Paper Example on American Red Cross Agency

Foundation and Development

Various factors led to the establishment of the American Red Cross agency. First, the Great War between America and the Spanish population resulted in many casualties of war from both sides, which encouraged the participation of Red Cross (Irwin2). They would provide medical assistance to the affected people while also providing shelter and food. Due to the period of famine and civil protests during the growth of Clara, Red Cross adopted a function that entailed helping the famine-struck communities and moral support to these Protestants during their riots.

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History

The American Red Cross was an integral part of the International Committee of the Red Cross that began its operations in 1881 led by Clara Barton (Irwin5). During this day, Clara linked Red Cross to other humanitarian agencies responsible for providing help to civilians (Irwin14).This occurred after her experience through the civil war both in her country and nearby states, which caused her to make the changes. Clara together with other 23 members signed off a chapter that legalized the functions and work of this international agency (Irwin15). The birth of Clara in 1821 came at a time when her country faced great tribulations such as slavery protests, famine, and civil wars. Religious leaders and other participants also joined in to help protest against these problems while still providing humanitarian support to the affected families. In the 1850s, these reformers also entice the city leadership to establish programs that would assist residents of those areas in problematic times (Irwin18). Throughout this development, Barton learned that it was her role to help people in trouble voluntarily without expecting any returns. Over the years, she engaged with other international agencies that aimed at helping civilians through wars and drought. Notably, in 1863, Dunant and Gustave began the ICRC with the aim of implementing humanitarian's rules and helping troops in the war with the help of 16 new member states (Irwin20). Later on, Clara helped disintegrate Red Cross from ICRC with the help of some ICRC founders who allowed her to sign the Geneva agreement to introduce it to America (Irwin23). Through her leadership, Clara together with other members performed their first disaster relief both in America and outside America. Although America finally won the battle against Spain, it took a lot of time, resources, and led to many casualties of war that had no one to help them except their militant friends. Therefore, when Barton initiated the program, her first aim was to ensure that these veterans received the best services they could to return back to their homes. One key point to note is that during her leadership, the Red Cross group managed to obtain one signed charter in 1900 that was acknowledged by Clara. However, she resigned later in 1904 causing her not to acknowledge the next charter received in 1905. These charters indicated the set policies by congress on the functions they had delegated to the Red Cross group in their country. For example, the group received another charter in 2007 that entails their functions such as providing relief to the injured participants either in America or outside the country's borders. In addition, the charter also supplied them with a second function that dealt with the provision of better communication services between veterans and family members across the globe. As it is well known, many militants do not carry mobile phones during their tours due to fear of security breaches and the remoteness of some war zones. Since these Red Cross groups occur in almost every region in the world, they can easily reach them and contact their loved ones. It was before the First World War that Red Cross managed to introduce some of their first programs such as first aid kits, water safety, and other health care programs such as blood donation. Through the involvement of Red Cross during the world war, we can clearly see the impact of war on the whole population. For instance, at the beginning of the First World War, there were only 107 chapters and about 17000 volunteers. However, due to the impacts of war on numerous people such as veterans and other civilians, these chapters dramatically increased to 3814 and about 30 million volunteers both adults and youths to assist in service provision. Notably, most of the resources used by the Red Cross organization do not originate from within but come from donations by well-wishers and other major organizations interested in their course. For example, during the progression of the First World War, the public together with some government and non-governmental organizations donated about $400 million to assist the volunteer deliver services to the veterans. Other than civil wars, the group also had a mission of delivering services to casualties of natural disasters around the globe. In 1927, the agency visited the accident scene near Mississippi River brought about by flooding. Families that lived near the region greatly suffered from these floods whereby they lost some of their family members and other properties worth a lot of money. With the help of the Red Cross team, the victims received help in terms of food, shelter, and medical care. In addition, the teams helped reunite these families with their lost properties such as pets that may have ran away at the onset of this disaster. Due to the impacts of the First War, manager of the organizations decided to make prior plans in case a second war ever arose. They hired over 100 000 new nurses, collected 13.3 million more pints of blood that reached and packed over 300000 tons of relief in case of war.

