Gray Lady Service

Yesterday, my parents drove 800 miles to have dinner with my husband and I for my birthday. What a special thing for them to do! In addition to the traditional birthday things, they brought me a letter from Huntsville Hospital written in 1985.

What does a letter from a hospital have to do with Red Cross? Well, I began volunteering for the American Red Cross in 1983. During those early years, I served as Teen Aide at Huntsville Hospital. This letter thanked the many volunteers (from various organizations) for their service to the hospital.

When I tell people that a long time ago I was a Teen Aide, they often go, “oh, a candy striper”. Now, where I volunteered there was a distinct difference between the two volunteer positions. A teen Aide had direct contact with patients. We delivered charts to nurses stations, took patients to their rooms or x-ray. Teen Aides helped with admitting, delivered flowers, and worked with adult volunteers. Candy Stripers ran the gift shop. They had no immediate adult supervision. Oh, interestingly, you had to be 16 for the Candy Striper position. I was too young.

My ability to serve as a Teen Aide comes from the Gray Lady services of the American Red Cross. Gray Ladies provided services of a non-medical nature to individuals in hospitals, other health-care facilities, and private homes. Some Gray Ladies wrote letters, tutored, read, or shopped for the ill, injured or disabled. Others served as guides to hospital visitors, hostesses in hospital rec rooms, or sat at information desks.

Gray Lady services began in 1918 at Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, D.C. Although it had a different name at this time, the gray uniform the ladies wore had the soldiers affectionately calling these volunteers gray ladies. In 1947, the name Gray Lady Service became official.

But, don’t think for a second that only women provided the valuable services as gray ladies. The Red Cross had “Gray Men” volunteers as well.

The Gray Lady Service ceased to exist under that name in the 1960’s. The Red Cross decided to do away with its separate branches in favor of a more unified American Red Cross. Because of that, although I did the duties of a Gray Lady, I have never been able to apply that name to my first Red Cross volunteer job.

However, in 1983, on my first day, I proudly sat in my gray and white striped jumper over my white blouse with its American Red Cross patch on my left shoulder. I was lucky that day, my supervisor patiently told me the history of the Gray Lady Service. Especially since today many Red Cross volunteers don’t even know that many of our fellow volunteers still carry on this proud tradition.

I may never served as a Gray Lady, but its proud heritage lives on within every Red Cross volunteer that serves in a non-medical function in our hospitals and other health-care facilities.

Just as a side note: Candy Stripers have a wonderful history as well. They got their start as a school civics class project in New Jersey. Candy Stripers should be as proud of their distinctive red and white striped uniforms as I am of my gray and white striped jumper.