Stillwater, OKLA. - When her phone rings late at night, Vicki Herrington knows the tears are coming. In a little known 24-hour-a-day service of the American Red Cross, Herrington, as Payne County’s Red Cross director, gets the call when there’s been a death in the family and someone needs to get word to a soldier serving overseas.
“They’ve just lost grandma or, worse yet, mom or dad, and they really need assurance that someone will tell the son or brother in Iraq and maybe get them home for the funeral,” says Herrington. “They’re already crying and upset. Sometimes I just have to cry too, but at least I can offer a shred of comfort regarding notification and I can listen.”
Nearly 100 years ago the US military asked the Red Cross to take on the role of verifying family deaths or illnesses serious enough to bring a soldier home., Now, with so many troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, Herrington says she fields a hundred such calls each year. She can arrange for a chaplain to accompany the command officer if the family is worried the news will be a shock as in the case of two recent suicides. If the soldier is not in a critical position, Red Cross verification can clear the way for funeral leave or even a trip home to see a dying relative before they pass away.
Phone Home
Herrington can also calm the fears of a family who believes too much time has passed since the last letter with what’s called a “health and welfare check”. She initiates a military process that tracks down the soldier, encourages him or her to contact home and returns word to her that the individual is “fine” so she can complete the circle for worried relatives. She says many families are able to keep in touch through e-mail and cell phones these days but the Red Cross still serves when the connections gets broken.
While 99 percent of her military-related calls involve a death in the family, Herrington says she has vivid memories of one case involving a young mother pregnant for the first time and bedridden with a difficult health issues.
“I wasn’t able to bring her husband home early from Iraq, but I did talk to her almost every day and as the mother of three kids was able to ease some of her fears. I took a Red Cross bear to the hospital when the baby came and I got to tell her husband about his new son,” said Herrington. “I felt like part of the family.”
Cruel Night Light
Sometimes the late night phone call takes Vicki Herrington out of a warm bed and into the cold night to the scene of a fire. She says the Red Cross responded to seventeen house fires last year. So far this winter there have already been seventeen families burned out and there are still seven more months in the fiscal year.
“Just last week I found a woman sobbing over the loss of her pets and everything else,” said Herrington. “At least I could tell her, Don’t worry about today. I’ve got you a hotel room for the night, a voucher for some food and clothes and some shampoo and a toothbrush.” She says she tells them they can begin to pick up their lives tomorrow.
She wants Red Cross and United Way donors to know that’s where their dollars go. And she’s glad for the opportunity to do some reminding this year. She’s concerned that donors are very aware of the millions that came to the Red Cross for Hurricane Katrina victims. Thousands came through the Stillwater Red Cross Office and every dollar has been forwarded on to the Katrina fund, leaving a hole in the budget to deal with fires and families locally.
“It took our local budget almost two years to recover from all the giving to 9/11,” she says.
Blood for Life
The better known Red Cross blood collections are also dropping to critical levels says Herrington. It’s an annual crisis; donors are traveling, have the flu or are just busy while the numbers of elective surgeries and accidents are on the rise during the holidays. She says the Red Cross accepts blood donations every Tuesday from 1pm to 7pm and every Friday from 8am to 2pm – no appointment is necessary
Herrington says the Christmas season, end-of-the-year giving and annual United Way drive will make all the difference in just how many families the Red Cross can serve in Stillwater this year. Their ability to help needs your help before Dec. 31.
The Red Cross is one of 25 local United Way agencies that will receive funds from the $740,000 United Way Campaign wrapping up in Stillwater this month. Ninety-nine percent of the money raised here will stay here serving Stillwater’s youngest, oldest and least able residents. Since 1952, United Way has raised $13 million for the local social safety net.
Contributions may be made at the United Way office, 109 E. 9th Avenue in downtown Stillwater or by mail to P. O. Box 308 or online at www.stillwaterunitedway.org.
