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 recognised as being of municipal public utility by Law 5,153/2010 and of state public utility by Law 9,984/2023. It works in volunteer training, first-aid and vocational courses, preventive education and community campaigns, 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: courses, volunteering, donations 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 first-aid and Basic Life Support courses 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, the volunteer training and the Winter Clothing Drive collection happen, 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 two business days.

Seven 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), Venipuncture (8 hours), Civil Firefighter (80 hours), Carer for Older People, an open course (160 hours), and Lip Micropigmentation (24 hours). Every one ends with a certificate issued by the branch. 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. The branch does not teach first aid remotely: 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 branch 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 is paid afterwards on the school platform: R$ 150 for Basic Life Support, Venipuncture and the Lucas Law course, R$ 180 for Basic First Aid, R$ 400 for Lip Micropigmentation, and R$ 950 for Civil Firefighter and for Carer for Older People. None of the courses is free. 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, Venipuncture and Lip Micropigmentation 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. Venipuncture is aimed at health students and professionals, following the rules of the profession.

It is issued by the Brazilian Red Cross — Rio de Janeiro Branch to whoever completes every stage of the course, by an institution recognised in Brazil and abroad for its record in humanitarian and emergency training. It is not accredited by Brazil's Ministry of Education, and no open course is: the ministry regulates formal education — technical, undergraduate and postgraduate — and neither issues nor recognises open-course certificates, 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 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, including Stop the Bleed. If you teach or work with children in Brazil, this is the course the law means.

Yes. The branch runs closed training for companies and schools: 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. This is also one of the ways partner organisations support the branch, alongside institutional donations and campaign sponsorship. Write to contato@cruzvermelhariodejaneiro.org to ask for a proposal.

Through the donation page: you choose the amount, decide whether it is a one-off or a monthly gift, and pay by card or PIX in the institution's own payment environment. The donation stays with the Rio de Janeiro State branch and funds volunteer training, first-aid training, community work, communication and the running costs of the branch. The CNPJ, the address and the e-mail are published on this site so you can check them before giving.

By card only. PIX cannot do it: PIX is Brazil's instant payment system, operated by the country's Central Bank, and it moves money between accounts held at Brazilian banks — there is no way to send one from a bank abroad. Card networks settle across borders, so a card issued anywhere can reach the branch. What stops the online form today is the identification, not the card: it asks for a CPF. If you have none, write to us and we will arrange the payment directly.

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. Once you fill in the official form, the volunteering team presents the areas of work and the initial training, held 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 two business days, with a reference number in the subject line, so it is worth checking your spam folder. That address covers courses, enrolment, donations, 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, donate institutionally, sponsor a campaign or commission training for a team are all handled at that address, and the team replies within two 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.