as part of National Preparedness Month, we are planning to conduct similar events at four military installations across the United States and two locations overseas in order to raise awareness of being prepared and to help many families be better prepared for emergencies.  The locations for the September Military Family Preparedness Events are: Fort Drum (Jefferson County, NY); Joint Base Lewis-McChord (Pierce & Thurston County, WA); Fort Polk (Vernon Parish, LA); Garrison Grafenwoeher (Vilseck, Germany); and Garrison Yongsan (Seoul, South Korea).  While this is a promising start, there is much more we can do to help military families prepare for emergencies.

Conclusion

Thank you again for this opportunity to be before you today.  As we enter the 2010 hurricane season and communities across our country are already dealing with floods, wildfires and tornadoes, the American Red Cross stands ready to help those in need.  We are working hard to improve efficiencies, and to increase individual and community preparedness.  Our work would not be possible without a powerful corps of volunteers supported by thoughtful and effective partnerships. 

We are especially pleased to be working with FEMA’s strong leadership team, with Administrator Fugate, and with the leadership in the Executive Branch.  The American Red Cross is our nation’s largest mass care provider, and we stand ready to work with our partners in government, in the nonprofit sector, and in the private sector to ensure that the country is as prepared as possible to respond to disaster of any kind. 

And finally, a crucial part of our mission at the American Red Cross is to create a culture of preparedness prior to a disaster to ensure communities are better prepared to take care of themselves, their families and their neighbors in the wake of a disaster.  We simply cannot fail in this mission.

I am happy to address any questions you may have.