Red Cross Talks (Page 98)

As part of the Canadian Red Cross Healthy Youth Relationships curriculum, Saskatchewan runs two youth symposiums with the goal of empowering youth with leadership skills so that they are better equipped to serve their schools and communities.  We caught up with 14-year-old Olivia Scrimshaw, a student in Saskatoon, to find out what the symposium meant to her.

Brenna Brown is a Disaster Management volunteer with the Canadian Red Cross. She was most recently involved in the Alberta Fires response, setting up emergency reception centres and shelters in Calgary and Edmonton to provide services for the thousands of evacuees from Fort McMurray and the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo.

Last week, I had the privilege of emceeing and providing a youth perspective at the 2016 Canadian Partnership for Women & Children’s Health (CanWaCH) Conference. The conference, held in partnership with McGill University’s Public Policy and Population Health Observatory and Institute for Health and Social Policy (IHSP), drew an audience that was as diverse as it was passionate.

Just in time for national Bullying Awareness Week, the Ministry of Human Services of the Province of Alberta has named the Red Cross’s anti-bullying education program as one of the winners of the 2016 Inspiration Award in the category of Leadership in Prevention of Bullying.

It’s hard to believe, but many parts of the developing world that are most vulnerable to humanitarian crises, like natural disasters, disease outbreaks, epidemics or conflict, are still not mapped digitally or on paper.  Without comprehensive maps, response times can drastically increase during natural disasters or disease outbreaks making it harder to reach people who need help.

​Since arriving in Haiti, the Canadian Red Cross mobile clinic has treated more than 1,500 people in the Grand’Anse region in the south of the country. Aid worker France Hurtubise captured this photo of a young boy in Gabriel. His infectious smile motivated the team to continue working hard to provide health care to people who haven’t received health services since the hurricane hit.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is an impartial, neutral and independent organization whose mission is to protect the lives and dignity of victims of armed conflict and other situations of violence, and to provide them with assistance. There are over 14,500 ICRC aid workers assisting the most vulnerable in 80 countries affected by conflict. These aid workers risk their own lives operating in conflict zones such as in Somalia, Yemen and Malaysia while caring for others. So how does the international community ensure their protection?

Monday, Nov 7th marked one year since the end of Ebola in Sierra Leone. In commemoration of this milestone, and in recognition of the 3,956 people who died here, the public across the country were encouraged to wear yellow ribbons or yellow clothing and observe three minutes of silence at 11:00 in the morning. Flags flew at  half-mast.