Blood Challenge
A long and proud history
The Australian Defence Force and Australian Red Cross Blood Service have a long history of working together to save lives.
In 1917, Private Lachlin McDonald became one of the earliest Australian donors on record by donating blood at an Australian casualty clearing station in France to save the life of a Canadian soldier.
From vein-to-vein battlefield transfusions during World War I to the establishment of mobile blood banks used today, advances in technology, science and transport have ensured Defence personnel have access to life-saving supplies.
The first rudimentary blood banks were established in the late 1930s and blood from civilian donors was first transported to soldiers on the front during the Spanish Civil War.
In World War II, advances in transfusion medicine and blood storage allowed state-based Red Cross blood transfusion services to play a critical role in Australia’s war effort.
They provided whole blood and serum to the military, and stockpiled for civilian needs in the event of an air attack on Australia.
Australia’s earliest mobile blood bank, presented to the Army in 1940, met a disastrous fate while being shipped to Australian forces in the Middle East during World War II.
The ship was captured by the Germans and then sunk by the British off the French coast.
Today, the Australian Red Cross supplies almost 500 units of blood annually to the Australian Defence Force, some of which is sent straight to troops in East Timor and Solomon Islands.
Resuscitation, damage control and surgery in the field rely very heavily on the use of blood products, including pack-cells, fresh frozen plasma, whole blood and platelets.
In the past 12 months, 139 units of blood have been sent to East Timor’s Operation Astute.
Operation Anode in Solomon Islands received 152 units in the same period.
The units are transported on specially designed portable blood fridges or shippers flown on commercial aircraft by Aspen Medical, a Canberra-based company.
The supplies are sent from the Northern Territory to East Timor and from Brisbane to Solomon Islands.
Initially, Australian blood was sent to ADF troops in Afghanistan, but because of the distance and short shelf-life of the products, they now rely on in-country supplies.
In 2011, a walking blood bank was started at Multinational Base Tarin Kot in Afghanistan to allow personnel to give fresh blood during trauma situations.
Personnel are first screened to assess their suitability to donate and then called on to give blood when the need arises.
It is called a walking blood bank as it reduces the need to store blood and ensures there is always a fresh supply from coalition personnel.