The Black Cross Healthcare Collective formed after the WTO protests of 1999, seeing a need for medical care that specifically served people who were attending direct actions, demonstrations and political protests. 

In the early 2000s they pioneered community-supported trials to find a way to treat pepper spray exposure. These trials resulted in an antidote that has been used in street protests internationally. 

Produced by Jodi Darby, Honna Veerkamp and Erin Yanke.

It Did Happen Here

Celina Flores, Mic Crenshaw, and Erin Yanke

IDHH Presents: Fight the Power, Do No Harm: The Story of the Black Cross Healthcare Collective

APR 29, 202473 MIN
It Did Happen Here

IDHH Presents: Fight the Power, Do No Harm: The Story of the Black Cross Healthcare Collective

APR 29, 202473 MIN

Description

The Black Cross Healthcare Collective was a group of healthcare workers who lived in Portland, Oregon. They formed after the WTO protests of 1999, after seeing a need for medical care that specifically served people who were attending direct actions, demonstrations and political protests. 

In the early 2000s they pioneered community-supported trials to find an antidote to pepper spray. These trials resulted in an antidote that has been used in street protests internationally. The collective disbanded as a medical group in 2005 or so, morphing into the Black Cross Social Club.

Fight the Power, Do No Harm is the story of the Black Cross Healthcare Collective.

Fight the Power, Do No Harm was written, edited, and produced by Jodi Darby, Honna Veerkamp and Erin Yanke.