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The community of Coaque is about a 15-minute drive along the highway from where the Canadian Red Cross field hospital is based in Pedernales, Ecuador. The field hospital has been supporting a local health facility damaged by the April earthquake. Doctor Patricia Connick has been going out on mobile clinics like this nearly every day of her one-month mission.

​There is an unlikely friendship -  Alzinia Pailin is an American Red Cross volunteer from California and Marie Bernatchez is a French speaking Canadian Red Cross volunteer from Quebec. But after being paired together on a three-week deployment in the small town of Lac La Biche, south of Fort McMurray, as part of the Alberta fire response, the two women found much common ground including their work as Red Cross volunteers and quickly became friends.

Last summer, we had a few tornado scares in Southern Alberta. Working at the Red Cross, I felt as though I was prepared to stay safe. However, I learned that there are actually a lot of myths around tornado safety. Learn more about some of the most common ones. 

The Canadian Red Cross is recognizing our 120^th anniversary through a new online platform. The project, celebrating 120 years of helping those in need, highlights important moments in our history through significant events and stories displayed on an interactive timeline.  Last week, I had the opportunity to sit down with veteran Red Cross volunteer, Ted Itani, to talk about Red Cross history and one item in particular that connects our Red Cross stories: a model landmine.

As an emergency management director, Angela McKenzie is used to helping others from the Fort McKay First Nation deal with disaster. So, it was doubly challenging when wildfires swept north from Fort McMurray and forced her to flee, along with her new baby and hundreds of others, through dense smoke and flames.

Following  a powerful, 7.8 magnitude earthquake that hit the province of Esmeraldas, on the coast of Ecuador on April 17, the Red Cross responded to support the needs of those affected by deploying a health Regional Response Unit (RRU) jointly with the Colombian Red Cross. The RRU was deployed to reinforce health centres and community outreach activities as well as to operate satellite health posts and mobile clinics in various locations across Ecuador.

Three years after flooding destroyed thousands of properties across southern Alberta, a colourful new playground stands outside a brightly restored school in High River.
Where twisted metal, broken branches, thick mud and debris covered the area in 2013, children now swing happily between new play structures at Holy Spirit Academy. Funded by the Canadian Red Cross community grants program and other sponsors, the playground offers a lot of unique features, not only for students but the entire community.

For those who can’t hear what’s going on around them – or who hear only muffled, jumbled sounds, the world can be a confusing or even unfriendly place. And when that comes on top of the stress and uncertainty of being evacuated from your home, things can be even worse.That’s the situation some Fort McMurray residents found themselves in after losing or leaving behind the hearing aids that help make life better. But with the help of two local companies, sounds around them are now more clear.