Follow Up to Pro Publica Request for Information This document provides the information in response to your questions ofAugust 19, 2014 and provides the information that would have been made available during our scheduled interview. We have organized the information into categories that cover the topics put forth in your previous email. Nature of the Document You asked us about the origin and nature of the document. This was a discussion document that was one part of the after action process after both Hurricanes Isaac and Sandy. The mass care team at Red Cross national headquarters informally solicited feedback from volunteers to identify problems and improve processes after the 2012 Hurricane Season. We encouraged people to be forthcoming without attribution or retribution. It was in that spirit that this document was developed. We always welcome all suggestions and feedback from our volunteers as part of the broader after action process. The items noted on the slides and in the notes sections contain observations from our mass ca re teams across multiple locations. This document does not contain official findings of the organization. Rather, it often contains the perspective of one person reporting what he or she might have seen around them. It is important to remember that there were more than 17,000 disaster workers deployed during the 2012 hurricane season and only a tiny number contributed to the document. None had a broad enough perspective to see trends within the disaster operations, and therefore, much of what was reported in this document tended to be isolated incidents. In some cases the observations may have been about things out of the control or authority of the Red Cross. In others, people were commenting on a problem based on their personal expertise and with the misperception that this was a Red Cross issue. We have tried to pinpoint and verify each issue raised in the document. However, in many cases it is impossible to know exactly what shelters or facilities were involved because volunteers did not give that level of detail. In other cases, we believe the issues actually occurred at facilities that were not managed by the Red Cross. In yet other cases, we couldn?t verify the incident took place. Nevertheless, we took each of these observations seriousiy and addressed the issues if we had the authority to do so. We also learn from each disaster and we reengineer our approach as we learn. This was a process we started well in advance before Sandy and lsaac struck. Disasters are chaotic and complex. We have to make hard decisions about how to allocate resources? human, material and financial. Disasters are unpredictable too and things don?t always go as perfectly as planned. But at the end of the day, we provided a great deal of care and support to a great many people affected by Sandy. Three out of every four Red Cross clients in NY and NJ expressed a positive experience with the Red Cross, and we mounted a huge response effort that included 17 million meals and snacks distributed, 74,000 overnight shelter stays, 7 million relief items, 17,000 disaster workers and tens of millions of dollars provided to individuals and community organizations that needed our help. Training Issues: The American Red Cross takes great pride in the training we require our volunteers to obtain prior to joining our disaster workforce. It is uniform across the country, and it is rigorous. During Sandy, we deployed 17,000 trained disaster workers, 90% of whom were volunteers. The individuals must take courses at their local chapters, rise through the ranks by volunteering to assist after local fires and other regional disasters before they are deployed. Those who work in shelters or drive Emergency Response Vehicles undergo specific simulation training. For events like Sandy that are massive in size and scale, our seasoned volunteers often serve alongside people from the community who wanted to lend a hand for the day. Because statements in the document addressing training issues are vague, it?s difficult to tell exactly what volunteers or locations these statement references. Because there were 17,000 staff and volunteers working on Sandy, it would be impossible forthe person making this statement to have seen anything but a small and narrow cross section of those workers. As to the training of the ERV drivers, given the complexity of driving in an unfamiliar urban environment, even our most seasoned drivers encountered challenges. We struggled to find people who were willing to deploy to drive under those conditions. This brought us to a critical lesson learned for us: we reached out to local labor unions whose trained workforce knew the area and were more than happy to assist their communities. We found that working with those groups to be tremendously helpful. If we find that behavior is not in line with our training, we address it immediately. For example, during the 2012 hurricane season, we noted that several Facebook posts indicated that a shelter manager was not sensitive to residents. Based on that feedback, we intervened immediately, and he was removed from his position. Questions about NHQ Management: For an event that stretches across 13 states and a US. territory, it is critical that national headquarters be involved in the disaster response, if for no other reason than to help manage the flow of resources to areas that need them most. Red Cross national headquarters can see the larger operating picture and this involvement actually helps the operation flow more smoothly. From the very local perspective of one worker, this can be construed as micromanagement. However, we do strive to provide flexibility to our workers on the ground, since local leadership understands their communities best. In a large disaster affecting multiple locations we have to balance that with the need to allocate resources to places with the most need. Through the process of reengineering our disaster program, which started in early 2012, we sought to find ways to push greater decision~making to the field and have seen that play out successfully after disasters like the Moore, Oklahoma, tornadoes and the Colorado floods. Political/PR Pressure: During a disaster, the Red Cross receives information about areas of need from a variety of sources, including elected officials and community leaders. Their feedback is important and we trust that they know the needs of their constituents and communities. We strive to meet those needs as best we can. We also listen for needs through a variety of means. Sandy was the largest disaster during which we utilized our Social Media command center, and we documented 88 times when we changed service delivery based on intelligence and data we gathered from the public on social media. For example, a Facebook community in New Jersey posted a call for help, and we sent it. It is a new technique for many of our volunteers, and not all workers are used to it. Many of them believe that social media is simply part of the PR effort, when it has actually become a vital part of how we gain situational awareness during disasters. When a disaster worker is in the middle of a response on the ground and unable to see the full picture, it can be difficult to understand why you may be asked to change your feeding route or go to a completely different area to serve the community. However, when this is the result of legitimate intelligence gained from social media or a government official, it