Develop a habit that can save lives
If breaking, rather than making, new year resolutions is a habit that you have picked up and mastered, then you are certainly not alone. But if you want to develop a habit that will have an enduring positive effect on you and countless lives then giving blood regularly might be just what you are looking for. This is one habit that can help save lives.
During the month of January the Irish Blood Transfusion Service (IBTS) will be visiting parts of South Tipperary, commencing another year of taking their mobile blood donor clinics around the country and if you have never done so before, now is an opportune time to start giving blood. Giving blood takes just ten to 15 minutes and you get a nice sweet treat at the end of it – oh and you also help to save a life. Not bad for 15 minutes eh?
In Ireland, 3,000 blood donors are needed each week, yet only three per cent of the Irish population give blood. The need for blood donations is constant and it is never too late to start, according to Ann O’Donovan, IBTS donor recruitment manager in the southern region.
“There is always a demand for blood, we need it 24/7,” she told South Tipp Today.
“As soon as it comes in, it goes out again really.”
Blood is needed for a wide variety of reasons: surgeries, hip replacements, child birth and treatment of anaemia. Twenty thousand platelet transfusions are needed every year in Ireland. Platelets are important as they enable the blood to clot properly and are required by patients who are undergoing treatment for cancer or leukaemia, but also for patients undergoing major surgery; burns patients; accident victims who have had extensive injury; and new born babies who are born with low platelet counts
“We need 3,000 units of blood each week, that is 3,000 persons donating every week nationally,” said Ms O’Donovan.
“We do have a regular pool of donors but we need a lot more people to become donors. If for example, 15% or 20% of people can’t donate for any reason, we still need to have enough blood,” explained Ms O’Donovan. While the IBTS is always looking for new donors to sign up, issuing appeals for blood donors is not something that the IBTS likes to do, according to Ann.
“With appeals, it might mean that we have too many donors coming to us at a time, this could affect the normal supply of blood, and also blood cannot be stockpiled so we cannot have too much of it at any one time,” explained Ann. A regular supply of donors is much more effective.
In South Tipperary the IBTS collects an average of almost 1,200 units of blood when it visits the five towns.
In Clonmel, the IBTS operates a clinic for four days, collecting about 450 units in total; in Carrick-on-Suir the usual two-day clinic collects 200 units; while the two-day clinic in Tipperary Town yields 220 to 240 units; Cashel’s one-day clinic collects approximately 140 to 150 units; and in Cahir, 95-100 units are collected.
The IBTS endeavours to return to these areas three times per year but people are reminded that they can visit these clinics or any other clinic after the 90-day time limit has passed.
“The message that we want to get out there is that if you are well and healthy, you can give blood. People like the readers of this newspaper who are blood donors, may need to receive blood at some point. One-in-four people will need a blood transfusion at some stage on their lives and the only way that we can get it is from each other, and those of us who are healthy can give it,” said Ms O’Donovan.
People can check to see if they are eligible to give blood on www.giveblood.ie or call 1850 731 137.
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Weather for Clonmel
Thursday 23 February 2012
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