Another 500 donors needed
To mark World Blood Donor Day, the Health Services Authority is encouraging people to sign up as donors today.
This year the organizers are targeting Cayman’s youth as potential blood donors, according to Judith Clarke, medical technologist at the HSA blood bank.
‘We want to place the emphasis on youth to get them to take over from those that are retiring from giving blood for various reasons,’ she said.
The blood bank will have extra staff on hand today, but is regularly open from 8.30am to 5pm, Monday to Friday. Giving blood only takes about 45 minutes and regular donors can come in once every three months.
In case of emergencies, Ms Clarke said that they call in the more than 650 donors who are registered with the blood bank.
At the end of 2004, there were 551 registered donors and more than 100 people have registered so far this year.
‘We need another 500 donors, but that still would not be up to the required amount that we should have. But, that would take us a far way towards eliminating importation of blood,’ she said.
Ms Clarke estimates 40 to 50 pints of blood are needed to be kept on hand every day, but points out that the blood can only be stored for 35 days.
Discussions are ongoing about purchasing a mobile blood bank, she added, but funding hasn’t been available. The unit costs between US$80,000 and US$120,000.
Members of the Leo Club of Grand Cayman, the youth wing of the Lion’s Club, will be lending a hand at today’s blood drive.
Debra Ebanks, secretary of the Lion’s Club of Grand Cayman, explained that health has been one of their core themes over the past 12 months.
‘We are joining forces with the blood bank to create awareness in the community,’ she said.
Ms Ebanks wants to mobilize the population. ‘We’re hoping people will come out today to sign up to become regular blood donors. We want people to be aware of the importance of a continuous blood supply,’ she said.
World Blood Donor Day is always held 14 June, the birthday of Karl Landsteiner, the Nobel Prize winner who discovered the ABO blood group system.
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