Encyclopedia Dubuque
"Encyclopedia Dubuque is the online authority for all things Dubuque, written by the people who know the city best.”
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Affiliated with the Local History Network of the State Historical Society of Iowa, and the Iowa Museum Association.
AMERICAN RED CROSS DUBUQUE COUNTY CHAPTER
AMERICAN RED CROSS DUBUQUE COUNTY CHAPTER. The American Red Cross was established in Washington, D.C. on May 21, 1881, by Clara Barton, its first president. The first local chapter was established in 1881 at the English Evangelical Lutheran Church of Dansville, New York.
The Red Cross became a nationwide network of 264 chapters and 36 blood service regions. Approximately 166,000 Red Cross volunteers, including FemaCorps and AmeriCorps members, and 30,000 employees annually mobilize relief to people affected by more than 67,000 disasters, train almost 4 million people in necessary medical skills and exchange more than a million emergency messages for U.S. military service personnel and their family members. (1)
ARC is the largest supplier of blood and blood products in the US, supplying 2,600 hospitals (approximately 39% of the US blood supply). The charity also assists victims of international disasters and conflicts worldwide, connecting separated family members. In 2006, the organization had over $6 billion in total revenues, though revenues have fallen since Hurricane Katrina. At that time, revenue from blood and blood products alone was over $2 billion - biological services generally represents about 63% of total operating expenses, though the unit often operated at a deficit. (2)
The Red Cross provided communication and assistance to military members and their families. This was mandated by the military because the Red Cross provided independent verification. The organization also provided disaster relief; education about first aid, CPR and disaster preparedness; and blood services. (3)
Beginning with the CIVIL WAR, the United States had a Red Cross Society. According to the Geneva Convention of 1864 signed by forty-four countries, the Red Cross flag, a Geneva Red Cross on a white band, signaled neutrality and was not to be fired upon. All wounded were treated equally. The organizatiion fell into disrepute because of its inability to report is financial condition. In 1904 Congress granted a new charter to the American Red Cross Society with regulations to prevent the mistakes of the past being repeated. William Howard Taft, later President of the United States, was one of its incorporators and also its first president. State organizations, organized by Mabel Boardman, were backed by district organizations with annual dues of one dollar. Life membership cost $25.00. The entire organization was under the supervision of the War Department. (4)
In 1910 the sale of Red Cross stamps nationwide provided for tuberculosis dispensaries, services of visiting nurses, day camps, and the printing of literature and lobbying of legislative, municipal and counties authorities. (5) It was in October, 1910 that Governor Beryl F. Carroll appointed Judson Keith DEMING treasurer of the first Iowa Red Cross board. (6)
The history of the American Red Cross of the Tri-States began in 1916. In that year, according to statement made in 1949 by Deming, he invited a number of friends to his office. Asking each to place a dollar on his desk, he then informed them that they were members of the Red Cross. (7)
In 1917 the Red Cross was active in Dubuque as the United States entered WORLD WAR I. In April of that year "Preparation of Surgical Dressings," a course of eight lessons each three hours long, was presented at the Red Cross Shop at 9th and Main. The class was given for anyone wishing to obtain a certificate to be a nurse's aid. There was no fee, but participants had to be a Red Cross member. Other news included socks made for the GOVERNOR'S GREYS were sold to them for fifteen cents--a ten cent savings over others available to them. (8)
Membership campaigns stressed the humanitarian work of the organization and that it was not charity.
