31Mar

Rising to the Challenge

by: cowyredcross Mission Moments Comment off

By Matt Bailey

During the Spanish flu 100 years ago and still today, our American Red Cross workforce is dedicated to serving communities, carrying out our mission and comforting our communities during their darkest hour.

Today the world feels very different from the world we knew only a month ago. Social distancing, quarantine and coronavirus have become common vocabulary. Schools, movie theaters and businesses have closed. The Olympics have been postponed. The whole world is being affected by COVID-19.

This is not the first time humanity has suffered and then persevered through an outbreak. The most severe pandemic in recent history was the Spanish Flu. It spread ruthlessly throughout the world in 1918 and 1919, infecting 500 million people and claiming the lives of 50 million people across the globe. During this crisis, the American Red Cross was on the front lines coordinating the movement of medical supplies and personnel across the nation. They recruited, trained and mobilized more than 15,000 women, including nurses and others who had taken home nursing classes, to help care for flu victims in the United States.

Today, the Red Cross is once again rising to the challenge of a pandemic, continuing to fulfill our mission. We are providing invaluable resources and humanitarian aid while continuing to provide disaster relief, aid to members of the military, veterans and their families, community education and outreach and bood collection. Even during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, emergencies don’t stop and neither does the American Red Cross. Local volunteers are still at work in communities providing care and comfort after disasters of all sizes, including home fires.

October 3, 1918. Gauze masks prevent the spread of influenza. At the Red Cross headquarters workers are busily engaged in turning out gauze masks to prevent Spanish Influenza. Soldiers in many camps are wearing them.
Eureka, California. July 1, 1919. Humboldt County Chapter, American Red Cross. Volunteer nurses of Red Cross Hospital force on the porch of the hospital during the influenza epidemic.
Eureka, California. July 1, 1919. Humboldt County Chapter, American Red Cross. Volunteer nurses of Red Cross Hospital force on the porch of the hospital during the influenza epidemic.
December 1918. Combatting influenza in Seattle, Washington, at work in the Red Cross rooms in Seattle, Washington with influenza masks on faces.
December 1918. Combatting influenza in Seattle, Washington, at work in the Red Cross rooms in Seattle, Washington with influenza masks on faces.
July 1, 1919. Eureka, California. Humboldt County Chapter, American Red Cross. Production workers at a Red Cross Hospital during the influenza epidemic.
July 1, 1919. Eureka, California. Humboldt County Chapter, American Red Cross. Production workers at a Red Cross Hospital during the influenza epidemic.
Butte, Montana, 1918. During World War I American Red Cross volunteer workers were busy in communities throughout the United States. Warm garments and medical supplies for the "boys" up front were produced by volunteer hands in great quantities This photo shows a typical group of volunteer workers making influenza face masks during the influenza epidemic.
Butte, Montana, 1918. During World War I American Red Cross volunteer workers were busy in communities throughout the United States. Warm garments and medical supplies for the "boys" up front were produced by volunteer hands in great quantities This photo shows a typical group of volunteer workers making influenza face masks during the influenza epidemic.
St. Louis, Missouri. October 1918. Influenza epidemic in the United States, St. Louis, Missouri Red Cross Motor Corps on duty.
St. Louis, Missouri. October 1918. Influenza epidemic in the United States, St. Louis, Missouri Red Cross Motor Corps on duty.