Written by Anna Kumor, Communications Volunteer
What do you do when you watch the news and see natural disasters devastate whole communities? People like Michelle Brown jump in to serve.
Twenty years ago, Michelle saw Richard Temple, the American Red Cross Executive Director of Kern County at the time, on the news asking for volunteers to help in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Michelle answered the call.
“I was watching the elderly people on the TV. They were trying to get them on the roofs, but some of them couldn’t even get on the roof because they’re they were too disabled. I just couldn’t believe it, and I was just like, oh my gosh, if I could go help them, I will go.”
Michelle, with a nursing career that spans 30 years, has worked in nearly every department in local hospitals, from helping set up urgent care centers to now teaching at a medical college for nurses. She could say that she already does her part to serve others, but instead, Michelle opens her heart for those most in need.
Speaking of how she was affected by volunteering for the Red Cross, Michelle says, “before I left, you know, you’re all comfortable in your life and you’re like, I got this I got that; I got my life down…. And you don’t give much thought to things. It was so humbling when I came back. I had more compassion and more feelings like love for people. This is a way that I should be feeling all the time. Sometimes you lose that; you lose sight. I’ve been trained in the ER where you just go, go, and you can’t get emotional because then you would be you would be a wreck. But there has to be a balance where you have that compassion for people and not be so blocked off from it.”
She credits the people she has met through volunteering that inspired her. “It wasn’t me that changed myself. It was the people I worked with that changed me, and the clients that we helped that touched me. In the middle of all that stuff that they were going through, they still had so much love and compassion to come over and tell me ‘Thank you.’”
The aftermath of a disaster can be chaotic as people are evacuating any way they can. During the aftermath of Hurricane Rita, Michelle recalled a time when she sprung into action for a woman who approached her at the hotel where Red Cross staff were staying. They asked Michell, “Do you mind if we come in and just rest because our daughter, who’s pregnant is not feeling very well.” On a deployment, Michelle never goes anywhere without her medical supplies and trusty stethoscope. She asked the pregnant woman, “Do you mind if I just check you out?” where she discovered the baby’s heart rate was extremely high. “It was so fast I couldn’t even register it,” she exclaimed, describing how she helped the family get to the hospital after that initial examination.
Michelle is still in awe of the teamwork and dedication of the Red Cross volunteers she served with. She recalls the ingenuity of those who found ways to keep finding an endless supply of durable medical equipment to supply crutches, canes, walkers, and wheelchairs to the evacuees who had to leave without their belongings.
In another instance, Michelle noticed that a young disabled woman was losing weight and not eating, and it happened that she had dietary restrictions and could not eat the food supplied at the shelter. Michelle used Red Cross discretionary funds to buy her food that she could eat.
Michelle built strong relationships with other women volunteering with her, and even when she was ready to go home, she reassured shelter clients. “There was another client and she was elderly she lost everything she lost absolutely everything. It’s hard to watch them lose everything. They have to start all over again. She came to me, and she said, ‘Michelle, I just want to thank you so much because I don’t think I can get through this without you.’ I go ‘You can because Red Cross is going to be here and these ladies are here they’re going to help you just as hard and just as much and I did, because everybody – we all want the same thing at the end of the day: we want you guys to be able to get to where you have some temporary housing before you get into your permanent place.’”
Michelle cherishes her memories from deployments from hurricanes over the last two decades. She remains in close touch with her Red Cross colleagues. “The people that when you go there, and then you’re working with them every day, you just make this bond. I don’t know how to explain it; it’s like you were there together, you’ve seen things together, and you could just like look at each other and, in a way, know what each other’s thinking.”
March is Red Cross Month and Women’s History Month. During this dual observance, we tell the stories of women like Michelle, Jéne and Noor whose unwavering dedication touched lives and made a deep impact over the past 140-plus years of our lifesaving mission. Get involved with the Red Cross at redcross.org.
Red Cross Central California Blog 