CHIAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Five Red Cross volunteers from the Chicago area are en route - or getting ready to go to the Southeast to help people affected by Hurricane Dorian.
She's already packed. But now, the day before she flies out of O'Hare, Red Cross volunteer Ruth Richardson is going through a familiar ritual at her Tinley Park home.
"Each time I deploy I learn something different I want to put in that suitcase - either more or less. And it never fails that I go through it and say, 'I better go through that one more time.' And that's what I'm doing now," she said.
For this trip, Richardson is adding detergent packets to her one carry-on suitcase.
Richardson was a registered nurse for 38 years. She's retired now, and this is her fourth deployment with the Red Cross, where she's part of the health services team, but she said there's so much more to it.
"Listening to people. I think that was probably one of the greatest things that you can do, especially after a disaster. A lot of people just want to talk about what happened."
Richardson's deployment for Hurricane Dorian is 10 days.