On a typical Wednesday morning, having more than one hundred eighth graders seated on the auditorium floor might not seem out of the ordinary. However, witnessing them perform synchronized CPR maneuvers while learning to save lives is impressive. On October 22, the local Red Cross Training Services Team, in partnership with the East Bay Regional Park District (EBRPD) and Dozier-Libbey Medical High School (DLMHS), hosted a record-setting youth CPR/AED certification event for nearly 350 eighth-grade students over two 90-minute sessions at Antioch’s Park Middle School.
The holiday season is traditionally hard on the nation’s blood supply. The American Red Cross typically sees a decrease in blood donations through the end of the year. To help boost blood donations and ensure patients have access to lifesaving blood and platelets, autonomous driving technology company, Waymo, partnered with the Red Cross to host its second annual blood drive from November 4-10 in San Francisco. The company generously offered two free rides to Waymo riders and employees who donated blood or platelets at the Red Cross San Francisco Blood Donation Center located on Market Street.
“I was born to help people. That’s what brings me the most joy.” Caro (Carolina) Dratva, a Red Cross Northern California Coastal Region’s Disaster Cycle Services Team member and Communications volunteer, heard the call to help others early. When she was 12 and still living in Colombia, a volcanic eruption buried a close friend’s hometown, Armero. “I could only watch TV, listen to the radio, and follow up with my friend,” whose parents had died in the disaster with 23,000 others. Responders with the Red Cross emblem arrived to rescue victims and remove debris during an operation that she would remember later when, at age 15, she noticed the same emblem among response teams in San Francisco in the aftermath of the Loma Prieta earthquake, which she witnessed. At that time, she revealed, “I didn’t realize that the Red Cross was mainly run by volunteers.” It was only after she asked how much responders were paid that she understood that most rescuers offered their unpaid time and effort to save others, a fact that must have deeply moved this scuba diver, surfer, conservationist, and explorer to dive deep and dedicate more than two decades to volunteering.
After all, when Caro set off for the Bahamas several years ago on a dolphin trip with her closest friend, she couldn’t have predicted that her life would be deeply impacted again. “During the night,” she recently shared, “I went to swim with dolphins 85 miles out on a boat. We were anchored, and I was the only one swimming. Everyone else was on the boat. So, I went off with the dolphins. There was a full moon, and I lost my sense of direction. But because of the moonlight reflecting on the water, I couldn’t find the boat. I couldn’t see it. For the first time, I felt panic, like, ‘I’m going to die here.’ But the dolphins were still hanging with me. So, I literally spoke to them: ‘Could you please bring me back to the boat.’ And then, one pushed me on one side, the other pushed me on the other, and they brought me right back to the boat.’” This profound moment of trust and connection with the dolphins helped her realize the power of relying on others during moments of crisis. Just as the dolphins guided her to safety, Caro felt compelled to help guide others through challenging times, which ultimately led her to dedicate her time to lifesaving organizations such as the American Red Cross.
Photos courtesy of Caro Dratva
“There has to be a way that I can volunteer.” The real work began with 9/11, when the Twin Towers came down in Manhattan’s Battery. She needed to help, so she joined the Red Cross. “I thought, if I have to deploy to New York, I’ll do it. But then, I realized I needed training.” Getting that training during such a fraught time for the country and those who’d lost loved ones required sensitivity and an ability to ask the right questions.
“My first training was in San Francisco,” she recalled, “connecting the missing people on lists with their families.” Mainly, she conducted interviews meant for search and rescue teams, gathering descriptions of missing people, noting the floors they worked on and what they were wearing the last time they were seen. Even now, twenty-two years later, Caro remembers one moving experience when she used her native language skills to search for a distraught woman’s husband who’d worked in the Towers. “She spoke Spanish, and the good news was that the woman’s husband was alive and able to reconnect with her.”
