National Lifejacket Day – did you even know there was such a thing? Just before the May long weekend every year, the Canadian Red Cross works to raise awareness about the importance of wearing lifejackets. Each year, my colleagues and I wear lifejackets to work for the day to prompt conversations about drowning prevention. But being wide and busty, the ones I used to wear sat too high and barely closed.
Until recently, the truth is I hated lifejackets.
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My grandpa was... a character.
A retired jail guard, he towered over most people and delighted in giving everyone, especially my new boyfriends, the 3rd degree.
His catch phrases – more like a series of not-so-subtle common sense reminders – were a running family joke. At the cottage, you frequently heard his booming voice: “Close the door!” “Turn out the lights!” and, whenever we headed toward the water, “Where’s your lifejacket?”
Every year, May 8 marks World Red Cross Day to commemorate the more than 150 years of humanitarian actions by the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement around the world.
Large-scale disasters like the Nepal earthquake last week continue to remind us of the importance of being ready. Canada is not immune to disasters, as we saw with the Alberta floods and the Lac-Mégantic train derailment in 2013.
We mark Emergency Preparedness Week (May 3-9) here in Canada by encouraging everyone to be ready.
Dhunche is a remote village located high in the Himalayan mountains of Nepal, several hours away from Kathmandu. This is where a team of Canadian aid workers have set up tents and medical equipment, part of the Canadian Red Cross mobile field hospital, where they can provide medical care.
As the relief operation continues in areas of central Nepal devastated by the 7.8 magnitude earthquake, hundreds of thousands of families face the prospect of another night in the open air, fearful of returning to their homes due to aftershocks.
In this setting, access to drinking water is limited access and there are sanitation challenges to overcome.
The Canadian Red Cross mobile field hospital is now on its way to Nepal, where it will provide medical care to people affected by the recent earthquake. More than 20 Canadian aid workers are being deployed to Nepal to staff the hospital.
A 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck Nepal on April 25. Authorities report over 2000 people have been killed and many buildings have collapsed in the capital, Kathmandu.