Frequently asked questions about the Brazilian Red Cross — Rio de Janeiro Branch

It is the Rio de Janeiro State branch of the Brazilian Red Cross, the National Society of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement in Brazil. It is a non-profit association, registered under CNPJ 08.560.973/0001-97 and officially recognised as a public-interest organisation by Municipal Law 5,153/2010 and State Law 9,984/2023. It trains its own volunteers, including in first aid, and works in preventive education and community campaigns (the paid courses are run by its school, a separate company), from the Red Cross Palace in central Rio de Janeiro.

No. The Brazilian Red Cross is the National Society for the whole country; this site belongs to its Rio de Janeiro State branch, one of the branches within that national structure. If you are looking for the National Society itself — for official positions, national programmes or matters covering other states — that is a different body. What you will find here is what the Rio de Janeiro branch runs directly: volunteer training, campaigns and community work in this state.

No. The branch does not run a clinic, does not schedule medical appointments and does not answer emergency calls. In an emergency anywhere in Brazil, call 192 for an ambulance or 193 for the fire brigade; both are free and answer in Portuguese. What the branch does is prepare people to act until professional help arrives: the paid first-aid and Basic Life Support courses of the branch's school teach CPR, bleeding control and choking response to anyone, with a certificate at the end.

The headquarters is the Red Cross Palace, at Praça da Cruz Vermelha, 10, Centro, Rio de Janeiro, postcode 20230-130. That is where the in-person courses and the volunteer training happen, on the days and times of each class. Donations for the Winter Clothing Drive are received Monday to Friday, 10am to 5pm. The area is served by metro, train, light rail and buses. Before travelling, confirm what you need by writing to contato@cruzvermelhariodejaneiro.org; the team replies within three business days.

Six paid in-person courses, all taught at the headquarters in central Rio de Janeiro: Basic First Aid (8 hours), First Aid under the Lucas Law, for settings with children (8 hours), Basic Life Support, or BLS (4 hours), Peripheral IV Cannulation (8 hours), Civil Firefighter (80 hours) and Carer for Older People, a non-accredited course (160 hours). They are sold and certified by the branch's school, the Escola de Educação e Saúde (O-CVB Filial Rio de Janeiro Ensino Ltda, CNPJ 67.733.551/0001-35), a company linked to the branch. The branch itself, a non-profit association, trains its own volunteers free of charge; it does not run free courses open to the public. There are no technical or nursing degree programmes.

No. Every course is taught in Portuguese, in person, at the headquarters in central Rio de Janeiro, and the teaching material is in Portuguese as well. There is no interpreting and no separate group in another language. Practical first aid — CPR, choking, bleeding control — is learned by doing it with an instructor beside you, so following the class in Portuguese matters. If you are reading this in English but speak Portuguese comfortably, you are welcome.

All in person, at Praça da Cruz Vermelha, 10, in central Rio de Janeiro. First aid is not taught remotely here: CPR, choking response and bleeding control need a manikin and an instructor beside you, and that practice is what gives the certificate its weight. Enrolment, on the other hand, is done online. The certificate is issued by the school, O-CVB Filial Rio de Janeiro Ensino Ltda, and is valid across Brazil, not only in Rio de Janeiro State.

Enrolment costs R$ 99, paid once by card or PIX, and holds your place. The course fee can be paid together with the enrolment fee or afterwards on the school platform: R$ 150 for Basic Life Support, Peripheral IV Cannulation and the Lucas Law course, R$ 180 for Basic First Aid, and R$ 950 for Civil Firefighter and for Carer for Older People. These courses are paid, and they are sold and certified by the school, O-CVB Filial Rio de Janeiro Ensino Ltda, a company linked to the branch. The branch itself does not run free courses for the public: it trains only its own volunteers, free of charge, after a selection process (see the Portuguese page Formação de voluntários, /cursos-gratuitos/). The enrolment form asks for a CPF, the Brazilian individual taxpayer number, so if you do not have one, write to us first.

It depends on the course. Basic First Aid, the Lucas Law course, Basic Life Support and Carer for Older People ask for completed lower secondary schooling (ensino fundamental); Civil Firefighter and Peripheral IV Cannulation ask for completed secondary schooling (ensino médio). The first-aid courses and Basic Life Support are open to anyone, with no health background at all. Peripheral IV Cannulation is aimed at health students and professionals, following the rules of the profession.

