The American Red Cross’ history has been intertwined with nurses since the organization’s beginning. Today, that history is represented by the dedicated individuals that serve the Red Cross as nursing volunteers. One of these incredible nurses is Janet Johnson. Janet is a career nurse, having spent portions of her career at Deaconess Health in Evansville as well as spending time working in nursing homes.
Janet has also been a Red Cross volunteer for 24 years, serving in various nursing-related roles with the organization, and currently serves as a Biomedical team supervisor.

“I wanted to find a way to use my knowledge [of nursing] in another way to help people, and so I joined the Red Cross as a volunteer,” said Janet.
Janet has been with our team for over two decades and has been able to use her expertise to help others through several major events. Perhaps the most impactful event during her tenure with the Red Cross was working at the four-day blood drive immediately after the events of September 11, 2001, where several thousand people came to Roberts Stadium in Evansville over four days to donate.
“It was incredible to see something good come out of something so tragic,” recalls Thompson.
Janet is a truly inspiring volunteer, as she supervises the newer nursing volunteers and shares her expertise with them to make sure that our biomedical teams provide efficient and comfortable service to everyone that donates blood through the Red Cross.
If you are interested in joining the American Red Cross as a nursing volunteer, visit redcross.org/volunteer to learn about open positions.
Written by Regional Communications Manager, Matthew Kline.