• Armed Forces
• Blood Services
• Disaster
• Health and Safety

• Board of Directors
• Annual Report
• How to Contact Us
• Email Access

• Image Optimizer
• FavIcon Generator
• Email Riddler
• htaccess Password
• htaccess Banning

Emergency Messages:

A close family member contacts their local Red Cross requesting the Red Cross to deliever an emergency communication to an active duty service member.

A close family member is defined as a:

Spouse, Parent, Child and Grandchild, Sibling, Great and Grandparent, Legal Guardian, Only living blood relative or Undeclared Family members such as fiancee, domestic partner, or common-law spouse.

An emergency is defined as:

A sudden, generally unexpected, occurance of a time-critical and short-term nature that disrupts or threatens to disrupt the norm and that demands immediate action or attention such as Illness, Death, Birth, Injury, Crime, Suicide Intervention, etc.

A Case Worker will request the caller provide the following Service Member information:

• Service Member Name
• Service Member SSN
• Service Member Date of Birth
• Branch of Service
• Service Member Rank
• Service Member Phone Number and Military Address

A Case Worker will also ask caller to provide their contact information such as:

• Caller's Name, Address and Phone Number
• The Nature of the Emergency Message

A Case Worker must verify the emergency by contacting the treating physician, hospital, funeral home, or other emergency personnel and/or officials such as police, sheriff, clerk of court, etc.   The HIPPA law allows medical personnel to verify emergencies with Red Cross.  It is helpful if the caller knows the name and contact number of the doctor, hospital, funeral home, etc.

If an emergency exists, the Case Worker delievers the message and provides the caller with a follow-up status when the message has been successfully delivered.

Callers may request: 

1. a service member contact caller direct
2. "notification only" or "notification and presence"
3. Clergyman's presence during delivery of message. 

Only the military can grant a leave.  Emergency Leave is generally granted, if granted, when there is a serious illness or death of an immediate family member and after a Red Cross Case Worker verifies the serious emergency. 

Regarding birth announcements, only birth mothers may request birth notification.   Pre-birth notifications may be made 45 days prior to the due date to request the presence of the service man.  Again, emergency leave or regular leave to attend the birth is granted by the military command.

More Information