[PREPARING CITIZENS RETURNING FROM CAPTIVITY TO ISRAEL AND MEETING THEIR FAMILY MEMBERS: INITIAL PROTOCOL FOR RECEPTION FROM THE RED CROSS UNTIL TRANSFER TO THE HOSPITALS IN ISRAEL].

INTRODUCTION: Delivery of the returnees from captivity by the Red Cross to military mental and medical professionals until they transfer to the medical staff in the hospitals and meetings with their families is a decisive challenge for the returnees and the professionals. The absorption time places the returnees in an exposed and vulnerable situation, in an intermediate space between captivity and reintegration into reality. The feelings of terror, the helplessness, and the danger to life that accompanied the kidnapping and the stay in captivity may develop into situations related to survival and adaptation to the conditions of captivity, including life-saving strategies. In addition, captivity is characterized by asymmetrical and distorted relationships. These distorted relationships, acquired in captivity without any choice, can have long-term consequences on future relationships and the process of adapting to life upon returning to Israel. Moreover, the fact that the reality that surrounded the returnees involved the loss of family members or others who were with them at the time of the kidnapping or during their stay in captivity adds to the complexity and the necessity of a sensitive and specially adapted professional reference on the part of the professional system. The expected reactions at the time of absorption can be varied and range from joy and euphoria to sadness, a feeling of alienation, anxiety, and disconnection. The initial reception time may be a window of opportunity during which interventions can be made to achieve effective adaptive responses upon returning to Israel. The purpose of the present article is to describe the preparations made in a relatively short period for the reception of the returnees and the development of the protocol for their initial reception to provide the best response to their needs. The protocol that is at the center of this article was formulated in the combat reaction unit, taking into account the needs of the returnees and the expected responses. Critical professional principles are applied, including an initial mental assessment, connection to personal, family, and community resources, as well as connection to the medical team, for continued treatment in the medical centers.

Risk factors for clinical stages of COVID-19 amongst employees of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) worldwide over a period of 12 months.

BACKGROUND: Essential workers carry a higher risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 mortality than individuals working in non-essential activities. Scientific studies on COVID-19 risk factors and clinical courses for humanitarian aid workers (HAW) specifically are lacking. The nature of their work brings HAW in proximity to various populations, therefore potentially exposing them to the virus. The objective of this study is to assess severity degrees of COVID-19 in relation to multiple risk factors in a cohort of HAW. METHODS: Retrospective cohort study of data collected by the Staff Health Unit of the International Committee of the Red Cross, over 12 months (February 2021 - January 2022). Prevalence of demographic and health risk factors and outcome events were calculated. Factors associated with disease severity were explored in univariable and multivariable logistic regression models. Resulting OR were reported with 95%CI and p-values from Wald Test. P-values < 0.05 were considered significant. RESULTS: We included 2377 patients. The mean age was 39.5y.o. Two thirds of the patients were males, and 3/4 were national staff. Most cases (3/4) were reported by three regions (Africa, Asia and Middle East). Over 95% of patients were either asymptomatic or presented mild symptoms, 9 died (CFR 0.38%). Fifty-two patients were hospitalised and 7 needed a medical evacuation outside the country of assignment. A minority (14.76%) of patients had at least one risk factor for severe disease; the most recorded one was high blood pressure (4.6%). Over 55% of cases occurred during the predominance of Delta Variant of Concern. All pre-existing risk factors were significantly associated with a moderate or higher severity of the disease (except pregnancy and immunosuppression). CONCLUSIONS: We found strong epidemiological evidence of associations between comorbidities, old age, and the severity of COVID-19. Increased occupational risks of moderate to severe forms of COVID-19 do not only depend on workplace safety but also on social contacts and context.

2019 American Heart Association and American Red Cross Focused Update for First Aid: Presyncope: An Update to the American Heart Association and American Red Cross Guidelines for First Aid.

This 2019 focused update to the American Heart Association and American Red Cross first aid guidelines follows the completion of a systematic review of treatments for presyncope of vasovagal or orthostatic origin. This review was commissioned by the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation and resulted in the development of an international summary statement of the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation First Aid Task Force Consensus on Science With Treatment Recommendations. This focused update highlights the evidence supporting specific interventions for presyncope of orthostatic or vasovagal origin and recommends the use of physical counterpressure maneuvers. These maneuvers include the contraction of muscles of the body such as the legs, arms, abdomen, or neck, with the goal of elevating blood pressure and alleviating symptoms. Although lower-body counterpressure maneuvers are favored over upper-body counterpressure maneuvers, multiple methods can be beneficial, depending on the situation.

Characteristics of transfusion-transmitted Babesia microti, American Red Cross 2010-2017.

