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for larger version       Red Cross Responds To Downed Flight The American Red Cross mobilized immediately in responding to the crash of American Airlines Flight 587, which went down on the morning of November 12. Members of the American Red Cross Aviation Incident Response (AIR) Team were activated and deployed to New York. The team members are disaster experts in operations, mental health, health services, logistics and other essential disaster response functions. The American Red Cross AIR Team is dedicated to ensuring the best care and support possible for survivors and family members in the immediate aftermath of an aviation disaster. The team also provides comfort and care to rescue and recovery workers. These actions, although long a part of the Red Cross disaster response, are now authorized by the Aviation Disaster Family Assistance Act of 1996. More than 115 Red Cross volunteers and staff, including Red Cross volunteer nurses and more than 35 bi-lingual Red Cross mental health professionals responded to the site and at the Red Cross Reception Centers at the Ramada Inn near the airport and at Belle Harbor P.S. 114Q, located at 400 Beach 135 Street. The mental health professionals and spiritual counselors offered counseling to family members who may have lost loved ones in the crash. Red Cross staff is being scheduled for the possibility of a 24-hour response operation for at least the next two weeks. A total of 10 emergency response vehicles provided food and warm drinks for the affected families and emergency personnel. The Red Cross opened several shelters throughout the area for the estimated 60 families who were evacuated from the impacted neighborhoods, following the destruction or damage of their homes. Harold Decker, interim CEO of the American Red Cross, traveled to New York to provide support and encouragement to families and relief workers. "The Red Cross will be on hand to help all those affected by this disaster and will remain on the scene as long as needed," said Decker.
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