At Red Cross National Headquarters, a Vision of Past and Present Priorities

The author speaking to the Clara Barton tour group before the Tiffany stained glass windows at national Red Cross headquarters.

“Because of the climate crisis, the Red Cross launches nearly twice as many relief operations for major disasters than it did a decade ago.”

Today a group of us tracing the career and legacy of Clara Barton arrived at the ornate national Red Cross headquarters in Washington, D.C., a building I have been at countless times over my last 48 years of volunteering. Every time I enter, it reminds me of the people who have worked so hard to help millions of people have better lives—whether through disaster or war recovery, aid for military families, or donating the gift of blood.

Built as a memorial to the women of the Civil War with U.S. and private funds, the headquarters features exquisite architecture. The building’s showpiece—the Tiffany stained glass windows—are designed to “symbolize reconciliation following the Civil War and are reputed to be the largest suite of Tiffany windows created for a secular environment.”

A Brief History

We learned how the Red Cross initially focused on domestic and overseas disaster relief efforts, assisted the U.S. […]

2024-06-05T10:44:05-04:00June 5th, 2024|Clara Barton Tour 2024, climate change, Nursing, nursing history, Public health|0 Comments
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May Issue: Assessing a Child’s Pain, Handling Work-Related Stress, Stop the Bleed, More

“Nursing takes a steely courage that many people don’t possess. We deal with raw emotions on a daily basis, taking in the grief and loss and pain and hopelessness of patients and families who look to us to make them feel better.”—AJN editor-in-chief Shawn Kennedy in her May editorial

The May issue of AJN is now live. Here are some highlights.

CE: Original Research: Work-Related Stress and Positive Thinking Among Acute Care Nurses: A Cross-Sectional Survey

In the first U.S. study to evaluate acute care nurses’ use of positive thinking in managing work-related stress, the authors found that positive thinking skills are being used to cope with such stress, and that nurses’ use of these skills can be improved through training.

CE: Assessing a Child’s Pain

This article discusses the factors that can influence a child’s report of pain, describes components of a comprehensive pediatric pain assessment, and reviews appropriate pain assessment scales for children of different ages and levels of cognitive development.

Nursing and the Sustainable Development Goals: From Nightingale to Now

The authors explore how nurses can contextualize the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals within their daily practice and create holistic plans of care for patients, families, communities, and nations.

Leading the Effort to Promote Bleeding Control in Our Communities

This […]

2019-04-29T08:16:17-04:00April 29th, 2019|Nursing|1 Comment
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July Issue Highlights: Health and the Microbiome, Poststroke Depression, Need for Diverse Blood Donors, More

The July issue of AJN is now live. Here are some articles we’d like to bring to your attention.

CE Feature: Health and the Human Microbiome: A Primer for Nurses

The profound impact of the human microbiome on health makes it imperative that nurses understand the basic structures and functions of the various microbial communities. This article provides an overview of the current state of knowledge about the human microbiome—with a focus on the microbiota in the GI tract and the vagina, the two most commonly studied body sites—and discusses implications for nursing practice.

CE Feature: Early Intervention in Patients with Poststroke Depression

Nearly one-third of stroke survivors experience depression. Poststroke depression is associated with longer hospital stays, poor physical and cognitive recovery, poor quality of life, high caregiver distress, increased risk of recurrent stroke, and higher rates of morbidity and mortality. However, it often goes unrecognized and untreated. The authors of this article explain how poststroke depression often manifests, describe associated risk factors, and discuss the screening tools and therapeutic interventions nurses can use to identify and help manage depression in patients following stroke.

Clinical Feature: The Growing Need for Diverse Blood Donors

The chief nurse of the American Red Cross discusses how changing […]

2017-07-27T11:21:04-04:00June 23rd, 2017|Nursing|0 Comments
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10 Lessons Learned from Clara Barton’s Life and Work

By Jean Johnson, PhD, RN, FAAN, professor and founding dean (retired) at the George Washington University School of Nursing, member of the Red Cross National Nursing Committee, and Linda MacIntyre, PhD, RN, chief nurse of the American Red Cross

Clara Barton at desk in Red Cross headquarters Clara Barton at desk in Red Cross headquarters

This is the final post in the Clara Barton Study Tour series. There have been many lessons learned during the tour. All of the participants have agreed to take what we learned and reflect on how our lives have been changed by this trip and what we are going to do to use what we learned to further the humanitarian work of Clara and the Red Cross.

For reasons mentioned in previous posts, this tour was very emotional, as well as informative. Here are ten lessons we learned from our investigation into Clara Barton’s career and its continuing implications for ongoing efforts in the U.S. and internationally.

  1. Clara Barton was resilient and a renegade, transforming some of her biggest fears and bouts of depression into constructive humanitarian action.
  2. Clara was a superb logistician, gathering goods and transporting them during the Civil War and during disasters in the U.S. and internationally, such as her relief work in the Franco-Prussian War.
  3. Clara was tenacious. If she did not get what she wanted, she kept at it. When trying to meet with President Lincoln about establishing the Missing Soldiers […]
2016-11-21T13:00:53-05:00October 13th, 2016|Clara Barton 2016, Nursing, nursing history, Public health|0 Comments
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Clara Barton Tour Underway

By Linda MacIntyre, PhD, RN, chief nurse of the American Red Cross

Tour group at Clara Barton Office of Missing Soldiers Museum, Washington, DC.

The Clara Barton Tour officially began last evening. Participants gathered for dinner and conversation. Annie Bartholomew, long a student of Clara Barton, gave a brief overview of Barton’s life, with teasers for her upcoming presentation on the bus. Annie has stories to tell that might best be revealed over a glass of wine.

Reasons given for coming on the tour included

  • not having heard of Clara Barton and thinking it was time to learn about her,
  • over 40 years of studying Clara’s life,
  • a birthday gift from a husband.

And many came because of their connection with Sue Hassmilller, long-time volunteer and board member. It is Sue’s vision and energy that made the Clara Barton Tour possible and we are saddened that she’s not able to participate due to a family emergency. Sue’s wish for us is to enjoy the tour and to send prayers. We’re committed to doing both. […]

2016-11-21T13:00:57-05:00September 29th, 2016|Clara Barton 2016, Nursing, nursing history, nursing perspective|0 Comments
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Views expressed on the blog are solely those of the authors or persons quoted. They do not necessarily reflect AJN’s views or those of Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams and Wilkins.
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