can advance our service delivery efforts. Shelter Residents: The Red Cross has a humanitarian responsibility to provide safe shelter to all people who seek refuge in our facilities and has policies and procedures to handle a wide array of situations, including the presence of sex offenders in shelters. We work to obey all local, state and federal requirements in regards to housing sex offenders during disasters and work closely with law enforcement in the shelter management process. Shelter registration forms ask if people are required to register with the state for any reason. If the answer is ?yes? the shelter manager must speak with the individual immediately. if a shelter resident is identified as a registered sex offender, the Red Cross will work with local law enforcement to determine what?s best for the safety of those in the shelter. We have workshops and exercise the proper procedures in disaster simulations, so our workers know exactly how to handle these scenarios. In regard to your specific questions, it?s hard for us know based on this document exactly what occurred and where. Those details are important, as it is unclear whether this situation occurred in a Red Cross shelter, a state shelter, a shelter run by a faith?based organization or an independent community shelter where we may have had a presence. If residents tell us that they know a sex offender, we pull that individual aside and work with law enforcement. The information provided by residents may or may not be correct. Our Shelter Assessment Teams routinely visit both Red Cross and non-Red Cross-managed shelters during disasters, including Sandy and Isaac. When we see something like this happen, we fix it right away. There was at least one situation during Sandy where a resident identified someone who he/she thought was a sex offender. When this was brought to our attention, we brought in additional resources and handled the matter. It?s not clear based on this survey document whether the individual who provided this comment had any knowledge of the follow-up or if he/she simply knew that of an incident. Working with State and local Officials: We have every indication that officials in New York and New Jersey were-and still are-satisfied with our work during Sandy. Throughout the Sandy relief and recovery process, we have maintained a constant line of communication with state and local officials?even holding hourly calls with them during the initial phase of the response. From the official level, we have not heard the same kind of complaint recorded in the document, and if we did, we would address it immediately. Furthermore, your question about "state help for shelter staffing? is based on a false premise. The American Red Cross does not receive state help to operate its shelters. Rather, we assist federal, state and local agencies during disaster response. Functional And Special Needs Shelter Residents: The Red Cross is committed to helping people with a wide range of needs during disasters, including people with disabilities, people with mental illnesses, people with chronic health concerns and the elderly. We have an excellent track record in this area. In fact, we have signed national-agreements with the National Council on Independent Living and Port Light Strategies Inc and the National Disability Rights Network. We ensure that Red Cross nurses and mental health workers are on site at all our shelters to address the specific needs of all our residents. There have been isolated instances when entire assisted living facilities have been dropped off unexpectedly at our shelters and have briefly overwhelmed the systems we have in place. We believe that the comments in the document referencing FNSS clients may refer to a specific situation during Hurricane Isaac in which that happened. In those cases, our staff and volunteers work with shelter residents to determine the best course of action, so they can remain safe until we have the physical resources to better manage their individual situations and needs. The bottom line is: if we?re unable to provide suitable equipment to address these needs immediately, we bring in the resources necessary to address them as quickly as possible. But in the interim, our health and mental health staff ensures that the shelter residents are safe and cared for. Lessons Learned: As a part of our after-action review, there were three categories we identified as areas for improvement, and we?ve made changes to address all of them. Pe0ple: Our most valuable asset and the true miracle ofthe Red Cross are our volunteers. We have nearly 400,000 volunteers and 100,000 that can be deployed at a moment?s notice to disasters across the country. They do amazing work to help those that need it the most. We are always seeking ways to improve, and in our after-action work, we made additional improvements to increase scalability, speed, and efficiencies. We have also encouraged greater decision making ability to those working directly with our clients. Supplies: As expected, pushing supplies into an urban environment that was heavily impacted presented challenges. So in addition to our large warehouses, including one we recently opened in Arlington, TX, we?ve also created distribution centers throughout the Greater New York region. We have been working to create new IT systems to help in our supply chain management, thanks to a grant from a generous donor. We?re also now centralizing our fleet management which will enable us to get vehicles on site faster Partnerships: We?ve tightened relationships, re-signed agreements and found new partners. For example, we now have a solid SOP with the state of New Jersey on the process for opening up shelters. One other area that provided us with key lea rnings after Sandy was the use of direct listening via social media. 0 During Sandy, we collected and analyzed more than 2.5 million public social media posts in our Digital Operations Center, located in Washington DC to help identify emerging issues and needs. I For two months after landfall, more than 30 digital volunteers responded to nearly 2,500 individual posts through Facebook and Twitter. 0 In 88 cases, the Red Cross adjusted its services based on the situational awareness gained through social data and the Digital Operations Center. - We?ve since expanded our capacity to include a regional social media listening center in Dallas, and we?re opening a new one in San Francisco next'month. In summary, we learn from every disaster and build upon that to improve future responses. Superstorm Sandy was especially challenging because we had operations spread out across an area the size of Europe, in 13 different states and territories, and one of the most populated regions of the United States. In addition, post landfall we were dealing with bridges, subways, and roads closed, long waits for gas, and a winter storm that hit a few days later with snow! Still, together with our Federal, State and local partners, we mounted a massive response that served hundreds of thousands of people. The vast majority of the people we surveyed were positive about out services and grateful for our help. We are grateful for our generous donors who make this response possible, and for our amazing volunteers who lived in shelters themselves, gave up Thanksgiving and their religious holidays and were willing to be deployed in tough conditions while doing so with kindness and good humor. They are the hallmark ofthe American Red Cross.