Field Placement: American Red Cross National Headquarters
Location: Washington DC
Preceptor: Cindy Long
Student Name: Natalie Drorbaugh
Year: 2004

With the increasing diversity of the U.S. population, the necessity of providing, marketing, and making Red Cross services more accessible and acceptable to diverse populations has come to the forefront. To increase diversity at all levels, the American Red Cross has started several initiatives at a national level, including the Extending Our Reach Strategic Initiative and the Hispanic Initiative. As a Presidential Intern at the American Red Cross National Headquarters in Washington DC, I worked in the Communication and Marketing Department on the Hispanic Initiative (part of the larger Extending Our Reach Strategic Initiative). The 10-week field studies experience afforded me the opportunity to learn about the philosophy, principles, and programs of the Red Cross domestically and internationally. In addition, I was able to work in an area related to public health and Hispanics which allowed me to grow as a public health professional and world citizen.

Under the direction of the Director of Publications & Online Services Redcross.org and the officer in charge of the Hispanic Initiative in the New Markets & Research division of the Communication and Marketing department and with members of the Corporate Diversity and Biomedical departments, I was involved in three projects as part of the field studies experience. These were: a) developing two questionnaires to measure chapter and blood service region capacity to serve diverse populations, current efforts to serve those populations, and information on how National Headquarters can best support local efforts; b) expanding, updating, and improving the Redcross.org en español website; and c) preparing and translating presentations for use in outreach to Hispanic/Latino populations. These projects helped improve and expand the amount of materials available to Spanish-speaking populations and will help National Headquarters establish a baseline of the current activities, problems, services, etc. of local units (chapters and blood service regions) to be used in increasing efforts to extend services to more diverse populations.

During my field experience at the American Red Cross from June 21, 2004 to August 27, 2004, I was given the opportunity to experience first-hand the operation of a large, national non-profit organization. I was able to participate in meetings with executives and interact with members of various departments while applying public health skills for the completion of the projects. The field experience gave me the opportunity to gain insight into my future career goals as well as my strengths and weaknesses on both a personal and professional level. I learned to work very independently to accomplish goals and objectives, and was given the opportunity to learn in detail about the organization.

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