Washington University is the first university and 150th member of the American Red Cross Ready Rating Program. The program, which originated in St. Louis, provides free assistance to businesses, schools and organizations in emergency planning.
The University’s membership in the Ready Rating Program and national rollout of the program was announced at a Sept. 22 news conference at Anheuser-Busch, the program’s founding sponsor.
An additional $2.1 million gift from Anheuser-Busch will allow the Ready Rating Program to expand to another 16 major U.S. cities, including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.
WUSTL’s Beaumont Pavilion was the site of the Sept. 23 national satellite media tour announcing to TV news programs, radio shows and Web sites the program’s expansion in the new cities.
“The Ready Rating Program is an excellent tool to help schools and businesses prepare for emergencies ranging from earthquakes to the H1N1 flu,” said Mark Bagby, University emergency coordinator. “The program’s expansion offers organizations from across the country an opportunity to prepare their students, employees and volunteers to safely and quickly respond to a crisis and resume activities as quickly as possible.”
Through the Ready Rating Program, which began in 2008, organizations can use an online checklist to measure their preparedness for emergencies. Program members score themselves annually with the checklist and maintain their membership by developing and implementing an emergency response plan and improving their overall score each year.
“Business leaders and school officials know how important it is to be ready for an emergency, but they often don’t take the right steps to prepare because they don’t know where to start or they do not have the time,” said Joe White, senior vice president for chapter operations at the American National Red Cross.
“This program was created to give businesses and schools an easy starting point so they can feel more confident about the safety of employees and students,” White said.
For more information about the Ready Rating Program, visit readyrating.org.