University of Tennessee Athletics
Saturday Fundraiser Aims to Help Red Cross
September 25, 2009 | Football
Sept. 25, 2009
BY AUSTIN BAIRD
UTSports.com
Every Saturday in Neyland Stadium, Red Cross volunteers are on hand to provide emergency medical support and first aid to Tennessee fans.
This week, Tennessee is hoping to return the favor.
Various groups will collect donations to benefit the Knoxville Area Chapter of the American Red Cross before Saturday's 7 p.m. game against Ohio.
UT coach Lane Kiffin encouraged fans to support a group that helps support the Vols.
"The Red Cross does a lot to support our fans on gamedays," Kiffin said. "I hope Tennessee fans will show that same kind of support to their efforts before the game this week."
The Red Cross First Aid Station Team, known as FAST, has provided emergency support in Neyland Stadium since 1959.
Over the years, the Knoxville chapter has steadily increased the number of volunteers and improved the training those volunteers receive. Some 35-50 FAST volunteers staff UT home games, and that group includes many highly trained professionals like emergency medical technicians, paramedics, registered nurses and doctors.
According to the Red Cross, FAST treated more than 1,900 fans - whose ages ranged from 2 months to 91 years - and transported 296 to local hospitals between 1998 and 2007. Over that same time span, those volunteers, who arrive more than two hours before games and stay more than 90 minutes after the game ends, logged more than 340,000 hours.
It's a valuable service, says one Tennessee student who received treatment at a game last year.
"I hit my head and was cut pretty bad," said Sam Wilson, who fell during the first quarter of last year's Florida game. "They cleaned me up and made sure I didn't have a concussion or anything quick enough that I was back in my seat before the second quarter started.
"I thought I would have to go to the hospital and miss the rest of the game, but it was great to have medical people right in the stadium."
While FAST provides service to fans for free, the Red Cross absorbs the cost of identifying capable volunteers and then supplying them with appropriate training for UT games.
"While we have absorbed the costs in the past, with the current economy, every donation means that much more," said Boyd Romines, executive director of the Knoxville Area Red Cross. "This is a very important fundraiser for us, and we appreciate any support we receive.
"We hope to continue serving this community for a long time to come."
In addition to its support of Tennessee fans on gamedays, the Knoxville Chapter of the Red Cross annually trains more than 20,000 volunteers in lifesaving skills such as CPR and First Aid, sponsors 38 area school health clinics and teaches water safety to tens of thousands of children. It also trains more than 250 local adults to become certified nurse assistants and helps victims of home and apartment fires.
To help support the services provided by the Red Cross, members of Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity, the UT chapter of the NAACP, the Red Cross Club at Farragut High School, family members and friends of FAST Team members and many others will join in the pre-game collection for the Red Cross.
For more information or to get involved with the Red Cross's efforts, call 865-584-2999 or visit the Knoxville Chapter's Web site at www.knoxarc.org.