BACKGROUND: Babesia microti, a red blood cell (RBC) parasite transmitted naturally to vertebrate hosts by ixodid ticks, is endemic to the northeastern and upper midwestern United States, with the geographic range of infected ticks expanding. B. microti is a blood safety issue with >200 transfusion-transmissions reported. METHODS: The American Red Cross's Hemovigilance program investigated hospital-reported transfusion-transmitted babesiosis (TTB) cases. Follow-up samples from involved donors were tested for B. microti antibodies and parasite DNA, the latter by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Test-positive donors were permanently deferred from future donations. RESULTS: B. microti-positive donors were implicated in 77 of 143 suspect TTB cases investigated from 2010 through 2017. In four cases, two positive donors were identified for a total of 81 positive donors. In three cases, a RBC unit was split and components transfused multiple times to the same pediatric recipient. RBCs were the transmitting product in all cases. At follow-up, all involved donors were antibody positive; 25 donors were also PCR positive. Positive donations were collected throughout the year, peaking in the summer. Most donors (78) were resident of, or traveled to (2), an endemic state. One donor resided in a non-endemic state without relevant travel history. One fatality listed babesia as a contributing factor. No implicated donation was screened by an investigational protocol. CONCLUSIONS: Babesiosis remains a blood safety issue. Prior to FDA-licensed screening test availability and final FDA Guidance, blood collectors in endemic states investigationally tested none, a portion, or all collections. Future expanded testing will reduce the frequency of TTB cases.

Beyond Versailles: Recovering the Voices of-Nurses in Post-World War I U.S.-European Relations.

From late 1918 to 1922, the American Red Cross (ARC) enlisted roughly six hundred American nurses and scores of female auxiliary staff to labor in post-World War I continental Europe, Russia, and the Near East, mostly stationed in Poland, Czechoslovakia, the Balkan states, and Siberia. The ARC nurses ran health clinics, made home visits, and opened nurse training schools. Close readings of letters, diaries, official reports, and published articles help recover the place of these women in postwar European history and the history of U.S. foreign relations. Their writings reveal their perceptions about eastern European and Russian politics and culture, their assumptions about the proper U.S. role in the region's affairs, and their efforts to influence popular U.S. discourse on these topics. This article argues that American nurses and support staff are central-yet neglected-players in the history of U.S.-European affairs. Through its bottom-up approach, it offers a more personal and intimate perspective on the history of U.S. international relations during this time.

Navigating the profits and pitfalls of governmental partnerships: the ICRC and intergovernmental relief, 1918-23.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is today a staunch proponent of the need for humanitarian organisations to remain independent of state interests, yet it deliberately solicited intergovernmental intervention in international relief after the First World War of 1914-18. This paper examines why an organisation committed to upholding the independence and impartiality of humanitarian action might still choose to partner with governmental bodies. It also highlights the historical beginnings of a linkage between international aid and geopolitics. To secure governmental funding for refugee relief during the 1920s, the ICRC argued that the humanitarian crises of the post-war years were a threat to the political and social stability of Europe. While this has become axiomatic, the interwar history of the ICRC demonstrates that the perceived connection between relief and geopolitical stability is historically constructed, and that it must continue to be asserted persuasively to be effective.

The Gift Relationship Revisited.

If unremunerated blood donors are willing to participate, and if the use of them is economical from the perspective of those collecting blood, I can see no objection to their use. But there seems to me no good reason, moral or practical, why they should be used. The system of paid plasmapheresis as it currently operates in the United States and in Canada would seem perfectly adequate, and while there may always be ways in which the safety and efficiency of supply could be increased, there seems no reason whatever to think that there would be an improvement if the current system changed so as to rely entirely on unpaid donors. Further, given the adequacy of paid plasmapheresis, I could see no problem if the collection of whole blood were to take place on a similar, fully-commercial, basis. Such a view is controversial. To argue for it, this paper offers just one strand in a complex argument: a critique of Richard Titmuss's Gift Relationship, which holds an iconic position in the critical literature on the paid provision of blood. As I conclude: all told, there seems no good basis for rejecting supply of whole blood for money--let alone the supply of blood plasma.

"Something must be done!": public health nursing education in the United States from 1900 to 1950.

This article examines public health nursing (PHN) education in the United States from 1900 to 1950. Following establishment of district nursing and the Henry Street Settlement in the late 1800s, nurses worked with families and communities in schools, homes, and with immigrant populations in tenements of industrialized cities. By the early 1900s, PHN leaders recognized that graduates needed broader education than provided by hospital training schools to prepare nurses to address social conditions and promote health and hygiene for populations. Current themes in professional nursing, such as social determinants of health, have their roots in early discourse about PHN education.

[Russian Red Cross Society and its role in providing medical aid to wounded and sick people during the First World War].

