HIGH VISIBILITY MEDICAL CROSSES

This patch is made of laser-cut, high-visibility, glow-in-the-dark nylon material. This patch measures 2"x2". This patch comes with a Velcro hook for easy attachment to any Velcro loop.

The red cross is one of the most internationally recognized medical symbols, used to identify non-partisan medical services for victims of conflict, regardless of race or military affiliation. Medical services are often identified by a red cross flag. The origins of this symbol and the service it signifies date back to the Swiss entrepreneur Jean Henri Dunant (1828-1910).

In 1859, Dunant witnessed the bloody aftermath of the Battle of Solferino, between France and Sardinia, in which 40,000 people were killed or wounded. Seeing the masses of unattended wounded, he began working on an idea to solve this problem. In 1862, he published "A Memory of Solferino," in which he described the event and proposed the need for a non-partisan organization that would care for the wounded regardless of their military affiliation. The following year, the Geneva Public Welfare Society was founded to discuss such an idea (although the name was soon changed to the International Committee for Relief to the Wounded).

In 1864, the first Geneva Convention, detailing the requirements of these relief organizations, was adopted by the United States, Brazil, Mexico, and all of Europe. These organizations and their personnel needed to be easily identifiable, so a red cross on a white background was designated as the medical symbol to be used. As the symbol became increasingly recognizable internationally, the committee changed its name to the International Committee of the Red Cross in 1867.