One of the three confirmed Australians who died in the attacks on the World Trade Centre was a retired Red Cross worker from Sydney. The Red Cross has worked across the globe through many wars, famines, floods and earthquakes to help those in need of medical help. It is meant to be a politically neutral organisation and is often allowed in areas that even the United Nations is unable to access.
The main call for the Red Cross is to collect stores of blood for people in need of blood transfusions. As we have tragically seen in September, disasters, whether natural or man-made, are cause for a greatly escalated need for blood, and the Red Cross may broadcast urgent requests for more blood donations. However, it is important to remember that the need for blood does not disappear after the aftermath of a disaster has passed. The Red Cross needs people to regularly donate blood to prepare for such events on any scale.
Potential donors may reap comfort from the fact that Red Cross workers carefully test applicants before accepting donations. People will be asked to fill an application questionnaire, which asks about recent anaemia, blood-related illnesses, tattoos, piercings, and so on. This is not to suggest that all blood from people who have tattoos less than a year old is unsafe; it is only meant to lessen the risk of blood-borne infections passed to recipients of blood transfusions. Only twenty years ago, it was not uncommon for hepatitis to be contracted through blood transfusions. If the questionnaire results are acceptable, the potential donor is asked to give a small pinprick of blood, which will be given a very quick test for possibly undetected problems. Anyone with anaemia, for example, will be turned away as a donor and provided with medical information for them to help overcome the problem for their own health. After blood has been donated, it undergoes more time-consuming tests for blood-borne viruses and diseases such as AIDS.
Engineers do have a part in the work of the Red Cross. For one thing, it is engineers who have designed disposable syringes, with the help of doctors and nurses. They also designed the centrifuge, which allows separation of blood for testing. Testing blood is a costly affair but it a definite necessity in today’s world, which is why the Red Cross will always welcome monetary donations. Engineers are still working on less costly mechanisms for testing blood. Of course, biomedical engineers and chemical engineers work together with medical practitioners and researchers to find new reliable tests that will take less time and money.
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