Louise O’Donnell hadn’t planned on jumping into an American Red Cross vehicle the day she signed up to become a volunteer. But as she was completing volunteer paperwork, an apartment building fire broke out.

“They said, ‘Hey, how about you jump in the car, let’s go,’” she said. “I haven’t stopped since.”

That unexpected first assignment set the tone for the next decade of her life. In January, O’Donnell celebrated 10 years as a Red Cross volunteer, marking a second chapter of service layered onto her 47-year career as a nurse and neurology nurse practitioner. Today, she serves as the health services lead and a disaster action team responder for the West Michigan chapter, as well as the deputy lead for mass casualty incident response for the Michigan Region.

She trains and leads Red Cross volunteers in health services, preparing them for the moments when disasters strip people of the things they rely on most. When deployed, she helps clients replace the medications and medical equipment that keep them functioning day to day.

She has deployed to 35 disasters, including 13 in other parts of the country. Among them: Puerto Rico, Kentucky, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Texas and Louisiana. Most recently, she supported the Red Cross disaster operation after a multi-family in Jackson. .

But one memory from Texas has stayed with her. After flooding in Houston, she met a man in a Red Cross shelter who was paralyzed from the waist down. His pressure-relieving wheelchair device had floated away in the floodwaters. It was specialized, expensive and essential, and his medical insurance wouldn’t replace it.

O’Donnell searched for help locally but found no organization that could provide what he needed. So she turned to a resource she knew back home.

She contacted an organization in Grand Rapids that provides refurbished medical equipment to people in need. She explained the man’s situation. Their response came without hesitation: “What’s the address?”

“I truly believe that’s the reason I was there,” she said.

It’s moments like these that keep O’Donnell volunteering.

“I believe we all have an obligation to care for our neighbors, whether they are close or far away,” she said. “Some people can’t, but I can.”

Her commitment has carried her into communities across the country, offering hope and comfort to people on some of the hardest days they will ever face. Wherever she goes, she brings the same steady purpose: to care for her neighbors.

By Sydney Henry, regional communications manager