HOSPITAL
DUKE
VOL. 9 NO. 2 APRIL, 1962 DURHAM, N. C.
The Story of
Blood Banking
Ray Whitaker, technician, and John Danford, chief technician and super
visor of the Blood Bank since 1946, are enjoying a rare moment of un
interrupted ■work in the hank. The other members of the staff are technician
(Irace Pickett and nurses Martha Parrish, Eddy Payne and Jo Billinas.
All of us here at Duke Medical
Center are well aware of the fantastic
strides that are made each year in
medicine. Much of this proj^ress is
bold and romantic in nature—such as
open heart surgery and deep radia
tion therapy. Less publicized but no
less important is the fascinating story
of the work done over the past 20
years in the use and preservation of
blood.
Today we take blood transfusions
as a routine affair. This makes it hard
to believe that only 30 years af?o when
Duke Hospital first opened, blood
^^ansfusions were rare and danj'erous.
^^hrou?hout the ensuin>' years of
[)rogress the Blood Bank at Duke
Hospital has played a vital role.
Dr. Tvan Brown, professor of sur
gery and director of the Blood Bank
since 1946, enjoys tellin*; about the
“old days” in blood transfusion and
bankin'? history. Right from the be
ginning of Duke Hospital’s surgical
historj’, blood transfusions were avail
able, but they were used only for
major procedures since there was no
specialized blood drawing equipment
and no method for storing blood. At
that time it was believed that blood
had to be kept lukewarm. So the
procedure was for the donor’s blood
to be drawn into a large Erlenmeyer
flask which sat in a dishpan of warm
water. And because the needles used
were about the size of a bridge pencil,
it was necessary first to incise the skin
down to the vein for easier insertion.
To create a vacuum to speed the flow
of the donor’s blood, nurses in those
days manned a bicycle pump! A
rather primitive scene, to be sure.
Since no preservatives had been
developed, this early work was very
^^rect with the blood usually admin-
^^;ered within a few hours of dona
tion. Another method used was for
a doctor to draw blood from the donor
in a syringe, then pass this syringe
to another doctor who administered
the blood to the patient. A sort of
bucket brigade. At this time only
whole blood was used in transfusions
since it was believed that the blood
serum or plasma was harmful and
caused serious reactions. The whole
blood could be saved for so few’ days
that no concept of blood banking was
then practical.
One of the pioneers in this field
was a North Carolinian, John Elliott
—not a doctor and not a college grad
uate, but a medical technician at
Rowan County Hospital. His early
work in 1934 and 1935 on the separa
tion, long-term storage and trans
fusion of plasma was done in part in
his barn, in part at Rowan Hospital
and in part at Duke where he was
offered laboratory si)aee by Dr. Davi
son and the late Dr. Perlzweig in
recognition of the possible benefit of
his work.
By the time that the second world
war was imminent, Mr. Elliott had
shown that plasma could be stored;
that it could be given intravenously
and that it w’as effective in the treat
ment of shock. In 1940 he was com
missioned in the Medical Sanitary
Corps and went to Washington to
begin the Civil Defense plasnui col
lection program. Catawba College
honored him with a doctor of science
(Continued on page 2)