The Westchester County chapter of American Red Cross is rolling out a corporate preparedness program for companies and schools here for which demand has surged among corporate clients in New York City with the threat of pandemic flu this fall and winter.
Chapter CEO John Ravitz last week said he has talked to risk managers and CEOs at about a dozen companies about the new Red Cross preparedness training programs in the workplace. Chapter officials have reached out too to private secondary schools and colleges, calling the program a valuable resource for schools.
Hour-long lessons for employees include a basic tool kit of emergency preparedness, “Be Red Cross Ready,” and, especially in demand this season, “Pandemic Flu ”“ Are You Prepared?”
Individual departments in a company or organization follow that with tabletop exercises, interactive, multimedia training to prepare and plan business continuity in a pandemic flu outbreak, power outage, explosion or flood. Red Cross also can customize a scenario to meet a company”™s specific requirements.
“One size doesn”™t fit all,” said Ravitz. “This program allows us to have some flexibility.”
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The Red Cross preparedness program also includes separate training for managers and employees in workplace violence and psychological first aid.
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“There are no other programs that are out there that are as comprehensive,” said Ravitz.
“Especially when we talk about pandemic, people are going to be dealing with these things in such a different way if 40 percent of your company can”™t come in” due to illness.
James Parker, senior director for preparedness, health and safety services at the Greater New York chapter of Red Cross, said the city chapter started the corporate preparedness program about three-and-a-half years ago in response to strategic clients whose needs for medical emergency and disaster preparedness in the workplace were unmet. It has worked with a wide sector of the corporate marketplace, including bank holding companies and financial firms, property owners and higher education. The Red Cross chapter”™s basic preparedness and pandemic flu training lessons have been presented by its international corporate clients in 26 countries and in 17 languages, Parker said. The program”™s success in New York City led American Red Cross officials to roll it out nationwide.
In Westchester, “Our goal right now is to introduce this program to as many people as possible throughout the county,” Ravitz said.
Some potential clients, though, have an it-can”™t-happen-here attitude with respect to disaster scenarios. “Denial is still our biggest obstacle,” he said.
