by Dave Wagner, Public Affairs Volunteer
Accessing life-saving information and tools from the Red Cross is easier than ever. Our award-winning suite of free smartphone apps already put Red Cross content at your fingertips. Now, all you have to do is ask Alexa!
Skills for Alexa now include critical first aid instruction, putting free and simple lifesaving information at your fingertips. Red Cross blood donors can use Alexa to schedule blood donations. These skills are available for popular Alexa-enabled devices including Echo, Echo Dot, Echo Show, and Echo Spot.
Start by saying, “Alexa, open Red Cross First Aid.”
With the Red Cross First Aid skill, you can:
- Get step-by-step instructions to help you deal with incidents that require first aid
- Test your first aid knowledge with an interactive quiz
- Delve deeper into different first aid topics in the FAQ section
You can say, “Alexa, ask Red Cross Blood where can I donate blood.”
With the Red Cross Blood Scheduling skill you can:
- Find the nearest blood drives
- Schedule your next blood, platelet or Power Red donation appointment
- Update or change existing donation appointments
- Learn about your past donations
- Get timely notifications about your upcoming appointment so you don’t miss it
Giving is now as easy as saying “Alexa, make a donation to American Red Cross”
We are now accepting Alexa Donations with Amazon Pay! By enabling you to make donations through voice, we are making giving as easy as talking.
- Tell Alexa “Alexa, make a donation to American Red Cross”.
- Your donation is processed with Amazon Pay using the information already stored in your Amazon account.
- To request a tax receipt, contact us at 1-800-HELP NOW or submit a request online.
How to Enable Red Cross Skills on the Amazon Alexa App
- Open the Amazon Alexa App on your device
- In the menu, select “Skills & Games”
- Select the search tool (magnifying glass icon)
- Search “American Red Cross”
- There, the skills will be listed and available for launch
- For the First Aid skill, for example, select “First Aid by American Red Cross”
- Then select “Enable to Use” and wait while the app enables the skill
- Once the app has enabled the skill, you’re ready to get started
Red Cross Central California Blog 