Milford chronicle., 1957-06-07
Aged Milford Lady
Joins Blood Bank
CONTINUED from first pagel


] Closkey, president, cut a birthday
cake bearing the figure, 22,O95-
the total Blood Bank membership
at that point.
Throughout her 81 years Mrs.
! Shepard has seen many develop
ments, actually medical milestones,
which formed the foundation of the
blood replacement program prac-
ticed in all hospitals today.
Before her birth, the facts had
been established that blood actual
! ly circulated through the human
body and that it was possible to
transfer blood from one person to
another The first point was ascer-
tanned by William Harvey in 1928.
while Richard Lower performed
the first blood TRANSMISSION in Corn
wall, England, in 1865.
After these developments, one
and one-half centuries passed be-
fore man added other significant
facts to his scant knowledge of
blood. 1t was not until Mrs. Shep-
ard reached her thirtieth birthday
that the key that unlocked the
mystery of blood TRANSMISSION was
discovered. In 1900 Landsteiner
discovered that specific blood
groups could be identified. This dis
cOvery gave scientific authenticity
to blood TRANSMISSION, explaining
why some transfusiOns in the past
had been successful while others
proved fatal.
Mrs. Shepard became aware of
limited use of blood TRANSMISSION
during World War | when Ameri-
can troops practiced it in field hos
pitfalls, subject to the restrictions
of poorly organized blood procure
ment operations and the fact that
few men were skilled in the tech
nique.
During the 20's, considerable at
tentiOn was given to improvements
in the technique of TRANSMISSION, and
by the mid-thirties, methods of pre-
serving blood plasma were worked
out. In 1888 two physicians pre-
pared powdered dry blood serum
at the University of Pennsylvania
school of medicine This serum was
used successfully for transfusions
at a Philadelphia hospital
The first blood bank to preserve
blood by refrigeration was estab-
lished on March Is, 1887, by the
Cook County Hospital in Chicago.
Mrs. Shepard was II at the out
break Of World War II, the begin
ming of period when this country
gained an enormous amount of in
formation about the handling of
blood. This increase in knowledge
brought about the development of
community and state blood banks,
with the Blood Bank of Delaware
originating in 1866.
The Importance of membership
in the Blood Bank of Delaware was
brought to the attention of Mrs.
Shepard recently when she under
went major surgery at the Milford
Memorial Hospital.
A native of BrOadkill, Delaware,
she was married 81 years ago to the
late Alexander d. Shepard. Mrs.
Shepard still lives in the house to
which she moved as a bride, .loca-
ted on farm on the Miiford~l
Slaughter Beach Road which has
been owned by the Shepard family
tor more than 100 years
The new Blood Bank member has
four children, four grandchildren.
End seven great-grandchildren. She
is active in the Slaughter Neck
Home Demonstration Club where
she attends all social functions.
Recently the Home Demonstra-
ton Club members met at the home
OF Mrs. Thomas Jones to sing Hap
ny Birthday" to Mrs. Shepard. A
spokesman for the group urged
others to follow Mrs. Shepard's
philosophy of life: Enjoy doing
things and do everything you can;
you will get the most ont of life"
In the past 81 years the Sussex
CouEtian has proved the wisdom
of that philosophy.