Boy Scouts of America and American Red Cross Establish Ties for Nationwide Health and Safety Training Curriculum

  
The Boy Scouts of America and American Red Cross have signed a first-ever agreement between the two organizations that will enable more youth and adults to "be prepared" for lifesaving situations in their local communities. Demonstrating an ongoing commitment to readiness education, the leaders of the Boy Scouts of America and the American Red Cross formalized a national training agreement that establishes the Boy Scouts as an authorized provider of Red Cross health and safety programs.

A century of cooperation spans the history of the organizations, and the agreement signed on February 11, 2003 is the culmination of two years of collaborative efforts to develop a comprehensive program for Scout leaders and youth members nationwide. Local BSA councils, in conjunction with local Red Cross chapters, will train and certify BSA volunteers to teach potentially lifesaving courses in first aid, CPR, emergency response, and lifeguard training.

Since its inception, the Boy Scouts has been known for its preparedness training of both youth and adults. This partnership with the Red Cross is an important component to ensuring BSA youth and volunteers have the best training available. As a result, instructors and instructor trainers will be established in more than 300 Boy Scout Councils. Training areas include Red Cross Lifeguarding, First Aid/CPR/AED, and Emergency Response. Preventing Disease Transmission and Babysitter’s Training are also part of the program, along with Wilderness First Aid and CPR for the Professional Rescuer.

The Red Cross training curriculum will be available to BSA youth participants and adult volunteers to help earn the Emergency Preparedness, First Aid, and Lifesaving merit badges. To date, more than 9.5 million merit badges have been earned in these three categories combined. These numbers will only continue to grow with the help of this collaboration between the BSA and Red Cross.

The agreement offers numerous benefits to both the BSA and the Red Cross, the most important being the synergy gained between the two organizations to effectively meet the needs within the local community. The BSA will also benefit from the high-quality, standardized, and regularly revised training programs the Red Cross provides. Participants in the training will now receive both BSA and Red Cross certifications. Local councils will have the increased ability to recruit and regularly retrain lifeguards nationwide to meet growing needs for Boy Scout summer camps and Cub Scout day camps. Additionally, training requirements for both youth and adults will be more readily accessible in first aid/CPR, aquatics, and care giving.

The Red Cross will now be able to reach and serve more youth and adults through the Red Cross training, which represents the potential of more than 250,000 individuals trained in Red Cross courses annually. There will be an increase in actual and potential sources of volunteers to assist the Red Cross in emergencies. And more Red Cross instructors will be available to teach courses, not only within Scouting but also to the community at large.

The Scout motto to ‘Be prepared’ complements the mission of the American Red Cross to help people prevent, prepare for and respond to emergencies. The organizations are taking an important step toward achieving this common mission with this training agreement that will equip more than three million youth and 1.2 million adult Scouting volunteers with the skills they need to save lives.

The Boy Scouts will help the American Red Cross reach even more people with health and safety training and save more lives. The signing of this training agreement between the organizations will create even more heroes by preparing Scouts across the country to render aid when lives are at stake. The historic agreement also represents the potential for future combined educational efforts in areas such as disaster response and endeavors complimentary to the Boy Scout and Red Cross commitment to community service and volunteerism.

This is a great opportunity for local offices of both organizations to leverage their existing relationship, and provide volunteers with significant benefits in return. The agreement will help the Red Cross benefit from the creativity and talents of individuals in the Boy Scout organization who may wish to put their training to work as Red Cross volunteers. We all share a responsibility to be prepared to help others in an emergency.

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