Red Cross Subscribers are not expected to go to the war front; not do they assume any financial obligation other than the payment of their subscription. (9)
The Dubuque Banks through the DUBUQUE CLEARING HOUSE ASSOCIATION sponsored an advertisement proclaiming: Dubuque County Wants 30,000 members---It Now Has 4,000 Members. (10) President Woodrow Wilson issued a Christmas Proclamation stating
...Our consciences will not let us enjoy the
Christmas Season if this pledge of support to
our cause and the world's weal is left
unfulfilled. Red Cross Membership is the
Christmas spirit in terms of action. (11)
The Red Cross officials publicized a list of items for a Red Cross package destined to soldiers on the front. Each package included a blue knife, chocolate or hard sugar candy, bandana or khaki handkerchief, envelopes, cigarettes, pipe and tobacco, pad of paper, pencil, playing cards and a Christmas card. (12)
As the war effort came to an end, one Dubuque woman made history. Mrs. W. R. Smith won the first Red Cross Service Badge showing her 4800 hours of service to the organization. Making the honor even more special to local officials was the fact that the recipient was eighty years old. In the early years of American participation, she prepared surgical dressings often taking materials home to work on in the evenings. She later was one of the first teachers in the "knitting department." (13)
Iowa Governor George Wilson in 1939 announced:
I urge every Iowan who can devote several
hours of voluntary service on November 11,
1939, or on one or two days immediately
following to offer his services to his or
her local chapter of the American Red
Cross. (14)
Mrs. Frank Hardie, chairwoman of the chapter's war relief production committee, announced that the Dubuque County chapter had sent 1,744 garments overseas including women's and girls' dresses and skirts, sweaters for children and adults, and miscellaneous knitted items. These were sent to suffering noncombatants civilians and war victims. (15)
Campaigns for membership and drives for donations continued as the reminder was made that the Red Cross was one of the largest relief organizations in the world. In 1919 the American Legion was certain of obtaining 10,000 members in Dubuque for the Red Cross. A house-to-house canvas was expected to raise $10,000 of which $5,000 would remain in Dubuque. This would fund financial aid to the families of service men and the work of the Home Service Section of the organization involved in relief efforts. (16)
"Waterproofing America" was the national goal of the Red Cross in 1948. The Dubuque county chapter took an active part by offering a life saving course at the CLARKE COLLEGE pool and six swimming courses subdivided into beginner intermediate, swimmer, junior and senior life saving advanced swimmer, and instructor. There was no age requirement. Courses offered at the municipal pool had 535 registered. (17) Such activity was part of the legacy of Marie Clancy. During her fifteen months in Dubuque she was instrumental in promoting the blood donor program and extending the home service disaster, first aid, home and farm accident, home nursing, Junior Red Cross, nursing service and water safety and work with volunteer service groups. (18)
Funding in 1951 were targeted at providing first aid and home nursing classes, training for Gray Ladies service in many institutions, motor corps, nurses aides, work in supply and production and to make things for military and veterans hospitals and installations. (19)
Flooding in Dubuque resulted in the Red Cross being called into action many times. As the river began to recede slowly in 1951, additional fifty families had to be evacuated bringing the total number of families to nearly three hundred. (20) In 1969 the Red Cross flood effort, centered in Dubuque, ran from Bellevue to Marquette. (21)
In April 1973 more than six hundred members of the Iowa National Guard, Dubuque police, fire, Civil Defense and Red Cross units staged a mock civil disturbance as part of the National Guard's Sector A Emergency Plan. Considered to have been the largest simulated riot control ever conducted in Iowa, the activity complete with role-playing snipers, looters and arsonists took more than five hours to control. (22)
On November 7, 1988, the renamed Badger Regional Red Cross Blood Service moved into its new headquarters at 2400 Asbury Road. The Dubuque chapter along with centers at Madison and Green Bay, Wisconsin supplies blood to 27 hospitals in the tri-states. Blood was exchanged among the three centers and was processed at each site. One advantage of the new building was the space it offered to the annual "Day After Thanksgiving Blood Drive." The past two blood drives were held at the DUBUQUE INN-BEST WESTERN due to insufficient space at the former office along Main Street. (23)
The Red Cross in 1993 responded to the collapse of one hundred feet of a retaining wall in East Dubuque. The organization established a shelter at the East Dubuque High School and provided food to workers and food victims. An estimated 450 people were forced to evacuate their home. (24)
Information about apheresis donations appeared in 1994. In this process taking about two hours, blood was drawn from one arm, platelets were removed by a machine, and the red cells were immediately returned to the donor's other arm. Donations of this type, up to around 22 times a year, were used by cancer patients. (25)
In 1995 cost-cutting measures led to staff reductions in Dubuque. Donated blood was transferred to Madison, Wisconsin for processing and then returned to Dubuque. Consolidation nationwide since 1991 had led to eighty blood testing labs being reduced to nine. (26)
In 2002 as a cut cutting measure, both MERCY MEDICAL CENTER and FINLEY HOSPITAL (THE) announced that they were ending their use of the local Red Cross Blood Center. Both opted to receive blood from the MISSISSIPPI VALLEY REGIONAL BLOOD CENTER in Davenport. (27)
On-going activities of the organization were often interspersed with first aid courses. In 2003 the Red Cross offered a Wilderness First Aid basis course for people who work, live or practice recreation in remote areas. Participants successfully completing the course received a three-year certification. (28)
In 2017 with the United States military involved in many operations around the world, the Red Cross Northeast Iowa Chapter provided emergency communications, support and referrals to 910 military service members and their families. (29) The same year Dubuque resident Marty Schiessl was recognized as the first Iowa Red Cross volunteer to work in areas affected by both hurricanes Harvey and Irma. Of the 6,000 Red Cross volunteers working on one or the disaster area, seventy-five were from Iowa. (30) Volunteers had to commit to spending at least two weeks in the field, pass a background check, and be willing to work 10-hour days. The Red Cross paid travel and shelter expenses. Opportunities were also available in the immediate area. (31)
The fourteenth annual Everyday Heroes Breakfast of the American Red Cross of Northeast Iowa was held on March. Among those honored were people who helped evacuate a burning college residence hall, a person who began a winter clothing distribution project in Decorah, a person who responded to a man pinned under a car by jacking it up, and two men who provided life-saving measures for a motorist on Dodge Street, a former teacher who continued to volunteer, and a man who freed his neighbor from beneath a tractor. (32) In July following the clearing of trees and storm debris, the Red Cross bagged free meals and served the food at the Dubuque County Emergency Responder Training Facility. (33)
In 2018 Red Cross volunteers installed free smoke alarms at a Key West mobile home park. The project was part of the Red Cross' "Sound the Alarm" program of fire safety and preparedness. A few weeks later, the alarms allowed a family to escape a dryer vent fire. (34) City officials employed eighty lifeguards for the city's swimming pools. Each person was Red Cross certified and trained to respond to emergency situations. (35)
The 1966 Dubuque City Directory listed 421 Stampfer Building.
