American Red Cross disaster assistance is free, made possible by voluntary donations of time and money from the American people.
Find Shelter and Supplies
If you are in need of a shelter during a disaster, please contact the Medina County Chapter.
The most visible and well-known of Red Cross disaster relief activities are sheltering and feeding. The Red Cross opens shelters for those displaced by a disaster and provides meals and snacks to families and to emergency workers in affected areas. The most common local disasters are house fires.
After a disaster, trained Red Cross interviewers meet one-on-one with families to determine their needs. The assistance may include providing the means for them to pay for groceries, new clothes, rent, emergency home repairs, transportation, medicines, and tools. The Red Cross also lets people know about other community or government resources available to them and helps those needing long-term recovery assistance when other resources are inadequate.
Red Cross nurses deliver first aid and attend to other health-related matters. The Red Cross may help pay for certain medical needs, including prescription medicines, medical supplies, and emergency medical treatment. The Red Cross also provides blood and blood products.
Disaster Mental Health Services workers are licensed mental health practitioners trained to recognize the emotional impact of a disaster on those affected by the disaster as well as disaster workers. They offer information and help educate people on the emotional impacts of disasters and how to cope with them.
If a loved one is in the affected area, family members from outside the area can call their local chapter and request assistance in determining the well-being of their family member.
Contacting Family Members
Providing Safe and Well Information
If you have been affected by a disaster, the Red Cross Safe and Well website provides a way for you to register yourself as “safe and well.” From a list of standard messages, you can select those that you want to communicate to your family members, letting them know of your well-being.
Concerned family and friends can search the list of those who have registered themselves as “safe and well.” The results of a successful search will display a loved one’s First Name, Last Name, an “As of Date”, and the “safe and well” messages selected.
Recovering Emotionally
Disasters are upsetting experiences for everyone involved. Children, senior citizens, people with disabilities and people for whom English is not their first language are especially at risk. Children may become afraid and some elderly people may seem disoriented at first. People with disabilities may require additional assistance. It is important to let children and elderly people know that they are safe and that you will help them find a safe place to stay. It is important that you try to talk with them in a calm way. When disaster strikes, a child's view of the world as a safe and predictable place is temporarily lost. Children become afraid that the event will happen again and that they or their family may be injured or killed. The damage, injuries and deaths that can result from an unexpected or uncontrollable event are difficult for most children to understand. How a parent or other adult reacts to a child following any traumatic event can help children recover more quickly and more completely. Children of different ages react in different ways to trauma. We can give you information about helping children cope with disaster and trauma.
Recovering Financially - Getting Assistance
Contact your insurance agent, broker or insurance company as soon as you can to report how, when and where the damage occurred. Provide a general description of the damage.
- Prepare a list of damaged or lost items and provide receipts if possible. Consider photographing or videotaping the damage where it occurred for further documentation to support your claim.
- If possible, keep damaged items or portions of those items until the claims adjuster has visited your home. Do not throw away anything you plan to claim without discussing it with your adjuster first.
- Keep receipts for all additional expenses that you may incur such as lodging, repairs or other supplies.
- Make copies of all documents and pictures given to your claims adjuster or insurance company. Besides insurance, there are many questions related to taxes, expenses and determining just how you will recover from a personal financial point of view.