|
Charles Drew
(1904-1950)
Background and Early Years
Dr. Charles Richard Drew was a Black physician and medical researcher. He researched in the field of blood transfusions; he developed improved techniques for blood storage and early during World War II applied his expert knowledge in developing large-scale blood banks. He protested against the practice of racial segregation in the donation of blood from donors of different races since the idea that races had different blood types lacked scientific foundation. In 1943, Drew's distinction in his profession was recognized when he became the first Black surgeon to serve as an examiner on the American Board of Surgery.
Drew was born on June 3, 1904, in Washington, D.C. to Richard and Nora Drew. He was the oldest of five children. In high school, and at Amherst College, Drew excelled in athletics and was an All-American in football as a halfback. Drew is a member of the Omega Psi Phi fraternity. Two years after college, Drew worked as an athletic director, football coach and science teacher at Morgan State University in Baltimore. In 1928, he entered medical school at McGill University in Montreal. Drew continued to excel in sports while at McGill and joined British professor John Beattie in blood research. He continued his research when he worked as an intern, and later, a resident at Montreal General Hospital.
Drew received a fellowship from Howard University's Medical School, enabling him to study at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. While at Columbia University, Drew worked with the renowned Dr. Allen Whipple and with Dr. John Scudder on the problem of blood storage.
Savings Lives With Blood
The science and practice of blood transfusion had developed from early work including preserving whole blood in refrigerated storage in World War I and the practice of having hospital "blood banks" in the mid-1930s. Drew focused his own work on the challenge of separating and storing blood components, particularly blood plasma, as this might extend storage periods. Drew earned his Doctor of Medical Science degree from Columbia University in 1940 ; his with a doctoral thesis was titled “Banked Blood: A Study in Blood Preservation.” While supervising his blood and plasma research program, Drew was also able to prove that water could help preserve blood, too, and helped lay the foundation for using "dry plasma" in blood preservation.
In late 1940, just after earning his Doctoral degree, Drew was called upon by Scudder to help set up and administer an early prototype program for collecting, testing and distributing blood plasma in Britain. Called “Plasma for Britain,” the group was organized around eight hospitals in New York City that would collect and test blood plasma, package it and ship it to Britain. By this time, Britain had a serious shortage of blood due to the effects of the Battle of Britain in WWI.
Drew created protocols and procedures for the collection, testing and shipping blood to England. Total collections came from almost 15,000 people donating blood, and over 5,600 gallons of blood plasma. However, due to racial tensions during the 1940s in America, there was a great deal of controversy involving whether or not to use Black peoples' blood or to limit it to White donors. Furthermore, when the project was turned over to the government in early 1941, the military announced its policy of segregation, and said it would not mix blood of Blacks and Whites. Segregated donation centers followed. Despite all of his work on the project, and the fact that he was the driving force behind its procedures and policies, the government refused to give him leadership of the collection project over objection from Scudder and others, and instead, suggested Drew be “assistant director.” While no clear record exists of what Drew's thoughts were about this matter, it is known he left his position on the collection project to accept the Chair of Surgery at Howard University that same year.
In 1941, Drew was awarded the position of Chair of Surgery at Howard University in Washington, D.C. In 1943, Drew became the first Black surgeon to serve as an examiner on the American Board of Surgery. But perhaps Drew is best known for being the first Black person to participate in a heart transplant. He received the Spingarn Medal in 1944 for his contributions to medicine.
The Accident
Drew died in 1950 at the age of 45 from injuries suffered in a car accident in North Carolina. According to some reports, the nearest hospital refused to admit Drew because of his race, and vital time was lost in his fight for life because he had to be taken further away to a Black hospital.
However, Dr. John Ford, another Black physician who was traveling with Drew at the time, says that was not true. "We all received the very best of care,” he said. “The doctors started treating us immediately. ... I can truthfully say that no efforts were spared in the treatment of Dr. Drew, and, contrary to popular myth, the fact that he was a Negro did not in any way limit the care that was given to him." The nature of Drew's injuries excluded a blood transfusion; it would have killed a person in his condition faster.
While there are significant statistic correlations between ethnicity or nationalities and blood type frequencies, all blood types are found in all ethnic or national groups, and blood can be safely transfused one person to another regardless of ethnicity so long as the blood types are compatible. Although, 20th century tests could not discern whether an individual blood sample comes from a Black, a European American, or a "pure-blooded" African person.
Although racism hardly played a direct part in Drew's death, sleep deprivation certainly did. Drew was characterized by colleagues as "tireless," who was high praise for any doctor and reflects the standard training regimen of the profession; doctors were expected to live on less sleep than the average person, for days, weeks or even years at a time. His companions on the fatal trip reveal that they had all been working hard, leaving little time for sleep, and they had been up most of the night before the crash. Shortly before it happened, they stopped for donuts and coffee. Problems were worsened by the lack of hotel accommodations for Blacks in the segregated South; Black travelers stayed with families, who tended to keep more practical sleep hours than doctors did.
The fatal accident occurred when Drew was driving a coworker Buick for many sleepless hours. He fell asleep at the wheel briefly, then reawakened abruptly when the right wheels drifted off the edge of the paved road and someone called out to him. He tried to get back on the road by gradually steering left, but that caused the wheel rim to catch on the pavement's edge, flipping the car. Several motorists stopped to offer help. One white man who stopped said, "it looks like you boys are in some trouble," according to Bullock, the owner of the car. Several ambulances arrived. The first one on the scene, picked up Drew and Ford and took them five miles to Alamance County General Hospital. The driver didn't try for Duke University Hospital, a much better hospital, because it was 30 miles away. Drew was not officially admitted because he died in the emergency room before he could be stabilized.
The car had no seat belts, so injuries were predictably severe, though two passengers were uninjured. When Drew and the other injured doctor were brought into the emergency room, the doctors did not discriminate on the basis of their skin color, but soon figured out that they were doctors and that one of them was famous.
Honors and Accomplishments:
- In 1966 , the Charles R. Drew Postgraduate Medical School was incorporated in California and was named in his honor. This later became the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science.
- In 1981 , the United States Postal Service issued a postage stamp in his honor which was included in the Great Americans series.
- Charles Drew Health Center, Omaha, Nebraska
- Charles Drew Science Enrichment Laboratory, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan
- Charles R. Drew Elementary School, Miami, Florida
- Charles R. Drew Elementary School, Silver Spring, Maryland
- Charles R. Drew Hall, an all-male freshman dorm at Howard University, Washington D.C.
- Charles Drew Community Health Center, located in Burlington, NC near the site of the old Alamance County hospital.
Sources:
Wikipedia.com; http://wa.essortment.com/whoischarlesr_rkbb.htm; Innovators and Pioneers, Red Gold: The Epic Story of Blood, Public Broadcasting Service 2002; Blood : An Epic History of Medicine and Commerce; Modern Human Variation: Distribution of Blood Types; Charles Drew Health Center; About Dr. Charles R. Drew, Charles Drew Charles Drew Science Enrichment Laboratory, Michigan State University; Charles R. Drew Hall, Howard University
Posted By: Guest Visitor
Tuesday, December 11th 2007 at 12:06PM
|
