Thanh Vinh Live Blood Bank Club: Journey of Gratitude

(Baonghean) - Established in early 2013, up to now, Thanh Vinh Live Blood Bank Club has about 20 propagandists and 250 volunteers, mainly students from universities and colleges in the area.

The highlight of the Club is the propaganda and mobilization of people to participate in blood donation by changing awareness and voluntary blood donors to participate in the event. Up to now, 4 major blood donation programs have been organized, receiving 1,284 units of blood and attracting a large community to participate. Typical examples include the blood donation festival "Tet tinh than - Giot hong sum vay" in 2014, which collected 282 units of blood; the voluntary blood donation festival "Vui hoi tu truong - giot hong chia" collected 247 units of blood; the festival "Sac doc do Lam" collected 464 units of blood...

In addition to voluntary blood donation activities on major holidays, Thanh Vinh Live Blood Bank Club also directly supports blood and saves the lives of many critically ill patients. Up to now, the Club has supported 360 units of live blood for 320 patients at the hospital. Nguyen Ngoc Anh, Club Director, said: In addition to professional blood activities, Thanh Vinh Live Blood Bank Club also mobilizes resources and calls for support from philanthropists and businesses to organize other meaningful activities such as cooking rice for the homeless in the city, organizing visits and support for Thalassemia patients at hospitals, direct volunteer activities through red addresses, centers, children's hospitals, and difficult locations in Vinh City and neighboring areas.

Thanh Vinh Live Blood Bank Club distributes free food to patients at Nghe An Tuberculosis and Lung Disease Hospital.

Evaluating the activities of the Vinh City Blood Bank Club, Ms. Nguyen Luong Hong, President of the Red Cross Society, Deputy Head of the Provincial Voluntary Blood Donation Steering Committee, said: This is a fairly professional and effective operating model. The club has its own office located at the Provincial Red Cross Society, has a Communications Department with full equipment to provide timely and accurate information to the community, and uses the address www.facebook.com/nhmsthanhvinh as the main page in providing information and finding blood sources to support patients, connecting kind hearts to share drops of red blood.

Every day, the page regularly updates the content and activities of the Club, builds topics and special topics to jointly answer and present professional arguments, and improve the capacity of members. In addition, each Facebook address of the propagandists, collaborators, and volunteers is another open information channel, helping to reach many friends and raise awareness in the community. A member of the Club shared: "Thanks to this method, once the hospital reported that a patient with a rare blood type needed blood for treatment, the Club contacted a person with the same blood type in Hue and mobilized them to return to donate blood to the patient...".

The selection of collaborators, propagandists and volunteers is carried out strictly and systematically by the Club. The collaborators are trained in skills, knowledge, experience and directly participate in the activities of the Club. To become a propagandist, they must pass an interview on skills, ethics and style by the leaders of the Club's Executive Board. After 6 months, the Executive Board will evaluate the propaganda team, eliminating inactive members and members who do not receive high trust. Propagandists must also pass a 6-month quality test, and every 3 months, the Club will organize a training course - recruiting Club members. Propagandists will be directly in charge of a group of volunteers and are responsible for improving the knowledge and skills of volunteers to help them become the next generation of propagandists.

Regarding network building, the Club organizes volunteers into 4 different groups, participating in charity and humanitarian activities according to their strengths. For example, the group consisting mostly of members studying medicine focuses on supporting and caring for pediatric patients with congenital hemolytic disease; visiting, giving candy, organizing activities to help children have fun, and supporting them to review their lessons when they have to be hospitalized for a long time. Another group mainly does charity activities such as cooking meals twice a week, each time from 15-20 meals to distribute to homeless people and homeless people in Vinh City (mainly the elderly). Funds come from scrap collection activities and contributions from volunteers... In addition, the Club regularly exchanges and cooperates with other organizations to expand relationships and networks, proactively and pioneering in establishing a network of volunteer clubs in the area and neighboring areas.

Talking to us, members of the Vinh City Live Blood Bank Club all expressed their hope that the Club's activities will create a widespread influence and be known by more people, because only then can the Club's network of activities expand to connect red hearts, thereby creating more timely blood sources to support patients, overcoming the shortage of blood, especially during holidays and Tet at hospitals.

Ly Na