[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 67 (Friday, May 22, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5420-S5421]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF RED CROSS BLOOD COLLECTING

  Mr. THURMOND. Mr. President, as the United States fought World War 
II, Americans mobilized in support of the war effort like they never 
had before. Everyone was trying to find a way to help our troops battle 
the Axis and keep the world free and safe. Whether it was children 
flattening and saving tin cans that were used for scrap metal, or 
people growing fruits and vegetables in ``Victory Gardens'', everyone 
tried to find a way to make their own contribution to winning the war 
and supporting our men and women in uniform.
  It was at this time that the American Red Cross took on the 
responsibility of collecting blood that would ultimately be used to 
help save the lives of Soldiers, Sailors, Marines, and Army Air 
Corpsmen wounded in action. The efforts of the Red Cross were truly a 
success as they helped to reduce the death rate among the wounded by 
fifty percent.
  For the past fifty years, the American Red Cross has been responsible 
for administering the Nation's blood supplies and they have done a 
commendable job in ensuring that the United States has a ready and 
ample reserve of blood for those who need it. Just a few days ago, on 
April 30th, American Red Cross President Elizabeth Dole helped to 
celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of that organization's Biomedical 
Services. Her remarks nicely illustrate the contributions and 
accomplishments of the Red Cross in administering the Nation's blood 
supply. I think that my colleagues and the public would be interested 
to read what Mrs. Dole had to say and I ask unanimous consent that her 
remarks be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                       Remarks of Elizabeth Dole

       Thank you, Paul, for that kind introduction and ladies and 
     gentlemen, thank you so much. And special thanks to Donna 
     Shalala, Secretary of Health and Human Services, and David 
     Kessler, Dean of the Yale Medical School and former 
     Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration We are 
     delighted you could be with us today as we mark the 50th 
     anniversary of the most important of our national reserves: 
     America's reserve of life, the American blood supply. Thank 
     you, Donna and David, for your continued leadership, and for 
     your steadfast dedication to the safety and quality of 
     American health.
       Aren't we thrilled to have Garth Brooks here. Garth, you 
     have a magical hold on the spirit of our people. What a joy 
     it is that you would share that bond with us. We are 
     enormously grateful.
       What a day! We are also so very pleased to be joined by the 
     Oak Ridge Boys! Boys, your music puts the party in the 
     birthday, and we thank you.
       Also, many thanks to the other wonderful celebrities with 
     us today--Lynda Carter, Kennedy, and William Moses. We 
     sincerely appreciate your generosity in joining us to 
     celebrate our 50th birthday of Biomedical Services. And, 
     welcome to Councilwoman Charlene Drew Jarvis, the daughter of 
     Dr. Charles Drew, renowned plasma pioneer for the American 
     Red Cross and leading authority on transfusion. The Charles 
     Drew Institute honors his memory. Thank you, Charlene, for 
     your support over the years.
       As we observe this 50th anniversary, of American Red Cross 
     Blood services, it's a time to take satisfaction in our past 
     and pride in where we've been. The Red Cross started 
     collecting blood during World War II in order to save 
     soldiers' lives, and our efforts were credited with reducing 
     the death rate among these soldiers to half that of their 
     World War I counterparts. When peace came, we created 
     America's first nationwide, volunteer blood collection and 
     distribution system, assuring all our citizens access to one 
     of the great medical advances of this century.
       But health events in the last two decades rocked us to our 
     very foundations. The age of blood-borne diseases such as 
     AIDS and new forms of hepatitis swooped down on us with a 
     vengeance. We knew we could no longer operate at the Red 
     Cross as we had done for so many years. Which is why this 
     year, our 50th anniversary, is a year to look forward, rather 
     than back. Today I take great joy in announcing an historic 
     achievement:
       As the year closes, the American Red Cross will celebrate 
     the completion of our nearly seven-year, $287 million dollar 
     transformation of our blood operations. This long-awaited 
     milestone is the reason I stand here with so much 
     confidence--and hope--for the future. The accomplishment of 
     Transformation is a great, triumphant victory in our common 
     endeavor to expand what is possible in health care.
       And I'm also pleased to announce today that, following this 
     speech, I am leaving on a nation-wide tour of blood drives 
     and celebrity events to focus attention on the safety 
     revolution in America's blood supply. Many of our citizens 
     are still frightened of transfusions, and they should not be! 
     Many millions still mistrust those red bags of life, and they 
     must not! We have achieved a new American miracle in blood, 
     and I will take that message across America. We will 
     celebrate and we will educate but first, let me ruminate.
       When I came to the Red Cross in February 1991, the legal 
     and financial vulnerabilities of our blood operations 
     threatened the very

