Customer Story: American Red Cross
Efficiency, Compassion, and Trust — How The American Red Cross is Using a Crisis Communications Technology Tool to Enhance its Humanitarian Mission
Efficiency, Compassion, and Trust — How The American Red Cross is Using a Crisis Communications Technology Tool to Enhance its Humanitarian Mission
"BlackBerry AtHoc is part of our Red Cross responses when providing arrival instructions to responders deployed to disasters relief operations. We do 20,000 deployments a year, so we're pleased to count BlackBerry as a partner." — Brad Kieserman, Vice President of Disaster Operations and Logistics, American Red Cross
Robust message tracking functionality, real-time feedback and ability to quickly account for staff during emergencies.
Red Cross uses AtHoc to cover 36,000 people, and for every single deployment since its implementation.
A Humanitarian Mission
When a disaster occurs, the Red Cross’s disaster relief teams are there to provide a wide range of services including shelters, food, emotional support, first aid, and emergency relief supplies. It also works closely with government agencies and communities to coordinate response and recovery efforts.
A lot of people forget that disaster relief involves more than getting boots on the ground immediately after a crisis – you also need to help families and communities recover over the long term,” explains Kieserman. “In the weeks and months after a disaster, the Red Cross brings groups and agencies together to help those affected get back on their feet, while supporting large-scale, longerterm recovery efforts as well.” One of the Red Cross’s Fundamental Principles is impartiality, which means that the organization provides aid to everyone impacted by a disaster, regardless of demographic or citizenship status. Supported entirely by its donors and volunteers, the Red Cross is not a government agency or a for-profit business: it puts the well-being of the people it serves above all else.
Privacy and security are essential for an organization like the American Red Cross,” Kieserman explains. “We cannot carry out our mission without the ability to protect the sensitive data of those we serve. Whether it’s personal information about a disaster, casework related to a health condition, or damage assessment of homes and communities, we need to maintain data security.” “Without it, there is no trust,” he continues. “Without trust, we cannot help those who need us.
Today, BlackBerry AtHoc supports 85% of the United States Federal Government, including FEMA. This means FEMA can now communicate effectively not just with its non-profit partners like the American Red Cross, but with multiple other first responders and government agencies they work with as well. " — Dubhe Beinhorn, Senior Vice President Public Sector, BlackBerry
Crisis Leadership - The Power of Communication
Both during and in the wake of a crisis, effective communication is priority one. It’s necessary to stay connected with relief teams. It’s required to keep volunteers out of harm’s way. And it’s a cornerstone of coordination between emergency responders, partnered agencies, and the community.
The Search for Effective Crisis Communication
“As a leader in a crisis, the first priority is to make sense of what’s going on around you,” explains Kieserman. “We first identify who is suffering, which then allows us to focus on getting them what they need, when they need it, and where they need it - that’s fundamentally rooted in strong communications.” “The second and third priorities involve coordination with our team, our partners, and the public,” he continues. “This, too, involves continuous communication - in disaster relief, decision-making is all about collaboration; about helping those affected by disasters understand and make sense of their situation.” “This continuous communication brings us to our fourth priority: helping communities get back to normal,” says Kieserman. “There are hundreds of responders, and thousands of daily tasks involved in this recovery, all of which require effective internal and external communication.” “Our final priority in a crisis is to learn,” Kieserman concludes. “As a learning organization, the Red Cross has made great strides over the past few years to introduce stronger technology solutions into everything we do. Communication in an emergency all comes down to speed, and how quickly one disseminates directives and alerts is the difference between a good response and a great one.” It was with this in mind that the Red Cross began searching for a crisis communications platform – a search which would eventually lead it to BlackBerry® AtHoc®.
Crisis Communication in Action
Since the deployment of BlackBerry AtHoc, it has become an essential part of the Red Cross’s day-to-day operations. The organization primarily uses it to provide arrival instructions to responders deployed to disaster relief operations. Each worker that deploys receives an automated email and voice call providing them with details of what to do upon arrival. Throughout the course of their deployment, the Red Cross uses AtHoc to conduct workforce care surveys with these volunteers aimed at ensuring each one has the best possible humanitarian experience. The Red Cross also uses the platform to send safety messages to workers deployed on relief operations experiencing additional impacting events. The organization first used the system in this way during its response to Hurricane Harvey. At that time, severe weather struck an area in which relief workers were deployed – through BlackBerry AtHoc, those employees were kept out of harm’s way.
Empowering Disaster Response
Finally, several of the Red Cross’s disaster teams have static distribution lists that automatically connect them to recurring conference calls. The organization also has a distribution list for its Disaster Operations Coordination Center in case there’s a large-scale event for which all leadership needs to be present. “We use BlackBerry AtHoc for every single deployment, and we do at least 20,000 deployments a year,” says Kieserman. “Over the last few years, we’ve sent out an average of 2000+ alerts and 100,000+ unique messages on an annual basis. It’s safe to say that without BlackBerry AtHoc, it would be challenging to achieve our mission on the scale that we have.” Currently, BlackBerry AtHoc covers about 36,000 people in the Red Cross. That said, there are plans in the works for expansion. The American Red Cross is, after all, part of a global network – and to that end, BlackBerry is working with the American Red Cross to leverage and apply its success with BlackBerry AtHoc on an international scale. “We’ve shared the system with our partners in the international Red Cross organization,” adds Kieserman. “We’re also looking at other opportunities within the American Red Cross to share AtHoc. We’re seeing a lot of non-emergency groups expressing interest in the platform as a means of communicating with larger groups and in small-scale events.”
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