Military members can use the Red Cross Hero Care Network in emergency situations to get in touch with their families, even while at sea and as far away as Antarctica.
It was cold that morning in Seattle as Emily Woodford drove through U.S. Coast Guard Base Seattle with her American Red Cross volunteer partner Linda Burkett. They were led aboard the USCGC Polar Star, an enormous 400-foot long and over 11,000-ton vessel the Coast Guard uses to break ice in polar regions of the world. Over the next few hours, the two would brief around 150 guardsmen scheduled to deploy to Antarctica, educating them how they can use the Red Cross Hero Care Network in emergency situations to get in touch with their families, even while at sea and as far away as Antarctica.
“I’m a former Naval spouse so I do commiserate with [their families] very much. Sometimes the lack of communication is scary,” explained Emily, a program manager for the Red Cross Service to the Armed Forces (SAF) team in the Northwest Region.
Emily comes from a large military family. Her father, she explained, was in the Navy while both her brother and grandfather served in the Army. When she was 22 weeks pregnant, she had an urgent procedure to get her appendix removed while her husband, at the time, was deployed on a submarine.
“He came home by that Friday and I was like, oh my God, you're home. Did you know I got my appendix out? And he literally goes, yeah,” she explained, “I was like, wait, you have just been under the water. How do you know that I had my appendix out? And he goes, well, the Red Cross called us.”
Although the USCGC Polar Star is expected to have Wi-Fi unlike the Navy submarine vessels, crew members will still be in an extremely remote location, far from home and over the holidays. Their mission will be to use the vessel to break ice and clear a path for transport vessels to deliver materials to scientific research station McMurdo in Antarctica. Emily and the Red Cross teams support this mission by providing peace of mind, ensuring service members and their families know how that can be reached should an emergency or major life event occur.
“One of the big things, especially for family members, is understanding what makes an emergency..., I go into specifics and especially with families,” explained Emily, “And I really stress our app. I absolutely tell everyone to download it. Not only just the service members, but the families, because it's more than just you can start a case. You can also get resources.”
The information is so important that Emily and Linda have set up a second virtual pre-deployment briefing for the guardsmen’s families.
“That gives everybody's family, no matter where they're at, an opportunity to hear the same information and they need to know because it's important,” explained Emily. “As that Navy wife who used to not be able to contact my husband for months at a time, it's nice to know that their families are going to be able to.”
In times of family emergency, our Hero Care Network provides real-time information and verified messages to service members and their military commands. It also connects families to resources and financial assistance in times of hardship. Consider learning more or supporting our mission at redcross.org/saf.
About the American Red Cross:
The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and provides comfort to victims of disasters; supplies about 40% of the nation’s blood; teaches skills that save lives; distributes international humanitarian aid; and supports veterans, military members and their families. The Red Cross is a nonprofit organization that depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to deliver its mission. For more information, please visit redcross.org or CruzRojaAmericana.org, or follow us on social media.
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