The American Red Cross Guam chapter will be celebrating its 96th year in October of this year. The chapter has responded to numerous disasters in partnership with the many businesses and private individuals who have consistently supported us because they believe in what we do best and that is to save and change lives.
While there was no catastrophic incident suffered by the local chapter during the last several years, the chapter remained engaged by responding to 16 families devastated by single family home fires; 33 families displaced by flash floods; delivered 700 emergency messages for our military personnel through our Service to Armed Forces program; gave pre-deployment briefings to 250 service members and families; offered 234 courses in First Aid/CPR/AED and water safety, certifying 1,664 individuals over the past year.
In addition, the chapter remained focused in the training and recruitment of volunteers at the village level on disaster preparedness. The chapter conducted courses on disaster service overview; client case work; client assistance card; disaster assessment; logistics and health services. The chapter recognizes the importance of being prepared at home, at work and school. The Red Cross wants to ensure that our community continues to be a safe place for our families, neighbors and friends.
We want the community to realize that the potential of a disaster exists everyday and to prepare themselves to cope with an emergency as it is not a matter of if, but when disaster occurs. So, your local chapter is continuously seeking opportunities to improve and further enhance our ability to reach out to all 19 villages of the community to conduct disaster preparedness classes to increase the number of our disaster trained volunteers. The chapter recognizes that the only way to increase our response capability is by partnering with the leadership of the public, private sectors and other non-profit organizations.