A year ago many women of the county were doing Red Cross sewing or knitting. Red sweaters of all sizes and blue ones and green were being knitted for needy folks in devastated countries. Layettes, toddlers packs, children’s and women’s dresses were cut at the sewing room, checked out to be sewed and returned ready to be marked, packed and shipped to a central depot. All this was done by a corps of volunteer workers.
Today the shelves are not filled with row upon row of cutout or finished garments. The knitting division has packed and shipped more than 100 turtle neck sweaters size 36, and 200 helmets – beautifully made garments all. At some point of embarkation those sweaters and helmets will be issued to men who need them. It is altogether possible that some boy in the armed forces may be issued a sweater that his wife or mother or sweetheart has knitted.
Although there is not the sewing or knitting to be done at the moment the demands for volun-teer services is greater than ever in the history of the Red Cross. The demand now is for volunteers who will fold surgical dressings, hun-dreds and thousands of them under careful supervision. Exactness and accuracy along with clean hands (without nail polish) and a clean frock constitute the only equipment needed to do this work. Doctors and nurses in the armed forces must have dressings for their patients. They will have them if we, the volunteers, find time to fold them.
Other volunteers will serve as nurses’ aides in hospitals, without pay. They must first study for eighty hours and then give at least 15 hours of bedside service each year. Still others will study canteen work and be prepared to do mass feeding in an emergency.
Less spectacular per-haps but fully as important are the classes in basic subjects which the Red Cross offers to any group which desires it. Before one can become a nurses’ aide she must first have had the first course in home nursing and nutrition. Before one can serve in a canteen she must have finished the nutrition and canteen course. Before one can serve in a motor corps, she must have had first aid and motor mechanics. Through years of experience the Red Cross has found that the way to meet an emergency, to cope with disaster, is to have a band of trained workers ready to serve. Is it too much to ask that you give 2 hours of your time in a primary Red Cross course this autumn? Gather ten or 12 of your neighbors together and ask for a Red Cross class. Every effort will be made to furnish a volunteer teacher.
