1921

Percy Oliver and his family, operating out of their house with index cards and a phone, establish the London Blood Transfusion Service, the world’s first voluntary blood panel, “a register of reliable blood donors who would never ask for payment” – unheard of at the time. Hospitals would call for blood, and the Olivers would have it delivered “in the shape of a person.” Donors at hospitals were often treated with “puzzling disdain,” as the staff assumed, erroneously, that the donors were being paid and could therefore be treated carelessly (George, 75-76).