See what our staff say

Patrizia Lombardi – Team leader crisis response contact centre, and emergency response volunteer

What’s your role at British Red Cross?

I work at the crisis response central hub in Manchester, where we receive calls about incidents from all over the UK. It’s our job to source volunteers who are able to help out. Off the back of that, I also volunteer as an Emergency Response Volunteer on the frontline at some of those incidents. I have helped at the Doncaster floods, Bolton student floods and most recently welcoming families back from China at the start of the Coronavirus outbreak.

What does a typical day look like for you?

We take inbound calls from the fire service, UK power networks etc. who let us know what has happened and that there are people who need our help and we source volunteers who can do this. The type of incident can range from a small house fire to a major national incident.

What’s your team like?

Our central hub has recently celebrated its 3rd birthday, and there is a small team of us who have been here since the start. The centre previously opened out of hours, but we are now open 24 hours a day so have taken on new staff who are all great. It’s a friendly, supportive atmosphere and we all care about helping people who need it.

Favourite thing about working here?

My day to day role means I can help out with deploying volunteers to help people who really need it, but that I can also experience what it’s like to be one of those volunteers out in the frontline. I like that I can dip into the different services we offer. I am interested in doing some work in refugee services and independent living and I know that I will be supported to do so. As well as me gaining more experience, it benefits those we support and help.