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Charles Richard Drew: The American Red Cross Blood Bank

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Charles Richard Drew was born June 3, 1904 into an African-American middle-class family in Washington, D.C. His father, Richard, was a carpet layer and his mother, Nora Burrell, was a teacher. He graduated from Dunbar High School, in Washington D.C.'s Foggy Bottom neighborhood in 1922. An outstanding athlete in high school, he won an athletics scholarship to Amherst College in Massachusetts, where he graduated in 1926. He went on to attend medical school at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, and graduated in 1933. He was ranked 2nd in his graduating class of 127 students. A few years later, Charles Drew did graduate work at Columbia University, where he earned his Doctor of Medical Science degree, becoming the first African American to …show more content…

Drew created a central location for the blood collection process where donors could go to give blood. He made sure all blood plasma was tested before it was shipped out. He ensured that only skilled personnel handled blood plasma to avoid the possibility of contamination. The Blood for Britain program operated successfully for five months, with total collections of almost 15,000 people donating blood, and with over 5,500 vials of blood plasma. As a result, the Blood Transfusion Betterment Association applauded Drew for his work. Out of his work came the American Red Cross Blood Bank, which Dr. Drew was named the director of. Every year since 1939, Dr. Drew traveled to Tuskegee, Alabama to attend the annual free clinic at the John A. Andrew Memorial Hospital. In 1950, Dr. Drew drove along with three other black physicians to the clinic. Dr. Drew was driving around 8 a.m. on April 1st when he lost control of the vehicle. After swerving into a field, the car flipped over three times. The other doctors in the car suffered only minor injuries. Dr. Drew was trapped inside the car with serious wounds. His foot had become wedged underneath the brake pedal. When he was finally removed from the wreckage, he was in shock and barely alive due to severe leg injuries. He was taken to the hospital in Burlington, North Carolina. He was pronounced dead less than an hour after arriving at the hospital. Dr. Drew's funeral was held on April 5, 1950, at the Nineteenth Street Baptist …show more content…

The Red Cross provides blood for patients in approximately 2,600 hospitals across the U.S. The Red Cross makes blood available to any patient who needs it — patients are not required to find donors to replace the blood they use allowing the patient and their family to focus on recovery. Eighty percent of the blood donations given to the Red Cross are collected at mobile blood drives set up at community organizations, companies, high schools, and colleges, places of worship or military installations. The remaining 20 percent are collected at Red Cross donation centers. The American Red Cross works with more than 50,000 blood drive sponsors each year to hold more than 200,000 blood drives, providing convenient locations for people to give

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