Later, after a one-year hiatus in Europe, she continued to dedicate herself to helping others, getting involved in Red Cross blood drives, donation collection campaigns, and numerous disaster relief operations, including the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Caro and Red Cross Volunteers supporting communities affected by wildfires in North Bay, 2017
Since then, Caro has watched the Red Cross grow even more effective, learning from hard knocks like Katrina. Better organizational tools have improved efficiency before, during, and after disasters, allowing volunteers like her to give time even when time is sometimes hard to spare. Holding down two jobs—one focused on ocean conservation and the other on architectural design—Caro still finds time to volunteer in numerous ways. “Because of good organization and how the Red Cross has grown, I can be on standby for the Disaster Action Team (DAT). I’m also trained for sheltering, and I’m part of the Public Affairs and Communications team.”
All this volunteering has added up over the years. From one training session to another, Caro has developed expertise through online and real-world experience. With every exposure she’s had to disasters, shelters, and blood drives, she has noticed, listened to, and recognized others as they face some of the most challenging moments of their lives. This may be one reason why she still swims for life, giving a great gift to others along the way: how to save others while saving oneself.
James and his wife Sue, at Livermore 1st St. Ale House watching Raiders on the big screen. Photo courtesy of James Ferguson
As thirteen-year-old James Ferguson sat in his hospital room with a life-threatening injury, he struggled to accept that his burgeoning football career was over. His dream of playing for the Oakland (now Las Vegas) Raiders would never come true. He questioned what would come next and how he could fill football’s void. James soon knew that playing the guitar could fill part of that void, but it took him nearly 15 more years to answer more of that question.
When 27-year-old James Ferguson donated blood for the first time at a work-sponsored blood drive in 1983, he thought back to that moment in the hospital. “Giving blood made me realize those thoughts were very juvenile,” said James. It was at that blood drive that James realized donating blood could fill more of football’s void.
Today, James regularly donates blood and plasma through the American Red Cross. Since his first blood drive in 1983, James has donated nearly 30 gallons of blood. He donates through the Red Cross “whenever he can, whenever they call,” barring work, travel or other personal obligations. He describes the Red Cross as the “greatest community of people.”
For James, donating blood is a deeper act of service to other humans and a simple way of giving back to others in need. As James explains, “the basis of all this is my faith. There are things that we can do and things that we do and there are opportunities that we have to accept or we run away from. I love to do something for somebody that brightens their day. Their pleasure, their happiness makes me happy.”
James’ desire to help other people is not only unique to him. He is proud of the dedication of his whole family – which he also credits with filling football’s void – to helping others. His sister helps people every day as a nurse at a local hospital in Fremont. Other family members have even interacted with the Red Cross in the past, including his daughter, who is a medic in the Army National Guard, who helped with the emergency response to the 2018 Paradise Fire.
“Me with my grandkids and daughter. Left to Right: Owen, Madison, Daughter Sara, and me.” Photo courtesy of James Ferguson“Mom and Me… a weekend of playing Yahtzee!” Photo courtesy of James Ferguson“This is my band, my band. The Bylly James Band. I’m on left playing guitar.” Photo courtesy of James Ferguson
Music is also incredibly important to James and his family. He cites it as another major factor that helped him get through the injury. As James said, “Football ends, music never does.” He plays guitar in a classic rock/blues band in the Fremont area. One of his favorite parts of playing music is seeing the impact his music has on people’s faces.
James has found a way through the Red Cross Blood Donor app to replicate that same reaction when he gives blood. Although he cannot directly see the impact on someone’s face, James calls the app’s ability to show him where his blood was used, “powerful.” This is especially true when children receive his blood. “The app is important. It is a huge revelation. Deeper than anything. It hits home.” James says of the app’s impact.
James plans to give blood for as long as he can since it is both fulfilling and easy to do. “I am a five-minute blood donor,” he says. He also has words of encouragement for others who may be thinking about donating for the first time. “It takes half an hour to save somebody’s life. If you do these things, you will find joy that you never imagined,” he tells them.
Thirty-five years later, a Red Cross volunteer recalls his experience during the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake.