The 1987 Dubuque City Directory listed 1200 Main.
The 1989 through 2014 Dubuque City Directory listed 2400 Asbury Road.
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Source:
1. "American Red Cross," Wikipedia, Online: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Red_Cross
2. Ibid.
3. Hogstrom, Erik, "Red Cross Keeps Connection Between Families, Military," Telegraph Herald, August 13 2013, p. 3
4. "The Red Cross and Its Work," Dubuque Telegraph-Herald, September 1, 1905, p. 6
5. "What the Little Seals Are Doing," Dubuque Telegraph-Herald, December 9, 1910, p. 23
6. "40-Year Button to J. K. Deming," Telegraph-Herald, October 2, 1949, p. 1
7. Szeszycki, Emily, "American Red Cross Has Long History in the Tri-States," Telegraph Herald, March 21 2006, p. 45
8. "Red Cross Notes," Dubuque Telegraph-Herald April 29, 1917, p. 11
9. "Do Your Bit Now Subscribe to the Red Cross," Dubuque Telegraph-Herald, June 24, 1917, p. 15
10. "Are You a Member of the Red Cross?" Dubuque Telegraph-Herald, December 19, 1917, p. 19
11. "President Wlson's Red Cross Christmas Proclamation," Dubuque Telegraph-Herald, December 21, 1917, p. 26
12. "Red Cross Prepares to Send Soldiers a Merry Christmas," Dubuque Telegraph-Herald, November 9, 1917, p. 17
13. "Red Cross Badge to Woman of 80," Dubuque Telegraph-Herald, January 21, 1919, p. 7
14. Szeszycki
15. Ibid.
16. "Legion Seeks to Make Record For Dubuque in Campaign for Memberships in Red Cross," 'Telegraph-Herald, November 9, 1919, p. 1
17. "Swim Classes Being Offered," Telegraph-Herald, July 12, 1948, p. 5
18. "Marie Clancy Resigns as Head of Red Cross," Telegraph-Herald, August 1, 1948, p. 17
19. "Why Red Cross Continues Drive," Telegraph-Herald, May 6, 1951, p. 15
20. "Life and Times on the Mississippi, (1951-52), Telegraph Herald, June 15, 2017, p. 52
21. McDougall, Tom, "Red Cross is Ready Here," Telegraph-Herald, April 9, 1969, p. 1
22. Szeszycki
23. Gallo, Matt, "Red Cross Looking for Blood," Telegraph Herald, November 19, 1988, p. 3
24. Szeszycki
25. Voight Sandye, "A Different Kind of Philanthropy," Telegraph Herald, October 30, 1994, p. 21
26. Gwiasda, Susan B. "Red Cross Change Procedures," Telegraph Herald, June 27, 1995, p. 3
27. Hogstrom, Erik, "Hospitals Switch Blood Suppliers," Telegraph Herald, August 25, 2002, p. 1
28. "Wilderness Aid Class Set," Telegraph Herald, April 7, 2003, p. 1
29. "Where Community Counts," Telegraph Herald, May 4, 2017, p. 64
30. Montgomery, Jeff, "Double Duty for Dubuque Volunteer," Telegraph Herald, September 15, 2017, p. 1
31. Rezab, Matthew, "Red Cross Helps Those Who Want to Help Others," Telegraph Herald, September 9, 2017, p. 3
32. Hogstrom, Erik, "Red Cross Celebrates Heroes," Telegraph Herald, March 17, 2017, p. 1
33. "Red Cross Serves Lunch in Dubuque for Storm Cleanup Volunteers," Telegraph Herald, July 16, 2017, p. 13
34. Hogstrom, Erik, "Alarming Realization Hits Lucky 7 After Fire," Telegraph Herald, June 16, 2018, p. 1
35. Kruse, John, "Taking Dives, Saving Lives," Telegraph Herald, July 6, 2018, p. 1