Russian Red Cross Society during the First World War played a significant role in health care, preservation of human life and return of millions of experienced soldiers to duty. The Red Cross Society formed and sent to the front their medical institutions (military hospitals, hospitals, hospital trains, etc.), trained medical nurses, charity nurses and orderlies of the Red Cross. Famous professor-surgeons worked as the consultants of the Red Cross Society, under their leadership were organized mobile surgical units. Society has created mobile nutrition and dressing units, X-ray units, psychiatric reception and collection points. The Red Cross Society assisted the military Department in the fight against infectious diseases.

[The activities of the Russian Society of Red Cross during the First World War].

During the First World War, the Russian Society of Red Cross used experience of previous wars expanded its activities. The medical service functioned in the conditions of cruel war. For the first time in history, the weapon of mass destruction was applied The merit of the Russian society of Red Cross was development of specialized medical care.

Introducing embedded indigenous psychological support teams: a suggested addition to psychological first aid in an international context.

The current article introduces Embedded Indigenous Psychological Support Teams (IPST) as a possible addition to current disaster relief efforts. This article highlights psychological first aid in an international context by drawing on mainstream disaster relief models such as The American Red Cross, Critical Incident Stress Management, and Flexible Psychological First Aid. IPST are explained as teams utilizing techniques from both CISM and FPFA with a focus on resiliency. It is currently theorized that in utilizing IPST existing disaster relief models may be more effective in mitigating negative physical or mental health consequences post-disaster.

[The activities of the Red Cross Society during the Russia Japan war 1904-1905].

The Red Cross Society actively participated in the organization of caring of ill and wounded soldiers at the Far East front during the Russia Japan war 1904-1905. The Red Cross units were not the supporting group of military sanitary institutions but independent organization providing serious assistance to medical service of Russian army through medical supply, transport and medical personnel.

[Report of International Medical Relief Activity for Haiti earthquake as a delegate of Japanese Red Cross Society].

The author joined the emergency health operation of the International Red Cross for Haiti earthquake as one of Japanese Red Cross delegates for about one month in May, 2010. Althought I was not expected to offer the skills and experiences as an anesthesiologist, but those of a general practicing, I learned many valuable things from seeing local people, especially about the characteristic diseases and symptoms after disasters caused by living in the camp which was not an ideal environment to be in so long. It is difficult to know much about such typical problems through our usual work as an anesthesiologist. If we want to join these kinds of mission, we have to have some extra knowledge for helping people after such disasters.

[About the basics of the organization of medical supplement of the troops of the White Movement].

The article contains data about the history of medical supplying of the troops of the White Movement during the Civil War in Russia (1918-1920). The description of the structures of administration of medical and sanitary service and forces and devices of sanitary service is given, the characteristics of the body and goals of the medical and sanitary-epidemiological institutions, which were formed by the military department and Russian Red Cross Society is listed.

The American Red Cross and local response to the 1918 influenza pandemic: a four-city case study.

The role of the American Red Cross in the U.S. response to the 1918-1919 influenza pandemic holds important lessons for current-day pandemic response. This article, which examines local ARC responses in Boston, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, and Richmond, Virginia, demonstrates how the ARC coordinated nursing for military and civilian cases; produced and procured medical supplies and food; transported patients, health workers, and bodies; and aided influenza victims' families. But the organization's effectiveness varied widely among localities. These findings illustrate the persistently local character of pandemic response, and demonstrate the importance of close, timely, and sustained coordination among local and state public health authorities and voluntary organizations before and during public health emergencies. They further illustrate the persistently local character of these emergencies, while underscoring the centrality and limits of voluntarism in American public health.

Regulating the helping hand: improving legal preparedness for cross-border disaster medicine.

Medical care is a highly regulated field in nearly every country. Therefore, it is not surprising that legal issues regularly arise in cross-border disaster operations that have with the potential to profoundly impact the effectiveness of international assistance. Little attention has been paid to preparing for and addressing these kinds of issues. This paper will report on research by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) on International Disaster Response Law, and discuss new developments in the international legal framework for addressing these issues. For seven years, the IFRC has studied legal issues in cross-border disaster assistance. Its activities have included several dozen case studies, a global survey of governments and humanitarian stakeholders, and a series of meetings and high-level conferences. The IFRC has found a consistent set of regulatory problems in major disaster relief operations related to the entry and regulation of international relief. These include some issues specific to the health field, such as the regulation of drug donations and the recognition of foreign medical qualifications. To address the gaps in domestic and international regulatory structures, the IFRC spearheaded the development of new international guidelines. The legal risks for international health providers in disaster settings are real and should be better integrated into program planning. Governments must become more proactive in ensuring that legal frameworks are flexible enough to mitigate these problems.