It is issued by the branch's school, O-CVB Filial Rio de Janeiro Ensino Ltda (CNPJ 67.733.551/0001-35), a company linked to the Brazilian Red Cross — Rio de Janeiro Branch, to whoever completes every stage of the course. It is not accredited by Brazil's Ministry of Education, and no course of this kind is: the ministry regulates formal education — technical, undergraduate and postgraduate — and neither issues nor recognises certificates for non-accredited courses, here or anywhere else. For Civil Firefighter, professional accreditation is arranged separately at the end.

The Lucas Law (Federal Law 13,722/2018) requires every basic-education school in Brazil, state and private, and every children's play facility, to train teachers and staff in basic first aid. The branch's school, the Escola de Educação e Saúde (O-CVB Filial Rio de Janeiro Ensino Ltda), runs the course built for it: First Aid under the Lucas Law — Settings with Children, eight in-person hours covering assessment of a child, CPR, choking, falls, trauma, seizures, burns and bleeding, plus prevention and up-to-date paediatric first-aid protocols. If you teach or work with children in Brazil, this is the course the law means.

Yes. Closed training for companies and schools is contracted with the branch's school, the Escola de Educação e Saúde (O-CVB Filial Rio de Janeiro Ensino Ltda): occupational-safety (NR) training, first-aid training under the Lucas Law — which schools, nurseries and teams working with children need — and programmes built around a particular team. Organisations anywhere in Rio de Janeiro State can request one. Partner organisations can also support the branch's campaigns, such as the Winter Clothing Drive. Write to contato@cruzvermelhariodejaneiro.org to ask for a proposal.

Yes. Money donations to the Brazilian Red Cross Rio de Janeiro branch are made on the donation page, by PIX or card (once or monthly), and the receipt arrives by e-mail with the branch's CNPJ (the payment screen is in Portuguese). You can also help by volunteering, registering on the official volunteer form (the branch trains its own volunteers, and the working language is Portuguese); by bringing winter clothing, blankets and shoes to the headquarters for the Winter Clothing Drive, Monday to Friday, 10am to 5pm; or, for companies, schools and institutions, by proposing a partnership at contato@cruzvermelhariodejaneiro.org. The team replies within three business days, in English, Spanish or Portuguese.

Winter clothing, blankets and shoes are received at the headquarters, Praça da Cruz Vermelha, 10, Centro, by the Winter Clothing Drive, Monday to Friday, 10am to 5pm. Sorting gives priority to coats and warm clothing, blankets without tears, socks, gloves, hats, scarves, long-sleeved tops and closed shoes in pairs. Bring the items clean, in good condition and separated by type and size — that way the help reaches people faster, with nothing wasted. For anything else, ask the team first.

Fill in the official volunteering form. The volunteering team then contacts you to explain the areas of work, the initial training, which takes place at the headquarters in central Rio de Janeiro, and the next meetings. Calls for campaigns, actions and new training groups are also announced on Instagram, @cruzvermelhabrasileirarj, and in the news section of this site. Questions before signing up? The volunteering team has its own WhatsApp number, (21) 97036-0264.

Neither is needed: the branch trains its own volunteers. After you fill in the official form, the volunteering team gets in touch and holds a selection interview; those accepted take the CBFI, the initial volunteer training, which opens four times a year at the headquarters. The branch works in volunteer training, first-aid training, preventive education and community support, through campaigns such as the Winter Clothing Drive and the Impacto das Cores project, so there is room for very different profiles. Volunteering and the paid courses are separate paths, with separate teams.

Yes, and the branch welcomes it — but the working language is Portuguese. The initial training, the team meetings and the community work all happen in Portuguese, so you need to follow a conversation comfortably. There is no separate group in another language. If that describes you, fill in the official volunteering form like anyone else and mention that you are a foreign resident: it helps the team place you where your languages are an asset.

By e-mail, at contato@cruzvermelhariodejaneiro.org. The team replies within three business days, with a reference number in the subject line, so it is worth checking your spam folder. That address covers courses, enrolment, campaigns and partnerships. The Portuguese pages of this site also carry a contact chat in the corner, which replies by e-mail all the same. Volunteering has its own WhatsApp number, (21) 97036-0264, for people who want to volunteer.

Write to contato@cruzvermelhariodejaneiro.org and say what you have in mind. Sister National Societies, institutions and companies wanting to partner, support a campaign or commission training for a team are all handled at that address, and the team replies within three business days. For anything concerning the Brazilian Red Cross nationally, rather than the Rio de Janeiro State branch, the National Society is the right door.