[[Page S5421]]

     viability of the Red Cross. The country was pretty worried 
     about the safety of America's blood supply back then. And as 
     the person newly responsible for half of it, so was I. Some 
     of our Board members wanted us to get out of blood banking 
     altogether, believing our duty to safeguard the rest of our 
     historic organization demanded that we abandon this mission 
     field. Between Congressional hearings, media exposes and 
     enormous regulatory pressure, there were days when I wanted 
     to get out, too.
       Still, the question haunted us: if we left blood banking, 
     who would fill our shoes? The Red Cross is not a public 
     agency, but what we do--especially in blood--is a public 
     trust. We weren't going to let America down. Not on our 
     watch.
       The blood supply was as safe as the current blood systems 
     and contemporary scientists knew how to make it. But in the 
     age of AIDS and other blood borne infectious diseases, wasn't 
     there more we could do? We had to ``think outside the box'' 
     with respect to existing science, blood supply management, 
     and safety approaches.
       We dreamed, in 1991, of where we wanted to go. But we did 
     more than that. We mustered our courage and embraced 
     Transformation as our ticket to ride. It was the most 
     ambitious project the Red Cross had ever undertaken: the 
     total redesign of how we collect, process, test, and deliver 
     nearly half of America's blood supply. I dare say it is the 
     most profound change any non-profit organization has made in 
     recent memory!
       At the time, it felt the way I imagine a Shuttle astronaut 
     must feel on her first space walk letting go of the ship, 
     taking her first step into the unknown. It felt as if our 
     whole organization had let go. . .let go of the security of 
     status-quo standards, let go of the financial certainty 
     underpinning our entire operation, let go of what we knew, in 
     search of what we hoped to find--but knowing that each step 
     was backed up by a truly exceptional scientific team entirely 
     committed to forging new frontiers. I feel so fortunate that 
     Jim Ross with Brian McDonough and each member of his 
     outstanding team answered my call to complete this challenge.
       In 1993, the Food and Drug Administration imposed a consent 
     decree on our blood services operations. But as David will 
     tell you, we were already more than two years into 
     Transformation. The consent decree was basically a 
     codification or ratification of our far-reaching plan, with 
     timelines and milestones for measuring our progress. And 
     today, as we conclude Transformation, we also are wrapping up 
     our last requirements under the decree.
       With the completion of Transformation this year, we will 
     have forced ourselves from the mind set of always doing 
     things the way we had done them before. We already have left 
     behind our days in the comfort of industry averages to become 
     the undisputed leader in blood banking. Once we were weighed 
     down with 53 non-standardized blood centers running 28 
     computer systems in a patchwork quilt of regions, each with 
     its own operating procedures and business practices. Today we 
     have one set of operational procedures, one set of business 
     practices, and one state of the art computer system--which 
     gives us the best national donor deferral system and the 
     largest blood information data base in the world for 
     transfusion medicine research.
       We determined that today's demands were best met in high-
     volume, state-of-the-art, centralized labs, so we replaced 
     our 53 testing facilities with 8 state of the art, high-tech 
     laboratories that today are the leading centers of their kind 
     in the world. This enables us to quickly incorporate medical 
     technology as it evolves.
       Perhaps most importantly, today we no longer fear finding 
     our own faults. We actively seek them out, report them and 
     then fix them, ourselves. We hired a leader in quality 
     assurance who created an independent program, providing more 
     than 200 experts to audit and consult with all of our fixed 
     sites. We actively monitor for more than 150 possible 
     deviations in manufacturing. And our folks, can and on 
     occasion have shut down a process immediately, when they have 
     found a serious deviation from standard operating procedure.
       In short, we have a new, centralized management structure, 
     a new information system, and the best quality assurance 
     program in existence. We have consolidated and modernized 
     testing and have strictly standardized procedures and 
     training across our system. As a matter of fact, we now run 
     the highly acclaimed Charles Drew Biomedical Institute--and 
     provide leadership to the entire blood banking community.
       We have moved to a position of leadership in an industry 
     which has achieved phenomenal success in the face of 
