Volunteer Appreciation Month - John Sternberg

John Sternberg has a long history with the Red Cross. John did community service with the Red Cross during his high school days, and estimates that he’s donated over 5 gallons of blood since age 18. After he retired from the Department of Health and Human Services, he decided to get involved as a Red Cross volunteer.

John, right. Photo courtesy John Sternberg.

He joined the Red Cross Bluegrass Area Chapter in 2021 and began volunteering with the Disaster Action Team (DAT) responding to home fires in the Lexington area. He recently got a new job, so he has not been able to deploy as much as he’d like, but he was able to respond to the train derailment in Eastern Kentucky last year and has qualified to become a sheltering supervisor during disasters.

“I think it’s important to be able to do something when tragedy occurs,” said John. “The best outlet I could find was with the Red Cross.”

Last year, John also got involved with our Hands-Only CPR initiative. Hands-only CPR, or compression-only CPR, is a method of providing quick life-saving measures to someone suffering a cardiac event that only involves providing chest compressions. This process encourages the quick push of blood throughout the body, to ensure the heart is getting the blood it needs to function. John and other hands-only CPR instructors provide instruction across the Kentucky region, including at offices, schools and health fairs. Hands-Only CPR courses do not provide a CPR certification, but they can help familiarize beginners with the signs of a cardiac event. While they do not take the place of a full CPR/First Aid course, Hands-Only CPR courses provide the basic tools a person can use to help gain precious time for someone experiencing a cardiac event until help arrives.

John is a coordinator for the program, and both teaches hands-only CPR courses and recruits and manages hands-only CPR instructors. Part of what made John agree to take on the role was a grant the American Red Cross Kentucky Region received from LG&E KU to support teaching hands-only CPR in communities that need it.

Since the start of the hands-only CPR initiative, the Red Cross has trained more than 500 people across the state in hands-only CPR, 90% of which is youth. The South Central Kentucky chapter has also taught the program in different languages and represented 15 different nationalities.

As a certified First Aid/CPR instructor, John’s happy for the chance to reach communities and train more people with the initiative: “The nice part is to get to the areas where they can't make the monetary or time commitment to do the full CPR course.”

Moving forward, John wants to see the program grow and recruit more hands-only CPR instructors.

Thank you, John, for all you do! If you are interested in becoming a Red Cross volunteer, visit redcross.org/volunteertoday