Hongkou Youth Donates Blood on 18th World Blood Donor Day

Zhang Dong, the orthopedic doctor of Yueyang Hospital, came to Rainbow Blood Donation House to donate blood. Photo by He Kun

By Sun Jiejing

June 14 is the 18th World Blood Donor Day, which is themed "Give blood and keep the world beating". On the same day, Hongkou District carried out relevant theme activities, which received the positive responses from hundreds of young employees from "Dewu App", doctors from Yueyang Hospital of Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine (Yueyang Hospital) and caring citizens. They rolled their sleeves one after another and joined the volunteer blood donation team.

Under the guidance of onsite doctors, 115 young people in uniform clothing completed the work including volunteer form filling and blood screening one by one. It was the first time for many of them to participate in blood donation, so they had a little panic on blood donation more or less. But they all deemed that it was worthwhile when they thought that blood donation was to alleviate other people's illness, and even save other people's lives.

It was learnt that the average age of the young team with more than 100 employees of "Dewu App" who participated in the blood donation was 27. The relevant person in charge of the enterprise said that as a noble social welfare cause, voluntary blood donation was a red link to pass on love, and young people, who had the ability and conditions, should rush to the front line.

At the same time, in the Rainbow Blood Donation House in Hongkou District, North Sichuan Road, many caring citizens celebrated the World Blood Donor Day by donating blood.

Zhang Dong, an orthopedic doctor from Yueyang Hospital, is a "blood donor" in the eyes of his friends. Since he was at university, he has donated blood for 10 times. He regularly participates in blood donation without compensation every year, especially after working in Shanghai. Zhang Dong said that as a surgeon, he was most afraid of being told that the blood stock was insufficient when he needed to use blood in the clinical process, in case of which, there would be some difficulties in the management of the operation, including the perioperative period. “So I insist on donating blood regularly and do my best to make more blood in the blood bank, so that we and our colleagues could achieve better and more satisfactory results in clinical work."

Sun Yejia, also from Yueyang Hospital, is a doctor of the Department of Nosocomial Infection. Last year, he and his colleagues worked day and night to fight against the Covid-19 pandemic and to ensure that the "zero infection" of medical care personnel, providing a strong guarantee for the normal operation of the hospital. He said that doctors' responsibilities were not only treating patients and saving people, but also doing a good job in nosocomial infection management or participating in voluntary blood donation, which was the embodiment of doctors' role model.

It is learned from the Hongkou District Blood Management Office that in 2020, a total of 14,445 units of blood were donated by groups and street individuals in Hongkou District, including 13,141 whole blood units and 1,304 treatment units of platelets. In 2020, the volume of whole blood donated on the street increased by 59.83% compared with the end of the 12th Five-year Plan, with that of apheresis platelets increasing by 114.82%. From January to May 2021, the whole blood collection volume of Hongkou District increased by 68.21% compared with the year before, with the platelet collection volume increasing by 33.47%, which made a positive contribution to the protection of clinical blood use in Shanghai.

He Kun, Director of the Hongkou District Blood Management Office, said that advocating voluntary blood donation was not only the need to save lives, but also the embodiment of social civilization and progress. He hoped that more qualified young people could join the voluntary blood donation team.