There's no greater reward

I have a passion for the Red Cross. There’s no organization, anywhere, better at responding to community needs—in so many ways, in so many areas. I’ve been involved with the Red Cross for decades, and when I retired from my job in St. Louis and came back to my hometown in Tennessee, I started volunteering at my local chapter in Jackson. I can’t imagine being without the Red Cross.

My first involvement with the organization was as the corporate nurse with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Missouri. I trained the company’s first responders in first aid and CPR, and I organized blood drives and coordinated some disaster preparedness. In the Jackson Area Chapter, I’m involved in several facets of the services we provide.

I’ve created many memories being a member of the Red Cross, but perhaps the most vivid involves helping survivors of the tornadoes that ripped through our state last spring, killing 24 people. There’s no greater reward than providing a family who has lost a loved one and everything they own with something simple like a pair of shoes or something crucial like a medication. You can see the thanks written all over their faces, and you want to continue helping because it feels so good!

As a business person within the business and industry sector, promoting the Red Cross, especially safety preparedness, is very important to me. For example, I’m proud to be a member of the American Association of Occupational Nurses, with whom the Red Cross formed an alliance to share health and safety and emergency preparedness expertise and to promote recruitment and training last year.

People prepare for what they think is going to happen—as if they can predict the when, where and how. Or they pretend nothing will ever happen to them. Time and again, I’ve seen that emergencies don’t play out the way you’d think they would. In the Midwest and Southwest, people build underground shelters to prepare for tornadoes. Yet very few have a first aid kit or an evacuation plan. And that’s just for tornadoes. They’re not prepared for any other kind of disaster. The Red Cross is gradually trying to close these gaps in awareness and preparation. I’m proud to be part of this effort.

I’m also honored to have received my Red Cross nursing pin five years ago. I hope the Red Cross continues its growth in recruiting nurses; they’ve been a cornerstone for the organization since the early 1900s. We have a lot of offer, and the Red Cross has a lot to give us in return. For me, the Red Cross has provided me the opportunity to do what I do best, to feel like I’ve been productive and to see the results of what I’ve done. In so many jobs, you can’t see the fruits of your labor. Being part of the Red Cross, the Red Cross being part of me, I know each and every day that I’m making a difference.

Teaching lifesaving skills is one of the ways Shirley Collier has found to help in her community.