Blood Donor Day, 12 June 2009

In April, I saw a piece about World Blood Donor Day (WBDD) in our local knock-and-drop community newspaper. The company I work for, PenQuin, jumped on board to support my idea for a Blood Donor Day hosted at our offices in Bedfordview.

Our offices overlook the N3 highway - the stretch between the Gilloolies intersection and the van Buuren offramp. Everyone in Joburg knows this section because of the radio traffic reports, which almost daily report on horrific accidents. We can see the highway from our offices and it spooks me out completely to see no cars on this stretch. It means one thing; a really bad accident blocking the highway. Quite surreal.

I'm delighted to announce that we're full steam ahead with this initiative; and to invite you to participate.

Many events request that you fill-in your blood type - and most people don't know what it is. Here's the solution: SANBS are doing on-site blood group testing, so you'll know your blood type by the time you complete the donation process.

Just to put the importance of donating blood into perspective. Each donation is one unit and these are used in transfusions, a procedure that replaces the blood lost by a patient with blood from a generous donor. The following are examples of how blood donations are put to good use:

• An organ transplant patient typically requires 40 units of blood, 30 units of platelets, 25 units of fresh frozen plasma and 20 units of cyroprecipitate.
• A bone marrow transplant patient typically requires 20 units of blood and 120 units of platelets.
• During heart surgery the patient will need 6 units of blood.
• A burn victim typically requires 20 units of platelets.
• Someone injured in a car accident may need 50 units, or more, of blood.

It is little wonder that there are major shortages during the April and year-end road carnage seasons.

If you're having a quiet day and/or you work in the Bedfordview area, please come through.