General News
29 August, 2022
Red Cross event to help locals prepare for emergencies
The local Red Cross branch is hosting an event to help the community prepare in case of an emergency, bringing together local services including police and CFA for Emergency Preparedness Month. The month is aimed at raising awareness about the...
The local Red Cross branch is hosting an event to help the community prepare in case of an emergency, bringing together local services including police and CFA for Emergency Preparedness Month.
The month is aimed at raising awareness about the importance of preparing for disasters and emergencies, which will be the focus on a local level at the upcoming event.
The Maryborough Red Cross branch has around 30 active members and is regarded as one of the bigger branches in the state, and member Karen Aston said the event will be combined with the Red Cross’ quarterly zone meeting.
“The Red Cross asked each of its local branches to hold a function for Emergency Preparedness Month, and this is ours,” she said.
“We’ll have members from the local CFA, police, council, Lifeblood (formerly the Blood Bank) and others in attendance to share how they support the community to prepare for emergencies.
“They’ve been asked to speak about their role if there’s an emergency here, plus to give an anecdote about some form of local emergency their organisation has attended.”
While the zone meeting will be for Red Cross members only, the following talks from emergency services is open to the public, Ms Aston said.
“Community members are welcome to attend, and can learn how to be prepared at home, like how to have an emergency kit prepared incase they have to evacuate,” she said.
Maryborough Red Cross’ Jan Williamson said the event is also a chance for the community to understand what local members do.
“The local community have always supported the Red Cross really well. It’s been running in Maryborough for over 100 years,” she said.
“We always work with emergency services when there’s an emergency — we can give a certain amount of money to the victims of the emergency to either buy some clothes if they’ve lost everything in a house fire, or a motel for the night. A lot of people don’t know about that so this event will help the community know what we do.
“We also stay long after the emergency to help, we’re there long-term.”
The event is open to the public and will be held on September 7 at the The Salvation Army complex, 27 Wills Street, Maryborough, from 10.30 am to 1 pm. To RSVP contact Karen on 0408 384 230 or email kazzah4@bigpond.com