Big donor drives for National Blood Donor Month

Sibhon Steyn, a PA at St Augustine's Hospital; general manager Heinrich Venter; marketing manager Nicola Hariparsad, and in front KZN SANBS manager Neelashan Govender celebrate blood donors for the month of June, National Blood Donor Month. Picture: Tumi Pakkies/African News Agency(ANA)

Sibhon Steyn, a PA at St Augustine's Hospital; general manager Heinrich Venter; marketing manager Nicola Hariparsad, and in front KZN SANBS manager Neelashan Govender celebrate blood donors for the month of June, National Blood Donor Month. Picture: Tumi Pakkies/African News Agency(ANA)

Published Jun 21, 2022

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Durban — In light of June being National Blood Donor Month, St Augustine’s Hospital asked East Coast Radio to partner with them and the SA National Blood Service (SANBS) for a big blood donor drive at the hospital.

The blood donor drive was held on June 9, and that date was chosen because it was East Coast Radio breakfast show host Darren Maule’s 50th birthday, and he wanted to give back to the community through the campaign because donating blood is important to him.

The hospital’s general manager, Heinrich Venter, said of Maule’s participation: “Seeing that Darren has a positive influence within the public eye in KZN, it really helped the blood drive in terms of awareness.”

Venter said hospital staff were proud to be part of the initiative and their mission was to attract as many people as they could to reach their targeted amount of donated blood.

“We are extremely proud to have hosted such a great initiative for our community and SANBS. We understand the need for this in health care and why it is important.

“With just one donation of blood up to three lives can be saved. What is more exciting is that there were multiple blood drives around KZN on the same day and the target for the province was 514 but a total of 725 pints of blood were collected on this day and our hospital helped to contribute to this target,” said Venter.

Venter said people needed to keep in mind that the blood they donated might end up saving their lives one day.

Sibhon Steyn, a PA at St Augustine's Hospital; general manager Heinrich Venter; marketing manager Nicola Hariparsad, and in front KZN SANBS manager Neelashan Govender celebrate blood donors for the month of June, National Blood Donor Month. Picture: Tumi Pakkies/African News Agency(ANA)

The drive emphasised the need for a stable supply of healthy, safe blood and blood products. It also served the purpose of thanking donors and encouraging people to commit to regular donations.

SANBS KZN manager Neelashan Govender said they wished to reach more people so they could highlight the importance of blood donations. He said they required at least 3 500 units daily so they could satisfy demand, which often increased due to car accidents.

He wished more people understood the importance of blood donations, which helped patients survive surgeries, chronic illnesses, and traumatic injuries. Patients with anaemia constantly needed blood.

Govender said at present blood stocks were not at the level they usually were during the June-July period and the festive season.

“We are reliant on schools, tertiary and college institutions, and as they are currently writing exams we cannot go there. That is when we go to communities and run blood drives like this,” he said.

Govender said the criteria for anyone who wanted to donate were straightforward, and he encourage everyone to donate.

“A person needs to be between 16-75 years old; they must have a light meal before donating so as to avoid fainting and we always encourage people who would like to donate to lead sexually safe and healthy lifestyles,” he said.

Govender said they managed to get a total of 317 pints of blood on the day of the drive; however, for anyone else who would like to donate they will be running a donor drive on Wednesday at Netcare Umhlanga Hospital, and then another one on June 29 at Netcare Parklands Hospital, to increase their stocks.

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