Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: transfusions

  • Yellow blood: Learn from yesterday

    Meguna NakaiNagoya, Japan In 2020 Japan will host the second Tokyo Olympics. When the first Olympics were televised in 1964, people were surprised to find that Japan had developed so quickly even though only nineteen years had passed after World War II. Yet there remained much to be done. One urgent need was to improve…

  • The history and significance of voluntary, non-remunerated blood donation

    Hans Erik HeierOslo, Norway “While we have now begun to understand the cost of everything, we are in danger of losing track of the value of anything”—Ann Oakley and John Ashton, 1993 Voluntary, non-remunerated blood donation in catastrophe September 11, 2001: Two passenger airplanes are crashed into the World Trade Towers in New York, and…

  • Norman Bethune’s mobile blood transfusions

    Irving RosenToronto, Ontario, Canada Norman Bethune was born in Ontario’s cottage country in 1895 to missionary parents who influenced him to try to improve conditions for mankind. This resulted in his drive to elaborate grandiose plans that were often unrealized. One important exception was a Spanish sojourn that provided him with a unique opportunity as…