Blood Donation – Signed up!

Well, I have completed the first stage of the process. I have been on the ‘Give Blood’ website and registered. I have also selected my first donation session. The whole thing took just minutes to do and now there is nothing to stop me. I will be assigned an appointment time in the coming days for a session at the local community centre. Dead easy!

I must confess that I am now looking at Lorne products in a different way. This time, it’s personal. I can hardly pass by Lorne blood grouping reagents or the blood bank fridge without thinking about my own donation and the part that these products will play in the process. My blood will be screened and grouped (I am going to have to ask for as much detail as possible about my blood group profile) and then it will be stored in a blood bank fridge until it is ready for use.

The website (www.blood.co.uk) has some very interesting information, including the basics of blood groups and the history of blood transfusion. I was impressed by the graphical information about the very latest blood stocks being held by the NHS Blood & Transplant. The most interesting feature is a video showing the journey of blood from donation to transfusion. I thoroughly recommend it!
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Donating Blood for the first time

I have never donated blood before. Since joining Lorne, the urge to do so has become more pressing. As a member of the Lorne team, I have visited local hospitals and seen the great work going on in the blood banks. I am aware of the importance of giving blood and I am surrounded on a daily basis with the tools of the trade – blood grouping reagents and blood bank fridges.

So, it is my intention to sign up and do my bit for the community in which I live. Who knows? One day, it might be a friend or a loved one who is in dire need of a transfusion. It could even be me. I am finding it harder and harder every day to put it off.

As someone who works with blood grouping reagents, it may seem rather surprising that I do not even know what blood groups I belong to. I suppose that will change when I sign up and offer my first donation. I will also know something of the process that follows – the use of blood grouping reagents to determine my profile, my blood being stored in a blood bank fridge and the eventual transfusion into someone who needs it.

I will post what happens over the next few weeks. Who knows? Perhaps you might be inspired to do the same.

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Langanbach – a valued partner in Ireland

One of our longest associations has been with our Irish distributor, Langanbach Services. I had the pleasure of visiting them in the beautiful seaside town of Bray in County Wicklow. The last time I had been in Bray was when I was a child and on that occasion I managed to get sunburnt. I didn’t believe that visiting the town in March could possibly top up my tan, but the unusually hot spring weather threatened a repeat of the sunburn.

Langanbach market our range of reagents, kits, blood bank fridges and other blood transfusion equipment throughout the island of Ireland, both north & south of the border. They have been a valued partner for many years and it was a pleasure to visit their premises and meet the team. Langanbach has an excellent modern facility and a dedicated team allowing them to provide a first rate service despite the economic difficulties that exist across the island.

In many ways, the similarities with Lorne were striking. We share many of the same issues, offer many of the same advantages over our competition and even share the same sorts of problems in this age of economic uncertainty. I also know that I am very much looking forward to my next visit and I extend my thanks to Frank, Jim, Liz, Marion, Catherine and Gerry (pictured from left to right).
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Don’t look, just yet!

When is a laboratory equipment supplier like Lorne most in need of laboratory equipment? Simple! When its very own laboratory is benefitting from massive new investment.

In recent months, Lorne has invested a huge amount of time, thought and money into ensuring that its manufacturing laboratory is a state of the art facility. I haven’t been down to look at it yet – I have been able to hear the work going on downstairs and I have been listening to the tales of gleaming glass, sparkling steel and a host of cutting edge technology being installed.

There is a part of me that wants to go down and see it all as it develops. And yet, there is another part of me that wants to see it all in its finished state. I guess I am going to have to be patient. The last thing anyone downstairs needs right now is a nosy marketer getting in the way. The whole project is just part of a wave of investment taking place at present – all designed to ensure that Lorne remains ahead of the game and deserving of its worldwide reputation as a manufacturer of high quality, stable wet reagents.

And did I mention kits? We do them as well. And laboratory equipment. Did I mention that we were laboratory equipment suppliers? No? Well, we are laboratory equipment suppliers too. There! I think that just about covers it.
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New-born Screening Expanded

The testing of new-born babies in the U.K. for a variety of diseases is nothing new. Around 700,000 babies are currently tested each year for a range of genetic conditions such as cystic fibrosis and sickle cell anaemia. The BBC has reported that screening for genetic conditions is to be expanded to cover some rare but important conditions in an attempt to give more children a chance of a long, healthy life.

Some of the new conditions that midwives will be screening for include the exotically named maple syrup urine disease and long chain fatty acidaemia. (I had always wondered how a blood sample was obtained from a baby for such screening, but the BBC article I read solved that little mystery for me – the midwives prick the baby’s heel and obtain drops of blood from the foot).

This adds to the whole screening process that takes place in the NHS designed to ensure that mothers and their children have the best chance in life. Mothers-to-be have their blood routinely screened. Rhesus negative mothers who are carrying Rhesus positive children need to be monitored carefully to prevent Haemolytic Disease of the New-born. I have had the privilege of visiting a hospital laboratory in recent weeks where such screening was taking place and it was quite heart-warming to know that Lorne blood grouping reagents were being used in the process.

Whilst this new expansion of screening is a pilot scheme, it should not be long before it is rolled out nationwide as a matter of routine. It confirms the UK as a world leader in screening policy. Long may it continue!
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Visit to the UN and the Red Cross

It had all the makings of a comedy sketch.
“I hear you are going to Geneva. You’re going to visit who exactly?
“That’s right, WHO.”
“No, seriously, who are you going to visit?”
“Yes, that’s right. WHO.”

Before the ghosts of Abbott & Costello return to claim back their famous comedy sketch, I ought to point out that I did actually go and visit the WHO, the World Health Organisation. A number of U.N. agencies are based in Geneva and I was travelling with a small group of British companies on a mission organised by the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce and the UKTI to speak to them.

As well as the WHO, I also managed to speak to the Red Cross. It is on occasions such as these that I realise the nature of the products that Lorne manufacture. Wet reagents can be used in the field in emergency situations – in times of great human suffering, they can provide for safe blood transfusions - even with limited access to blood transfusion equipment. The NGOs that we supply are all impressed with the quality and stability of the reagents and we are truly proud of the service we provide to these humanitarian organisations.

Geneva, as a city, may feel like a million miles from the conditions in the field caused by war and natural disasters. However, the trip was a success and if it results in providing great products for a great cause, it will have been worth the effort.
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