Red Cross Volunteer Work

It has been almost 7 years since I started to volunteer for the American Red Cross in Southeast Wisconsin. I am part of the FAST (First Aid Service Team). We provide the first aid service for lots of local festivals such as summerfest, Fiesta Italian, German Fest, Irish Fest, etc. We also work for most of the fund-raising walk/ride such as MS Walk, Miller Lite Ride For the Arts, or AIDS walk. Most of those activities happen on the weekends of the summer so I spend lots of my weekends in the festival ground in the Milwaukee lakefront.

I talked a little bit about my volunteer work in my old post, Me And Summerfest. It is really a great way to know more people and also contribute back to the community. Of course, it does not hurt that I can enjoy those festivals without paying the entrance fee after my shift. I really to learn more of the medical skills and get to practice them. Most of the time, all we got was just small bruise or band-aid condition. A little more exciting case would be drunk or heat problem. Personally, I really don't like to deal with the drunk victim. They often will puke all over you if you don't pay attention to the condition. Usually, the newbie is usually asked to deal with it. I think remember that a victim vomit on my sneakers during my first volunteer year. It was just too nasty so I had to throw that pair of sneakers away. Nowadays, I will always warn the new volunteer about that. It is also fun to work with EMT, Paramedics and Bell ambulance during those festivals.

Through the years, I got more trainings and became the CPR instructor as well. Now I can help train the newcomers to certify for the professional rescuer CPR/AED. It really makes the summer more interesting. Well, it looks like that I will have to work for Mexican Fest tonight. Hope that it stops raining so the festival can have decent crowd. Have a nice weekend!