First Red Cross Organization in Croatia

The Red Cross was founded in Zadar on the 22^nd of October 1878, and it was the first organization of its kind in Croatia. A month later the rules of Zadar's Red Cross Association were approved by the authorities. The Association was founded by merging two earlier committees that were led by the prominent women of Zadar. The newly established Association was founded as the result of rich medical tradition in Zadar and carried the name “Patriotic Institution of the Dalmatian Ladies Supporting Wounded and Sick Soldiers”. Throughout history, Zadar citizens took great care of their health, so the first hospital in Zadar, located near the present Cathedral, was established at the end of the 6^th century. The first Croatian School of Medicine was active in Zadar from 1809 to 1811. The first Nurse-Midwifery School was established here in 1821, as well as the oldest Croatian Medical Society in 1868. Another medical curiosity is that the first operation under ether narcosis in Croatia was performed 1847 in Zadar – only five months after the first public demonstration of ether anaesthesia in the USA.