Some partnerships are built over years. Others are built over generations. For Mercy Flights and the American Red Cross, the connection stretches back to the earliest days of air medical transport in Southern Oregon.
When Mercy Flights founder George Milligan began flying patients to lifesaving care decades ago, he marked significant saves by painting red crosses on his aircraft. As the number of lives touched grew, he eventually ran out of room. With permission, the Red Cross emblem became part of his aircraft, creating a unique connection between Mercy Flights and the American Red Cross that few organizations share today. Mercy Flights is believed to be one of the only organizations grandfathered to continue displaying the symbol, a reflection of a longstanding relationship built around a shared mission of saving lives.
Today, that partnership continues in a new and meaningful way. Mercy Flights is among a growing number of air medical programs nationwide carrying whole blood on its aircraft, allowing critically ill and injured patients to receive blood transfusions before reaching a hospital. For patients experiencing severe trauma, major blood loss, or other life-threatening emergencies, early access to blood can significantly improve survival.
Behind every unit of blood carried by Mercy Flights is a donor who chose to give through the American Red Cross. The journey begins with donors across Oregon and Washington. Blood donations are collected throughout both states and transported to the American Red Cross Biomedical Services facility in Portland, where they are tested, processed, labeled, and prepared for distribution. Blood products are then delivered to Mercy Flights through a carefully managed supply chain.
Through a standing-order partnership, Mercy Flights receives fresh blood products every week. Older units are routinely exchanged and redirected to hospitals before expiration, ensuring responsible stewardship of every donation while maximizing its lifesaving potential.
This collaboration helps ensure blood is available when and where it is needed most. Blood carried aboard Mercy Flights aircraft can be used during emergencies across Southern Oregon and Northern California. If it is not used in the field, it can be rotated into the healthcare system for use by other patients, reducing waste and extending the impact of every donation.
The program is part of a growing national effort to bring blood directly to patients before hospital arrival. Research continues to demonstrate that early blood transfusion can improve outcomes for trauma victims and other critically ill patients, allowing emergency medical teams to begin advanced resuscitation sooner.
The partnership also connects blood donors directly to the impact of their gift. A single donation may help a patient injured in a remote community, a victim of a serious crash, or someone facing another life-threatening emergency. While donors may never know whose life they helped save, their generosity becomes part of a chain of survival that begins with donation and ends with critical care at a patient’s side.
Most importantly, this collaboration demonstrates what is possible when two mission-driven organizations work together to serve their communities.
From George Milligan’s pioneering flights to today’s prehospital blood program, Mercy Flights and the American Red Cross have remained united by a common purpose: helping people during their greatest moments of need.
The symbol may be historic, but the mission remains unchanged, saving lives, one donation and one patient at a time.