Red Cross volunteer photographer Larry Brazil remembers where he was during the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989, 35 years ago today. The 6.9-magnitude earthquake rocked Northern California, with the Bay Area and Central Coast bearing the brunt of the impact. The epicenter was approximately eight miles north-northeast of Santa Cruz and 50 miles from downtown San Francisco. The quake lasted 15 seconds and struck during the peak of evening rush hour. The resulting catastrophic damage and loss of life forever changed the landscape, infrastructure and people of the Golden State. Sixty-six people lost their lives, 2,400 were injured and more than 10,000 homes were left uninhabitable. Larry shares what that fateful day was like, and what happened next:
The aftermath of the Bay Bridge following the earthquake. Photo credit: U.S.G.S.
“October 17,1989 was going to be a special day. Little did I know how memorable that day would end up being. It was special because a friend and I had tickets to Game 3 of the World Series that evening. We got to the game early and had a little tailgate party. We were just getting ready to head into the game when all of a sudden, time seemed to stand still, but the earth surely wasn’t standing still! The parking lot was literally rolling in waves. Cars were swaying back and forth, up and down, with their tires almost coming off the ground. It seemed to last for a long time, but it was probably about 15 seconds. When the shaking stopped, there was a loud roar from inside the stadium. We didn’t yet know the extent of damage and thought that the game would proceed after a delay. While trying to get into the stadium, someone had a little TV and we saw that the Bay Bridge had collapsed. It really sunk in then.
The Bay Bridge was our way home, and we knew we were in for a long night. The only way back home to Pleasanton was to go all the way around the Bay as the other bridges were closed for damage inspection. It took 9 hours to get home at 3a.m. We were transfixed by the images we saw of the widespread devastation. That was our first glimpse into the enormity of the situation.
“The next few days were a blur; it was not business as usual. We were pretty much glued to the TV, watching the drama unfold on the Cypress Freeway collapse and Marina fires.”
The bi-level Cypress Freeway, collapsed onto itself, was a sobering reminder of the quake’s intensity. Photo credit: U.S.G.S.
I was a member of a professional photographers group, the Peninsula Advertising Photographers Association. The Red Cross had reached out to our group looking for photographers to document the recovery efforts. I and two other photographers volunteered; I spent the next couple of days photographing Red Cross recovery efforts, mostly in Santa Cruz county.
I was with them day and night; at night we went out to highway workers in the Santa Cruz Mountains on Highway 17 offering them coffee, snacks, and moral support. During the day I photographed the shelter at the county fairgrounds in Watsonville. I was able to document the many services the Red Cross provided as well as much of the physical damage to the earth and buildings. I was grateful that I was able to contribute in some small way to the recovery efforts.
Landslides and destroyed roads were a common sight near Santa Crus. Photo credit: U.S.G.S.
It took another crisis time (the pandemic) for me to get involved again with the Red Cross. After being laid off due to COVID, I joined Blood Services team as a transportation specialist. I have delivered blood all over the greater Bay Area for the past four years. I have transitioned to doing some sheltering and logistics work in addition to my blood deliveries. I have recently joined the Red Cross communications team and look forward to once again providing the Red Cross with timely photos.”
Thank you for sharing your story and your service, Larry! To learn more about disaster preparedness, including earthquake preparedness, visit redcross.org/prepare.
Mary H. Lee, Red Cross Disaster Health Services Volunteer, shared her memories of the Loma Prieta Earthquake.
A Red Cross pin, the perfect way of thanking all the dedicated volunteers who helped during the Earthquake Disaster Relief Operation Photo courtesy of Mary H. Lee
“As we were standing outside our newly renovated home in Belmont on October 17, 1989 at 5 pm, we shook hands with our contractor to thank him for a job well done. Moments later the ground shook under us. We looked at our house and smiled as it was still standing. At that time little did we know of the severity of the earthquake.
Late that evening I was called in by the San Mateo Red Cross Chapter to staff a shelter as Disaster Health Service (DHS) Nurse. It was eerie to drive down a darkened highway 101 with no cars on the road to the shelter located in a hotel in Burlingame. The people in the hotel shelter were a tour group that had their trip interrupted. It was a very quiet night.
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