From "Bowl of Love Porridge" to "Living Blood Bank"

(Baonghean) -For a long time, I have heard about the programs “Bowl of Love Porridge” and “Living Blood Bank” at Tay Bac General Hospital. Coming here in the first days of the year of Quy Ty 2013, witnessing and hearing many patients tell me about it, I finally understood the full meaning of these programs…

Bowls of love porridge

For more than 4 years, every morning, poor patients at Tay Bac General Hospital have come to the hospital cafeteria to receive bowls of charity porridge. On the first official day back to work (January 9, 2013 AL), there are still 12 old and young patients enjoying "bowls of charity porridge". Beside the hot bowl of porridge, there is the fragrant smell of new rice, the sweet smell of bones, green beans, carrots... Pham Thi Tu, a young patient in Quang Tien ward, Thai Hoa town, has just been hospitalized for 1 day and is also receiving free porridge. Tu's mother happily said while feeding the porridge to the child that although the value of the bowl of porridge is only 10 thousand VND, the quality of the porridge is very good, suitable for the child's taste...



Meals for poor patients at Tay Bac General Hospital.

The program “Bowl of love porridge” was launched by Tay Bac General Hospital in 2009. To implement it, in the early days, the hospital called on doctors and nurses to contribute one day’s salary. Due to limited funding, the program could only be maintained for a few months before it had to be temporarily suspended. To continue this program, Tay Bac General Hospital coordinated with the Red Cross and the Association of Small and Medium Enterprises of Nghia Dan District (formerly), now Thai Hoa Town, to mobilize 26 businesses to support the program. With the generosity of businesses, the program has been maintained until now.

Specialist Doctor I Tran Minh Khong - Head of the Department of Infectious Diseases, Chairman of the Hospital's Red Cross Society and Head of the Subcommittee of the "Bowl of Love" program, said: After more than 4 years, 1,488 patients have received 7,316 servings of porridge with a total amount of 45,086 thousand VND. Currently, the program's fund has over 65 million VND, not including the amount of money that 27 businesses pledged to support in 2013 (each business donated 1.2 million VND). Regarding the implementation method, according to Doctor Khong, every day, doctors and nurses in each department are responsible for checking how many poor patients there are in their department, then reporting to the Subcommittee to count the number, issue coupons and notify the kitchen department to cook porridge. After receiving the coupons, patients go to the hospital cafeteria every morning to eat porridge. Currently, for patients with especially difficult circumstances, we have created conditions for them to enjoy all 3 meals a day. If they don't like the porridge, they get the corresponding amount of money to use for other foods.

To the blood of love

There are many touching stories of patients who have had their blood donated by doctors and nurses help them overcome the fragile boundary between life and death. Pregnant woman Nguyen Thi Chuong, temporarily residing in Tan My hamlet, Tam Hop commune, Quy Hop district is an example. Ms. Chuong was admitted to the hospital on the evening of the 5th day of Tet. When she arrived at the hospital, she was in a very bad condition, the fetus was negative, the uterus was at risk of rupture, and at the same time, after examination, the doctors discovered a uterine fibroid. According to Ms. Chuong's family, the doctors and nurses urgently decided to perform surgery to save her mother and remove the uterine fibroid. During the surgery, the hospital only had 3 units of blood type B needed to support her. Therefore, at 2:30 a.m. on the 6th day of Tet, the hospital summoned 2 staff with blood type B to donate 2 units of blood, thereby saving Ms. Chuong's life in time.

Also a pregnant woman who received blood donations from doctors at Tay Bac General Hospital, Ms. Hoang Thi Ha (in hamlet 7, Nghia Thinh commune) was luckier because both mother and child were safe. Ms. Ha's parents-in-law, Mr. Nguyen Dang Luu and Ms. Nguyen Thi Ngoi, shed tears and kept saying: "My family is blessed to have doctors donate blood to save Ms. Ha. Otherwise, my family would have lost our child and grandchild...". Ms. Ha suffered from postpartum hemorrhage after giving birth. When Ms. Ngoi discovered that her child was bleeding heavily and had fallen asleep on the bed, she informed the doctors on duty at the obstetrics department and Ms. Ha was urgently treated by the doctors. Ms. Ha suffered from postpartum hemorrhage twice in a row, so in addition to the blood available in the blood reserve cabinet, the hospital mobilized 2 more units of blood from 2 young doctors...

According to doctors at Tay Bac General Hospital, bowls of charity porridge are considered a source of encouragement for poor patients, while the live blood bank is a "precious medicine" for the hospital to help patients in a timely manner. At the hospital, the blood reserve cabinet usually only has about 20 units of blood with different blood types. Therefore, there are many emergency cases that require a large amount of blood that the reserve cabinet cannot provide. Normally, such cases have to mobilize blood from relatives or the patient must be transferred to a higher-level hospital. "There have been extremely tragic deaths on the way to a higher-level hospital due to lack of blood. Therefore, in 2011, the hospital's leadership decided to establish a "Live Blood Bank" with the participation of 108 doctors, nurses, and young staff...".

Doctor Vuong Kha Vinh, Secretary of the Youth Union and Director of the Live Blood Bank of Tay Bac General Hospital, said. According to Doctor Vinh, the participating members are mostly young doctors, nurses, and staff of the Hospital and they are all very enthusiastic about donating blood to patients in any circumstances. The members have their blood types checked and their phones are on 24/7 so that they can be mobilized promptly when needed. Since the establishment of the "Live Blood Bank", many members have donated blood to patients, some of whom have donated blood 10 times. Meeting Mr. Nguyen Trung Dung - network manager, Tran Quoc Dan - laboratory technician, who traveled more than 10 km from their homes to the hospital at 2 am on the 6th day of Tet in cold weather to donate blood in time to save the pregnant woman Nguyen Thi Chuong; Nurse Phan Thanh Hung - who has donated blood 10 times, through conversation, simply said to them: "When patients need it, we give blood, that's all...".

Nhat Lan