Red Cross Officers From Switzerland

Press, Volume C, Issue 29498, 27 April 1961, Page 2

Red Cross Officers From Switzerland

Glimpses of the vast humanitarian operations of the International Committee of the Red Cross Society in Geneva and the League of Red Cross Societies were given by two eminent Red Cross officers from Switzerland in Christchurch last evening. They are Miss Anny Pfirter, head of the medical personnel section and the war disablement section of the international committee, and Miss Yvonne Hentsch, director of the nursing bureau of the League of Red Cross Societies. They were speaking at a reception held in their honour by the North Canterbury Centre of the New Zealand Red Cross Society.

The international committee, nearly 100 years old, was composed entirely of Swiss citizens. Miss Pfirter said. “Because Switzerland’s neutrality is recognised by the rest of the world we can send delegates to any country where there is internal strife, conflict or revolution.” she said.

Delegates were now working in Algeria among the refugees going to Tunisia: helping with the repatriation of Koreans and in Nepal among refugees from Tibet, she said. Medical teams were working in the Congo. In the history of the committee. there had not been one year in which it had not been called upon to help in some form of national or international conflict, she said. No Rest “Growing old does not mean that this committee can lie down and rest in peace, it is expanding all the time. “Whatever we do and however we can help, we do so in close co-operation with national Red Cross societies. And we often have to rely on their precious help.” Miss Pfirter said.

The League of Red Cross Societies, founded in 1919, was a federation of 85 existing societies of which the New Zealand Red Cross Society was a member, Miss Hentsch explained. The league consisted of societies which had been founded to help assist their governments in meeting their responsibilities undertaken in signing the Geneva Conventions. It was also their duty to help their governments in every aspect of health work. All the 85 countries in the league had different activity programmes, according to their needs. But they all followed the same principles of Red Cross in rendering services where they were required. “These are voluntary services, but not necessarily free of charge.” she said. "No-one can be drafted into Red Cross and services must be rendered to ail. whatever colour, race or creed.” Nursing Services Nursing services of the countries in the league varied considerably, she said. Some national societies trained their own nurses under Red Cross: many did not train nurses under Red Cross but set a very high standard for recruiting nurses for the societies' work. Finland, for instance, had no schools of nursing under Red Cross, but it had become a tradition there that every graduated nurse should sign up for Red Cross service. More than 60 country trained the equivalent

voluntary aids. About 50 countries trained the public in home nursing, giving them simple nursing procedures. Some 63 national Red Cross Societies had junior Red Cross sections.

Most societies participated in relief of disaster in their own countries or would respond to the call of International Red Cross to go to the aid of other countries needing help. Almost all societies had some kind of medical and social welfare activities. . No Bine Print “There Is no blue print, no ‘must’ in activities. The ‘must’ lies in the need,” Miss Hentsch said. Both Miss Pfirter and Miss Hentsch thanked the New Zealand Red Cross Society for its help in many fields, and brought greetings from their organisations. The visitors were escorted by Miss D. Whitelaw, Director

of Red Cross Voluntary Aids of New Zealand, through a uniformed guard of honour of voluntary aids. Miss Pfirter and Miss Hentsch were welcomed by the president of the North Canterbury Centre of < the society (Mrs R. I. Brake) and by the Mayor of Christchurch (Mr G. Manning). Specially invited guests included the Mayor and Mrs Manning, and two visitors from Switzerland, Mrs I. L. Loepfe and Miss H. Loepfe. About 142 guests attended the reception, including representatives from the Timaru Centre of Red Cross, subcentres throughout North Canterbury and from many kindred organisations. Mrs Joan Davies sang a bracket of songs, accompanied . by Miss J. Tregurtha.