     frightening odds: In 1991, an American's risk of HIV 
     transmission from a blood transfusion was one in 220,000. 
     Today, it is nearly one in 700,000--more than a three-fold 
     reduction in risk. I'd say that is worth cheering about, 
     wouldn't you?
       Today, I can say what I could not seven years ago: the Red 
     Cross is in the blood business to stay. We are sure of our 
     mission and we know how to fulfill it. No longer an 
     organization constrained by yesterday's technology, we 
     operate today with the gleaming precision and efficiency of 
     what is still, for most in the world, only tomorrow's 
     possibilities. We offer Cadillac quality coupled with Volvo 
     security. Don't get me wrong: every car on the lot meets the 
     government standard for safety. But like Cadillac and Volvo, 
     we have set standards of our own.
       Unlike car companies, however, we don't do what we do for a 
     profit. The pins on our lapels and the patches on our sleeves 
     remind us daily that we are in this business to fulfill a 
     national trust, to live up to our moral commitment to do the 
     best we can to ensure the well-being of the American people. 
     We are also reaching out to the rest of the world, sharing 
     the lessons we have learned from Transformation to help 
     improve the safety and reliability of the world's blood 
     supply.
       Of course, modernization and improvement is a process that 
     must never end. As David Kearns, the former chairman of 
     Xerox, once said, ``In the race for quality, there is no 
     finish line.'' This could never be more true than in the 
     blood banking business. We're determined to remain not only 
     the industry leader in quality and safety, but to place 
     ourselves in the forefront of new product development.
       At our world-class Holland Laboratory, Red Cross physicians 
     and scientists are evaluating and monitoring possible threats 
     to the blood supply and working on many other new, cutting-
     edge technologies--some of which we will share with you 
     today.
       But all this technology wouldn't be worth a thing without 
     the Red Crossers who make it work for America. They are the 
     reason and the inspiration for our service. We have 1.3 
     million volunteers, 32,000 paid staff, and 4.3 million blood 
     donors--that's 20,000 donors every day--I'd like to stop just 
     a minute to give those quiet heroes a loud round of applause.
       Yes, after 50 years in Blood Services--and spending the 
     last seven years transforming them, the American Red Cross 
     has much to celebrate. In addition to enhancing blood safety, 
     our investment has given us the knowledge and confidence to 
     shape our own future.
       Before Transformation, the Red Cross and other blood banks 
     around the country waited for signals from the FDA that 
     change was required. Today, the Red Cross is a leader of 
     change. While Transformation the program is nearly complete, 
     Transformation the process will be never ending.
       There is a story I love about Supreme Court Justice Oliver 
     Wendell Holmes. When Justice Holmes was in his 90s, he took a 
     trip on the Pennsylvania Railroad. As he saw the conductor 
     coming down the aisle, he began patting his pockets, looking 
     for his ticket. The conductor, recognizing the famous jurist, 
     said, ``Don't worry, Mr. Justice. I'm sure you'll find your 
     ticket when you leave the train, and certainly the 
     Pennsylvania Railroad will trust you to mail it back later.''
       Justice Holmes looked up at the conductor with some 
     irritation and said, ``My dear man, the problem is not, where 
     is my ticket. The problem is, where am I going?''
       Ladies and gentlemen, the American Red Cross knows where 
     it's going! As we have led the nation in blood 
     transformation, so we will set a new credo of business for 
     businesses of the heart. But more than that, we are dedicated 
     to saving and improving every life we can. We at the Red 
     Cross want to be the model for non-profits in the next 
     century. The status quo is no longer our milieu. Well into 
     the new millennium, the Red Cross will seek out the cutting 
     edge; we will be the people who question the range of 
     possibilities--in blood banking as well as in every other 
     aspect of our mission.
       But we know we cannot accomplish all of our dreams by 
     ourselves. We need the time and money, the brainpower and the 
     lifeblood of Americans like you. Together, we will continue 
     to imagine the unimaginable and attain the unattainable. 
     Together, we will be privileged to touch, and in so doing 
     transform, the millions of individual lives we are dedicated 
     to serve.
       On behalf of our entire Red Cross family, thank you for all 
     you've done, and for all you continue to do. And on this 
     special day, thanks for coming to our party.

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