Long-time Red Cross official retires but isn’t going far

Published 6:25 pm Friday, September 11, 2009

EVERETT — Kris Krischano has responded to disasters for more than a decade.

Now, he said, it’s the right time to step down from his position as public affairs officer for the Snohomish County Chapter of the American Red Cross.

“I’m not a young man anymore,” he said. “They say you can feel when it’s time and I felt maybe it is time.”

Krischano, 75, started work at the Red Cross in September 1998. As a volunteer, he responded to national disasters including floods in Florida and Iowa, a tornado in Tennessee, a wildfire in Eastern Washington and a fatal plane crash in California.

His first national assignment only lasted one day.

While responding to the aftermath of a hurricane in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in late September 1998, he told a nurse he was taking a blood thinner during a routine orientation process. She told him he couldn’t stay.

“I was devastated thinking ‘Don’t send me home, just please don’t send me home,’” he said.

Instead of returning to Everett, Krischano was reassigned to a flood in Wichita, Kan., the very next day.

The most memorable experience he said was working in New York City following the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

“It took me two days to get from Seattle to New York,” he said. “Out of my side of the airplane you could still see the burning building. So everyone looked over and saw the devastation. It was a terrible situation.”

He worked less than a mile from the ground zero site as a Red Cross representative for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, collecting information from the Red Cross headquarters in Brooklyn and passing it on to emergency personnel.

Locally, Krischano’s job included a variety of responsibilities, said Chuck Morrison, executive director of the Snohomish County Chapter of the Red Cross. He was responsible for all media interaction, he said. He helped spread information when victims of Hurricane Katrina relocated in Snohomish County. He was there every time a fire broke out and a family needed help.

“He’s a caring and compassionate person above all else,” Morrison said. “He’s one of the most active and influential volunteers we’ve had for the six years I’ve been here.”

Krischano worked as a Navy journalist in the early 1960s. One of his first assignments was an interview with astronaut Neil Armstrong during a trip to Seattle.

The interview could have gone better, he admitted. It was the day of the Speed Graphic camera and a note pad but no tape recorder. Nerves got in the way.

“I was so taken by who he was,” Krischano said. “I felt uncomfortable writing while he was talking because I wanted to pay attention to what he was telling me so I didn’t take very many notes.”

It was a learning experience, he added, but an article was written. It was just one of many articles, speeches, letters and press releases Krischano would also write as a volunteer.

He retired from the Navy as a senior chief journalist in 1975 after 20 years of service. He went back to school to earn a bachelor’s degree in business from Central Washington University and then became an active member of the Navy League of the United States. He lobbied in support of building Naval Station Everett from its selection as a site in 1984. He voluntarily served as the Navy League’s Washington state president, president of its Everett council, the group’s national director and chairman of its national public affairs committee.

His interest in the Red Cross spiked while he was volunteering as a public affairs officer and chairman of volunteers for the Navy-Marine Corps Relief organization. Other Red Cross volunteers told him about the organization and encouraged his participation.

The next 11 years were “quite the adventure” he said and included being recognized for his work as a recipient of the Red Cross’ Glassberg Award by the Snohomish County Chapter in 2006 and the American Red Cross West Service Area “Best in the West Service Award-Public Affairs Professional of the Year” award in 2008.

His decision to leave is difficult but Krischano said it’s not really goodbye. He’ll be ready to help the Red Cross whenever they need him.

“I call it a sabbatical because I’ll be there to volunteer for the next disaster and they know that,” he said. “They’ll welcome me with open arms, and I’ll be glad to do it.”

Amy Daybert: 425-339-3491, adaybert@heraldnet.com.