Project RED is a partnership between Singapore Red Cross Community Resilience Department and LKC, distinct from NTU Red Cross Chapter.

 

The aim of Project RED is to make the community more resilient through the acquisition and provision of lifesaving skills (Standard First Aid with AED (SFAAED) in the framework of SRC’s Community First Aid (CFA) programme, with the goal of training each volunteer to the level required to eventually become a SRC Community Responder. SRC equips and certifies medical students from LKC with Standard First Aid + AED skills for FREE in return for them serving a minimum of 24hrs in the medical-centric initiatives of the Singapore Red Cross Community Resilience Department.

 

The Project serves as a streamlined platform for volunteers to gain access to these medical initiatives of SRC, circumventing numerous processes General Volunteers have to undergo to get involved. It does so by liaising with Red Cross on behalf of the volunteers, following which volunteers can sign up for whichever initiative piques their interest in their own time, so long as they complete a 24hr service commitment within 2 years of obtaining the certification.

 

Being distinct from the NTU Red Cross Chapter allows the Project to focus predominantly on the medical volunteering opportunities offered by Singapore Red Cross, while allowing there to be greater flexibility to allow for LKC’s academic schedule.

 

Project RED was founded on two distinct needs:

1. The need in Singapore Red Cross for a constant pool of trained volunteers to contribute to their medical initiatives, preferably volunteers with some medical background.

2. The need for first aid awareness or training amongst interested medical students, especially pre-clinical medical students, providing them with hands-on experience in treating and managing patients in a pre-hospital context- a far cry from the very sterile, clinical context taught in medical school and one which is far more applicable to their daily lives.

 

Initiatives which volunteers can expect to help include Community First Aid (CFA), where volunteers assist in numerous events islandwide; First Aid on Wheels (FAoW), a routine coverage of East Coast Park (ECP), Sentosa and Ubin. Singapore Red Cross has kindly allocated us two FAoW shifts per month for volunteers (especially first timers) to be introduced to the real-life provision of first aid in a safe and controlled environment under the supervision of more senior volunteers. Besides that, Project RED has been tasked to cover various Community First Aid events, namely those in NTU or in the western side of Singapore. Recently, the Project also has provided first aid coverage for the 2019 Let’s Take A Walk Walkathon, a 3 day-2 night event across Singapore.

 

Dedicated volunteers can look forward to serving in more initiatives under Singapore Red Cross, with opportunities to serve as a Community Responder (which responds to panic button calls by elderly living alone), under the Home Monitoring and Eldercare (HoME+) programme, volunteers play a crucial role in being community responders when abnormal activity is observed of vulnerable elderly. This helps to ensure that the beneficiaries receive the help they urgently need.

 

For more information, please contact Ryan Chan at ryan0061@e.ntu.edu.sg or Joey Chen at jchen075@e.ntu.edu.sg. Thank you!