Four RNRN volunteers standing in front of tent

Nurse volunteers provide medical care in wake of Hurricane Ian

Registered Nurse Response Network (RNRN), in partnership with International Medical Corps, deployed a team of nurse volunteers to Florida earlier this month to help provide medical assistance in the wake of Hurricane Ian. The RNRN team has returned from their two-week deployment.

RN Response Network
October 18, 2022

Nurses preparing to administer vaccines

Nurses Week: RNRN calls on more nurse volunteers to administer Covid-19 vaccine doses through the end of May

Nurses Week is underway and the Registered Nurse Response Network is calling on registered nurse volunteers to assist with Covid-19 vaccinations at the Kedren Community Health Center in partnership with International Medical Corps.

RN Response Network
May 7, 2021

RNRN volunteer administering vaccines

Covid-19 vaccine clinic in South Los Angeles extended through May

Nurse volunteers from the Registered Nurse Response Network (RNRN) have been vaccinating the South Los Angeles community for the past six weeks at the Kedren Community Health Center, in partnership with International Medical Corps.

RN Response Network
April 13, 2021

Nurses preparing vaccines

Nurse volunteers vaccinate thousands in South Los Angeles

Nurse volunteers from the Registered Nurse Response Network (RNRN)—a disaster-relief project of the California Nurses Foundation (CNF) and National Nurses United (NNU)—have been vaccinating the South Los Angeles community for the past three weeks.

National Nurses United
March 22, 2021

Nurses tend to patient in Guatemala

Nurse volunteers donate medical care in Guatemala this Giving Tuesday

A team of registered nurses and nurse practitioners will be making a special gift this Giving Tuesday: the donation of their time, energy, and professional medical expertise when they travel to Guatemala to provide free medical care in rural, underserved health clinics as part of Registered Nurse Response Network (RNRN), a disaster-relief project of National Nurses United and the California Nurses Foundation.

RN Response Network
December 2, 2019

RNRN volunteer with young girle

RN Response Network July 2020 Update

RNRN is monitoring the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season, which is setting records with Hurricane Isaias being the earliest “I” named hurricane in history. In California, there have already been over 4500 fires, more than twice the average normally recorded at this point in the season.

RN Response Network
August 1, 2020

RN Mary Jane Perry in Bahamas

RNRN Sends Nurses to Disaster Areas

When a hurricane turns Category 5 of a massive earthquake devastates a region, it’s a sure bet that the nurses of Registered Nurse Response Network are already recruiting nurse volunteers to help. A disaster relief program sponsored by National Nurses United and California Nurses Foundation, RNRN was organized in 2005 in the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, which dramatically exposed America’s flawed disaster relief system. RNRN volunteer nurses traveled to the devastated Gulf Coast to help provide care for the hundreds of thousands of people abandoned and without food, water, shelter, medical aid, nursing care, or even a basic evacuation plan.

Eleanor Godfrey, Director, Registered Nurse Response Network
January 15, 2020

RN in El Paso

Answering the Call — Registered Nurses Provide Critical Care to Migrant Families

Nurses know that symptoms are indications of a deeper problem. A mother crying over bus tickets is a symptom. “It was just the last straw for her,” said Maria Rojas, RN and a Registered Nurse Response Network (RNRN) volunteer who recently spent three days at Casa Alitas, a Catholic Community Services shelter in Tucson, Ariz., providing medical care to migrant families and asylum seekers recently released from federal detention. Rojas found the woman sobbing outside the shelter office.

RN Response Network
April 2, 2019

IV bag

Hospitals face critical shortage of IV bags due to Puerto Rico hurricane

Hurricane Maria crippled a key maker of fluid bags, and as ‘wellness’ clinics pay a 600% markup, hospitals unable to afford them scramble to make do without.

