Is there anything in the U.S. that is not monetized?! I get that The Red Cross is a nonprofit…read more(meaning they don't pay a penny in taxes). I get that they are well rated as a charity (when graded on a curve it seems). If I lose Yelp friends over this, then be it. I don't know that most people read my reviews anyway lol.
I don't understand how TRC can charge for the CPR courses. They are basically discriminating against anyone who can't afford them. For some people working in certain fields, they are free. For others who need to learn it like low paid caregivers, they have to pay their own way. This is how I found out they won't budge on the CPR classes, my caregiver friend told me how expensive it was. These classes should be an entitlement. Yes, you heard me. Learning CPR is something we do not for ourselves, but for OTHER people. It does not benefit us, but others' lives we try to save. Imagine all the people who die everyday of cardiac arrest, heart attacks etc...who could have been saved had there been 1 person around them trained to save them.
Yes, I get that those teaching the courses have to get paid. But that money is already coming from their community donations (us), blood sales (thanks to blood donators), federal and state agency donations (thanks to us tax payers), and their many corporate donations (thanks to us buying goods and services at inflated prices so that these companies can donate for optics and writing it off). They also save by using a lot of free labor from volunteers. At least they can offer reduced fees or free for those who are poor. At least they can offer free classes for those who give blood. I mean, they don't give back outside of disasters, and is it even enough? It's the principle of the matter, not just the high cost. It's $126 for the needed course per online prices, over the phone they quoted something higher whe we asked for a discount. Their response was they needed the money to help victims in disasters. So the poor who can barely survive need to help other poor people? Unfortunately, that is how it works, but it is not right.
The executives at this non profit are paid handsomely, not like say, for profit healthcare, but still way more than expected, please see link below. This is 3 years old, so I imagine their pay has increased as I see a 25% increase from 2021 to 2022, so that would make the top person at nearly a million now right? https://paddockpost.com/2024/03/24/executive-compensation-at-the-american-red-cross-2022/
Let's hope that should people out there experience a medical emergency, that they are amongst people, at least 1, who could have afforded the training, or the few who get the training at work. It's so random leaving it up to chance, everyone who wants to be trained should be trained for the good and health of our communities!
While I wholeheartedly appreciate what they do, I can simultaneously criticize them as well. Others can do it better if given the means. So many people in the U.S. don't have their most basic needs met, including medical care. We live in late stage Capitalism, so I guess not being able to save one another without payment upfront shouldn't be a big shocker.
THE AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION is the same!
