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Knowing basic first aid can help save lives. But if you’re more comfortable learning in a language other than English, it may be more challenging to find a first aid course. More than 50 per cent of the population in B.C.’s Lower Mainland speaks a language other than English at home. Luckily, Choi, who had to administer first aid on her infant daughter, was able to take first aid and disaster preparedness lessons in Chinese last year. 

We met many of our American Red Cross friends this past May when they joined us to help during the Alberta wildfires in Canada, and we jumped at the opportunity to head south of the border to assist residents of North Carolina, following devastating flooding from Hurricane Matthew.

Canadian singer-songwriter Elly Thorn was inspired to write “You Didn’t Even Know Me” when she and her husband were travelling and, although their surroundings were foreign to them, she was struck by how extremely welcoming their hosts were. Now Elly is using her song to help welcome Syrian refugees to their new home in Canada – with proceeds from the song going to the Canadian Red Cross.

The Canadian Red Cross mobile health clinic has now been set up and operating out of Jeremie in the Grand Anse region. These photos are from when the mobile clinic was in Mouline, a remote community in the mountains which was badly affected by Hurricane Matthew. This is the first time the community is receiving health services nearly one month after the hurricane.

It’s the spookiest time of the year! With so many monsters, witches and ghosts afoot it’s important to be extra safe. Here are some ways to help keep the Trick or Treaters in your life ready for the big night.

When you live in Northern Alberta, the threat of forest fires is something you get used to. 
“I didn’t initially realize how severe it was,” said 29-year-old Jessica Masse, a resident of Fort McMurray. “Earlier that day, I was playing outside with my daughter and my mother-in-law. The skies were blue,” Jessica recalled. But in just hours the blue skies had disappeared – and were replaced with smoke.

In the middle of the night on Sunday, October 9, a house fire left six people in Bishop’s Falls without a home. Luckily, the residents of the small town in Newfoundland all had places they could stay that night. That morning, Thanksgiving, the local Red Cross was called. 

Susan Floyd found four small stowaways among the shivering dogs, cats, possums, pythons and other pets that she rescued recently from the floodwaters following Hurricane Matthew. The day after the hurricane hit South Carolina, Floyd was helping the Marion County Animal Shelter and others find animals in flooded homes around the towns of Mullins and Nichols. In a boat, Floyd arrived at one submerged property to find a frightened mother Chihuahua and her new puppy.