Tag Archives: American Red Cross

Long before Pearl Harbor, an entire hospital was sent to help England in World War II

May 26, 2022

Edward Tabor Bethesda, MD, United States   An Allied convoy underway in the Atlantic Ocean near Iceland. Photo c. 1942. National Archives and Records Administration via Wikimedia. Public domain. Harvard University President James B. Conant had the idea of sending a fully staffed hospital to England to help the British in their war with Germany […]

The gift of life—From whom?

February 10, 2020

George M. Pantalos Louisville, Kentucky, United States    Students at the “Banned Blood” display outside the University of Louisville Red Barn, where a Red Cross blood drive was being held on campus in 2011. The students’ goal was to raise awareness about the FDA lifetime deferral from blood donation of all men who have sex […]

Bleeding science dry: The history of scientific racism and blood

February 10, 2020

Matthew Casas Kansas City, United States   Help the Red Cross. U.S. Food Administration. Educational Division. Advertising Section. 1917 – 1919. National Archives Catalog, identifier 512661. One might be familiar with the expression “We All Bleed Red.” But what exactly does blood have to say about our “humanity”? Ripe with good intention, the aforementioned mantra […]

All blood runs red

February 6, 2020

Mel Diomampo Houston, TX   Miss Clara Barton. Mathew Brady. ca. 1860 – ca. 1865. US National Archives. The American Red Cross (ARC) is an independent, neutral organization ensuring humanitarian protection and assistance for victims of armed conflict and other disasters. Based on the Geneva Convention of 1949, its work primarily consists of responding to […]

Defining donation

January 30, 2020

Ahmad Shakeri Howsikan Kugathasan Toronto, Canada   Money for blood can be another tool we consider in solving shortage. Image: “Today’s blood on an old receipt – merry christmas!” Photo by carloscappaticci, Dec. 24, 2007, on Flickr. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0. Money was tight in college for my roommate and me. I had a book buying […]

“The Blood Battle”: Using science to combat the fear of blood

January 28, 2020

Kayla Peña Providence, Rhode Island   U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Marcy Copeland/Released. Public domain. Forty years ago, the University of Michigan and Ohio State University competed in their first “Blood Battle.” Although typically known for their football rivalry, in 1982 the universities decided to expand their competition to see which school could […]

Bad blood

January 13, 2020

Andrea Dejean Toulouse, France   In France, churches, villages and vineyards are rarely very far apart. By Andrea Dejean. The French Blood Agency (l’Établissement français du sang; EFS) organizes frequent blood collection campaigns in the small city where I live in southwestern France. These campaigns are often planned to take place before the start of […]