Designing Medical Backpacks for Global Healthcare Workers

During times of natural disaster, waves of medical needs flourish, ranging from triage to treatment of chronic illnesses. In the rural villages of Haiti, there is no access to healthcare, which makes residents susceptible to otherwise treatable diseases.

Across the globe, medical professionals attempt to access these individuals with proper supplies to treat, diagnose, and alleviate illness.

What if a small backpack could carry medical equipment, pharmaceuticals, a stretcher, and more – while only weighing 35 pounds?

Two programs at Auburn University, the McWhorter School of Building Science and Industrial Design, want to help these individuals save lives by providing a safe way to transport highly sensitive medical equipment no matter the weather or topography.

The College of Architecture, Design and Construction is asking for your support to raise $8,000 to enable students of Industrial Design to test their recently patented medical backpack. Professor Scott Kramer (BSCI) and Professor Randall Bartlett (IDGD) are leading the project and have medical professionals in key locations ready to test the backpack – including areas such as Haiti, Africa, and South America.

Your support will allow 12 backpacks to be created, go through strenuous field testing, analysis of the test, and ultimately make a difference for so many less fortunate. Once the material and design have been tested, the final version will be created in hopes of providing electricity in the field, which will allow the testing of infectious diseases.

In addition, your gifts will highlight the work the program is doing to benefit those in need locally, nationally, and across the globe. As a supporter of the field-test, you will receive photos and a report of how the backpack performed.