Julia Carrie Wong writing for The Guardian
January 10, 2018

Erin Carrera, RN

Marin nurses, back from Puerto Rico, urge more hurricane relief

Under a sweltering Puerto Rican sun two weeks after Hurricane Maria hit, thousands of victims — including, children, babies, the elderly and people in wheelchairs — formed a mile-long line awaiting aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency team that had just arrived at a stadium in Rio Grande.

Adrian Rodriguez, Marin Independent Journal
October 30, 2017

Kaiser nurse Catherine Kennedy talks about the dire need she saw in Puerto Rico

Nurses urge Trump to increase aid to Puerto Rico after seeing desperation firsthand

When Sen. Nancy Pelosi called on President Donald Trump this week to increase aid to the residents of hurricane-devastated Puerto Rico, Sacramento-area nurse Catherine Kennedy was by her side.

Cathie Anderson, The Sacramento Bee
October 30, 2017

Additional Content

A national network of direct-care RNs — powered by National Nurses United — that coordinates sending volunteer RNs to disaster stricken areas where and when they are needed most.

RNRN was organized in 2005 when Katrina and Rita — two of the most destructive hurricanes in history — dramatically exposed America’s flawed disaster relief system. RNRN volunteers went to the devastated Gulf Coast to help provide care for the hundreds of thousands of people abandoned and without food, water, shelter, medical aid, nursing care, or even a basic evacuation plan.

RNRN received an overwhelming response to the call for help after a 7.0 earthquake struck Haiti in January, 2010. RNRN answered the call and deployed RNs aboard the USNS Comfort, and to a hospital in northern Haiti where volunteers worked side by side with local RNs.

RNRN also participated in Continuing Promise 2010 with the United States Navy, treating thousands of patients in eight different countries, including Haiti. RNRN supported the relief efforts in Japan after the March 11, 2011 devastating earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis.

In 2012 and 2013, RNRN responded to Hurricane Sandy in the US, and sent several teams to provide assistance in the wake of Super Typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda in the Philippines. In 2015, RNRN returned to our partnership with the US Navy to participate with the Continuing Promise mission, working both on the USNS Comfort as well as in rural clinics, providing medical care to thousands in 11 different countries over the six month mission.

RNRN sprang to immediate action in the wake of the devastating hurricane season of 2017, providing teams of relief RNs to Houston in the wake of Hurricane Harvey, and to Puerto Rico in the wake of Hurricanes Irma and Maria. In 2018, we assisted in the wake of Hurricane Michael in Florida, with teams on the ground within 24 hours of the storm making landfall. Across the nation in California, a team of RNRN volunteers also provided aid to victims of the Camp Fire, which completely decimated the mountain community of Paradise, CA.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Dorian and its near complete destruction of several islands in the Bahamas in 2019, our volunteers assisted at local clinics and communities and heard heartbreaking stories of victims literally swept out to sea by the storm surge as it crossed the island nation. As hurricanes and fires continue to increase in their scope and intensity due to the climate crisis, we expect an ever increasing need for RNs to help.

In addition to our work to provide immediate aid and relief to victims of disasters, and to help those in need, RNRN provided first aid and health  basic health services to the Navajo Nation Fair and Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in 2016, as well as ongoing first aid and health screenings at event across the country. During the devastating Covid-19 pandemic, RNRN volunteers provided much needed vaccine support to underserved communities in South Los Angeles, helping to distribute over 100,000 vaccines alongside other community volunteers and clinic staff.

RNRN deploys and provides support for volunteer nurses when disaster strikes. With RNRN, nurses can focus on providing patient care. RNRN takes care of everything else – including raising funds to cover airfare and lodging, and facilitating out of state licensure when required.

RNRN also conducts educational courses examining the RN’s unique ability to be the driving force in pressing for universal healthcare and disaster preparedness/response standards. We are proud to be the power of nurses helping nurses to respond when disaster strikes.

To join our network of volunteers, visit our sign up form here.

National Nurse Magazine covers RNRN responses to Hurricane Harvey and Standing Rock #NoDAPL

Houston We Have A Problem


First Nations Aid