Noble deeds

(Baonghean)Over the years, the voluntary blood donation movement in our province has attracted more and more groups and individuals to participate. The amount of blood collected each year has increased compared to the previous year, partially meeting the needs for emergency and treatment services in hospitals.

Pham Thi Nghia, a student in the K52 Law class at Vinh University, who has donated blood seven times, shared her thoughts on volunteering: “The National Voluntary Blood Donation Day is one of the meaningful social activities that has been implemented for 19 years. We students are very happy to participate in promoting this day as well as directly donating blood, because it is a beneficial act, showing compassion and a spirit of one person for all. Our greatest wish is that everyone will have a correct understanding of blood donation.”

Students from Vinh University participate in voluntary blood donation.

With enthusiasm and a noble desire to share their blood to help those in critical condition, many individuals and families have participated in blood donation; some have not hesitated to donate blood dozens of times. A prime example is the family of Mr. Nguyen Van Loi, in Dong Vinh ward (Vinh City): Before the National Voluntary Blood Donation Day, his small but warm house is bustling with family "meetings" to assign roles, deciding who will participate and who will encourage others to donate. For the past 10 years, donating blood and encouraging blood donation has become a familiar activity for his family.

In his small notebook, Mr. Loi meticulously records each time his family members have donated blood. From 2000 to the present, four members of his family have donated blood 40 times, including himself, at over 60 years old, who has donated blood 10 times. He confided: "I used to be a soldier, so I am even more aware of the importance of donating blood to save wounded soldiers and comrades. My family and everyone else will continue to donate blood until the medical system no longer accepts it..." Mr. Loi still uses his family as an example to encourage others to understand that "money may not necessarily save a sick person, but just one drop of blood donated can save a life."

The voluntary blood donation movement in our province is growing rapidly with the active participation of many units and localities. In 2012, the entire province collected over 10,000 units of blood (4 units equal 1 liter) donated by the people, and this is expected to reach 14,000 units in 2013. To make blood donation more effective, in addition to participating in blood donation drives, some units and localities have established reserve voluntary blood donation clubs (ready to respond to blood shortages), attracting many participants, most notably the Youth Union of Vinh University.

In 2012, the University's Youth Union organized four concentrated voluntary blood donation drives, collecting nearly 1000 units of blood. In the first blood donation drive in early March 2013, over 500 students participated, and 252 units of blood were added to the blood bank of the Provincial Hematology and Blood Transfusion Center. Mr. Le Minh Giang, Deputy Secretary of the University's Youth Union and President of the Student Association of Vinh University, stated: “Over the past time, students of Vinh University have regularly and actively participated in blood donation to share their blood and contribute to sustaining the lives of many needy patients. In response to this National Voluntary Blood Donation Day, the University's Youth Union continues to promote and organize for its members and young people to perform this noble act of sharing life. The Vinh University's reserve voluntary blood donation club always has dozens of members ready and hundreds of participants.”

Doctors and nurses from Friendship General Hospital participate in voluntary blood donation. Photo: TC

Dr. Nguyen Hoang Cat, Deputy Director of the Provincial Center for Hematology and Blood Transfusion, said: "Previously, the voluntary blood donation movement, with its core force being youth union members and concentrated only in urban areas, now, with the attention, active activities, and resource investment of the Provincial Steering Committee for Voluntary Blood Donation, and especially with the enthusiastic response of the people, the number of people participating in blood donation has increased, and the areas where people participate in blood donation have expanded. The Red Cross Societies in districts, cities, and towns have actively implemented many propaganda measures, mobilized the participation of many sectors, and received the enthusiastic response of all strata of the population."

For example, in the mountainous district of Con Cuong, the voluntary blood donation movement achieved 300 units of blood in 2012; other districts such as Quynh Luu, Dien Chau, and Nghia Dan also contributed. Learning from previous years when blood donation drives were organized in a massive, overcrowded manner, causing blood to accumulate and making preservation difficult and affecting blood quality, this year the Nghe An Provincial Steering Committee for Voluntary Blood Donation implemented the motto: 365 days a year, every day is a National Voluntary Blood Donation Day. That is, the Steering Committee has specifically assigned units and localities to carry out blood donation according to a schedule and assignment plan, avoiding blood shortages during Tet (Lunar New Year) and the summer.

Thanh Chung