Nurse Donna Goldsworthy was among the first American Red Cross workers to arrive on American Samoa—a volunteer whose service was inspired, she said, by the assistance the Red Cross provided after the Loma Prieta earthquake of 1989. “I’ve been an earthquake victim myself,” she said in a recent interview from American Samoa. “The Red Cross has been an encouraging influence on my life. I wanted to be a part of them, and so did my family. My sister is a Red Cross trainer, and my father recently had to quit the local disaster response team. He’s 85; now, he works at Red Cross blood drives.”
Goldsworthy is among more than 300 American Red Cross workers—from chapters in American Samoa, Hawaii and the U.S. mainland—working on American Samoa with the thousands of families whose homes were damaged or destroyed by the Sept. 29 tsunami. She and her family are among thousands of people who have been personally affected by disasters, such as the Loma Prieta earthquake, where they have seen the American Red Cross at work—and then been inspired to join that work.
For Goldsworthy, of Hilo, Hawaii, that meant stepping up her training as a nurse and signing up as a Red Cross volunteer in 2000. “I was in Texas last year after Hurricane Ike, working in two different shelters,” Goldsworthy said. “Here on American Samoa, we are out in the field, going from house to house…. Every time we go out to a village, they’re looking better and better….
“I will be here until I’m no longer needed; I’m in for the duration,” Goldsworthy said. “I feel like I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing.”