Research/Cause

Red Cross came to existence to mitigate various disasters that occur in the daily lives of the Americans. First, it had the purpose of providing relief among disaster-stricken communities. For instance, they provided relief such as food, shelter, and healthcare for residents both in and outside of America. This organization is crucial as over 70000 citizens get help every year from this agency (Cross 5). The American Red Cross also unites victims involved in accidents with their pets lost in the chaos.

Additionally, they provide communication assistance among families whose members have joined the military unit and cannot communicate efficiently with their loved ones (Cross 5). When militants go to war, they are advised by their superiors not to carry any mobile phones to avoid security breaches at their base. Hackers may use these phones to locate army bases and perform surprise attacks on them. Moreover, having phones at their workplace may disrupt their concentration due to frequent communicate with their loved ones and may become frequently worried. Hence, with the establishment of the Red Cross group, militants can now communicate safely with their family members without the fear of compromising their missions. A key role played by this agency is the education and training of millions of civilians in skills such as first aid attention, CPR, and safety in sports. Before the rise of the Red Cross agency, many people did not have any skills to assist their loved ones at the onset of an accident. Therefore, when they came into effect, they put forward programs that would help youths and adults gain skills necessary to provide first aid assistance to an injured person. For instance, during military training, many veteran receives first aid training in case one member gets injured far away from the base. At times accidents may occur in places where these members may take long before arriving at the scene. Hence, this trained personnel may assist the injured patients before the rest of the help arrives (Cross 5). Finally, the Red Cross runs a program involved in the donation of blood from different blood groups to help patients shortly. Before the agency began its activities, many patients died on beds and waiting rooms due to the inadequacy of blood in the hospitals and other blood banks. Therefore, Red Cross initiated a program that ensured that voluntary donors got contacted and providing blood for other patients. Moreover, they have also put forward policies that will help guide these volunteers on the best ways they can ensure high quality blood. Since the main aim of this agency is to anticipate future occurrences, they have put aside chapters that collect blood from willing participants and store it for future use. Some blood groups occur rarely in the population and hence, an accident involving such victims may have severe effects to the victims. This is the reason the agency has set aside these programs to collect blood from all groups especially the rare ones to avoid deaths that can be preventable. These activities occur in almost all countries worldwide since the agency is a worldwide organization.

Organization

Although Red Cross is a non-profit organization, it also requires capital and good management to promote its development across the globe. Clara headed this agency for the first time from 1881 until 1904 when she resigned from duty (Irwin 23). The first head of this agency. Majority of the workers occurring in this organization are volunteers that opt to help the community in a time of crisis. However, there also exist a panel of 6 members paid by the agency to manage different programs in each chapter. This agency comprises of 264 chapters together with 36 blood group departments. Members of these groups are the assistant directors, administrative directors, blood group directors, executive director, military-family service director, and after-hours director (Adams 98). Also, some members may be elected after every three years to change the monotony of the agency.

The American Red Cross governance has undergone many changes in the structure and number. These changes were made most to provide efficiency and manage the growth of numbers and regions covered. Since its formation, several departments and board members have been added to the structure. Today, the Red Cross board has been mandated to oversee and manage the organization. It also acts as the supervisory and policy-making group. (30) The responsibilities are more specified as:

• To determine the mission of the organization.
• Strategic plan implementation.
• Selection, compensation and conduction evaluation of the chief executive officer and other senior leaders.
• Planning for succession and management development.
• The board of members is composed of 12 to 20 members among the chief executive officer and the chairperson of the committee.

Mission

Mission Statement

The American Red Cross aims at preventing human sufferings in case of disaster emergencies through the set programs and the help of its volunteers.

Means to Accomplish the Mission

For the agency to accomplish their mission statement, the agency utilizes different programs, services, and volunteers that help the affected population in case of a crisis emergency.For them toaccomplish this mission, the agency depends on some principles such as unity, impartiality, voluntary service, and humanity. All branches of the agency should be unified and avoid discrimination of race, ethnicity, and nationality. This will enable them toachieve their mission. They should also encourage residents to provide voluntary service to all people in disregard to the causes of their injuries.

Programs used to Accomplish Mission

Various programs as mentioned above assist the agency in achieving its global goal. They have set up youth programs across the world to educate them on the best responses to emergencies and also nurturing their leadership skills. Also, they have set up health programs such as blood donation groups to increase the amount of blood in hospitals in case of emergencies (Cross, 5). They also use the help of militar...