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Then came the disastrous drought and depression of the 1930s. In addition to providing food and shelter, Red Cross workers distributed millions of bushels of wheat and flour donated by the government. Nearly 6 million needy families around the country received Red Cross assistance.
In addition to first aid training, Red Cross also helped curb highway fatalities. Emergency First Aid Stations were housed in existing facilities ranging from stores and inns to filling stations and firehouses. Red Cross chapters provided first aid training to ensure that assistance was within the call of any accident victim. Mobile units composed of fleets of trucks, highway patrols, and other vehicles were also organized. Local Red Cross chapters were responsible for first aid kits and guaranteed that stations met sanitation requirements. The stations, which were required to respond to appeals within their territory, maintained lists of available doctors and ambulances. By 1939, there were nearly 5,000 posts and mobile units with trained volunteers. American Red Cross nurses continued to minister to the sick in mountain communities, on islands off the U.S. coast, and in industrial communities, examining 559,000 school children, and treating 162,000 children for birth defects. At Ellis Island in New York, the nurses also tended immigrants awaiting resettlement. In 1937, James L. Fieser, vice chairman in charge of domestic operations observed: "It was just 25 years ago that Red Cross Public Health Nurses started out over rough country roads and along the fringes of settlement to bring messages of better health to those deprived of medical services by the barrier of distances." Between 1936 and 1937, Red Cross Public Health Nurses made over one million visits to or on behalf of the sick. During this same period, Red Cross workers took the first steps in recruiting blood donors for hospitals, laying the groundwork in 1937-38 for what later would become the American Red Cross Blood Services program. The first Red Cross blood center was established in New York's Presbyterian Hospital in February 1941. Its director was Charles Drew, M.D., pioneer of modern blood processing techniques. By this time, nearly every family in America had a member who
had either served as a Red Cross volunteer, made a contribution
of money or blood, or been a recipient of Red Cross services. NEXT: The American Red Cross and World War II. |
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Deal legislation during the Great Depression put the unemployed
on the federal payroll to perform traditional volunteer tasks,
thus diminishing the need for voluntary service. For example, in
1934, the Civil Works Administration requested that federal,
unskilled workers be trained by the Red Cross in first-aid
techniques. Chapters provided training for this federal safety
program, eventually certifying more than 48,000 workers.
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