The Commission for Social Protection and Health Care of the Yekaterinburg City Duma visited the regional branch of the Red Cross in a historic building on the street. Krylova, 2 (House of Volunteers). This year the Russian Red Cross turns 155, and the Sverdlovsk branch of the RKK — 145 years.
Today the regional Red Cross — this is 2.5 thousand members, 24 local and 13 youth branches throughout the Sverdlovsk region. Six more new branches will appear in the foreseeable future. In addition, the organization unites more than 1 800 volunteers.
The list of areas of work of the Red Cross in the Middle Urals is very extensive. Among the priority — training in first aid skills (including master classes for schoolchildren and students), programs of social assistance to those in need, organization of patronage services for the care of the elderly and disabled at home, promotion of donation, prevention of HIV and tuberculosis, revival of the traditions of the festival “Days White Flower”, collection of humanitarian aid, the action “Let's get the child to school” and many many others. Volunteers of the Sverdlovsk RSC actively participate in the projects #GoodVelo and #WeTogether.
Photo: Tatiana Kainova
Chairman of the Sverdlovsk Regional Branch of the Russian Red Cross, Director of the Sverdlovsk Regional Medical College Irina Levina:
— Originally the Red Cross — it is to help citizens in need, to all those who are in difficulty. Today, these traditions are being revived in our Mercy Service. First of all, this is assistance to lonely, limited mobility, chronically ill people, palliative patients. At the same time, these are such forms of work as the popularization of active longevity, the training of specialists in the RKK programs, younger sisters for the care of the elderly, social workers, and nurses. They should be able not only to inspire a person with optimism, but also to encourage him to an active lifestyle!
According to Irina Levina, the meeting with the deputies turned out to be significant in all respects. Once, 145 years ago, it was the representatives of the Yekaterinburg City Duma who provided great assistance to the local branch of the Red Cross. For example, in the building of the Sverdlovsk Regional Medical College, where the House of Volunteers, the Red Cross and a number of other public organizations are located, the Petrovsky Orphanage was once located. It was built at the expense of the merchant Semyon Alekseevich Petrov, who was a vowel (deputy) of the Yekaterinburg City Duma. “I really want the traditions of such interaction in the capital of the Urals to return, because together we can do a lot,” — considers Levin.
The deputies congratulated the representatives of the Red Cross on their anniversary and highly appreciated the work of the Sverdlovsk branch of the RKK. Many questions were asked — both social and historical.
Photo: Tatyana Kainova
Deputy of the Yekaterinburg City Duma, head of the Commission on Social Protection and Health Konstantin Kiselev:
— Such field meetings are extremely important, we deliberately practice this form of work. When doctors, teachers, social activists, volunteers, students see that the authorities, local self-government are seriously interested in their activities, they feel this support, and this stimulates people to new achievements. And in the future, this assistance may reach the administrative level. The things that we have said today are extremely necessary. The Red Cross in the Urals is doing a great job, we are all impressed. Now our task — to support the organization both from the Ministry of Health and from the local self-government of Yekaterinburg. Especially since both the Duma head and deputies were members of the Red Cross in the capital of the Urals, and they provided real help…
According to Konstantin Kiselev, in the process of communicating with representatives of the Sverdlovsk RRC and volunteers, the deputies received a lot of new and interesting information, a lot of positive emotions, and everyone had a desire to help in some way. Not only in a moral and moral sense, but also to call on philanthropists, to connect some lobbying channels. “We will cooperate more closely with the deputies of the Legislative Assembly, who have already entered the budget process,” — said the people's choice.
Deputy of the Yekaterinburg City Duma Andrey Pirozhkov:
— We have a commission for the allocation of social grants, which includes representatives of the city administration and deputies of the City Duma. I believe that some areas of the work of the regional Red Cross may well participate in the competition for funds, this is an absolutely real story…
Deputies of the City Duma of Yekaterinburg also noted that in March 2022 the governor of the Sverdlovsk region Evgeny Kuyvashev< /strong>the first of the heads of regions of the Russian Federation became a member of the Russian Red Cross. This step of his can be considered as a kind of signal to representatives of the regional and city authorities.
Rate the material