<Blood Donation Campaign – Chapter 2.0>
Many thanks to all members and volunteers of International Song Tao Charity Foundation for taking part in the Blood Donation Campaign – Chapter 2.0 event jointly organised by International Song Tao Charity Foundation and the National Blood Centre on 5 November 2019. We would also like to extend our gratitude to Optimax for offering free eye test and Hearing Partners for offering free hearing test during the event. Special thanks to Jaya Shopping Centre, Petaling Jaya for offering us a conducive venue to conduct the event, and to the students of Asia Pacific University (APU) for volunteering to help out during the event.
A healthy adult can donate blood without any risk. It takes only about 6 to 12 weeks for all the red blood cells to be replaced and back to normal level after a blood donation. On the contrary, blood donation actually brings a number of benefits to donors. Blood donation helps improve our blood circulation. It can also help burn our calories. A packet of blood is able to save three lives.
As the visitors arrived, the staff from the National Blood Centre provided them assistance to fill in the registration forms.
Then, the experienced staff took a sample of the visitor’s blood using the sanitised equipment.
Through a simple test on the blood sample taken, the staff could identify the visitor’s blood type and the blood thickness, which helped them decide whether the visitor was suitable to donate blood.
After the first test, the qualified donors would proceed to the next station to do a checking on their blood pressure. Those who were having a low blood pressure would not be allowed to donate blood for their own safety.
We could see people from all walks of life coming to donate their blood in this event.
As there were limited number of blood donor chairs on the site, the donors waited patiently for their turn while the staff of National Blood Centre professionally helped those at the seats to perform blood donation.
We have received an overwhelming support from the public for this blood donation event. The queue was still going even when the event was coming to its end.
Apart from the blood donation, Hearing Partners was also providing free hearing test for the visitors.
The Optical Specialist from Optimax was explaining and educating the visitors on glaucoma.
The other optical specialist was providing free glaucoma screening on the site.
The donors received a certificate from National Blood Centre and a goody bag from International Song Tao Charity Foundation as a token of appreciation for their generosity.
The student volunteers from Asia Pacific University have also played an important role in making this event a success.
We would like to thank all our partners for their contributions (by alphabetical order):
· Asia Pacific University (APU)
· Hearing Partners
· Jaya Shopping Centre
· National Blood Centre
· Optimax Eye Specialist
