Blood donation a ‘command’ from the heart

Nguyễn Thị Thu Hường at a blood donation event. — VNA/VNS Photo Nguyễn Lành

NAM ĐỊNH — Blood donation is steadily becoming a strong movement in the northern province of Nam Định, with enthusiastic participation from everyone, including civil servants, workers and local residents.

Nguyễn Thị Thu Hường, a lecturer and deputy secretary of the Hồ Chí Minh Communist Youth Union at Nam Định University of Nursing, is a prominent volunteer in the university’s blood donation movement.

She had been instrumental in spreading the message of blood donation among students with 17 blood donations.

Even as a student of the university, Hường was actively involved in blood donation. Her first donation was in 2007, right after she was admitted to the nursing programme at the university.

As a medical student, she understands the message ‘One drop of blood given, one life saved,’ so, she regularly registers to donate her blood.

Hường also joined the university’s Blood Donation Dissemination and Mobilisation Team.

In 2011, after graduated from the university, she was selected as a lecturer and continued her involvement in the blood donor campaigns at the university.

In 2023, the university’s Blood Donation Dissemination and Mobilisation Team recruited over 1,500 people for voluntary blood donation, collecting 1,026 units of blood, surpassing their target by 293 per cent.

Similarly, Lê Thị Hạnh, a healthcare worker at the Yên Thọ Primary School in Ý Yên District in the province has donated blood 34 times over the past 11 years.

In 2023, she was recognised as one of the 100 exemplary blood donors nationwide by the National Steering Committee for Voluntary Blood Donation, the Việt Nam Red Cross Society and the National Institute of Haematology and Blood Transfusion.

Hạnh said: “Blood can wait for patients but patients cannot wait for blood.”

When she began donating blood in 2013, the blood donation movement was not as developed as it is now, especially in rural areas, where many were hesitant due to fears about the impact on health, she said.

So she signed up to donate her blood whenever a team of volunteers came to her school so that surrounding people could see that blood donation would not impact their health.

She not only participates in local blood donation events but also registers her phone number with the provincial General Hospital and the university to be available for emergency blood donations.

When she receives urgent blood donation call, she will travel nearly 40km from her house to the hospital to donate blood.

Spreading blood donation movement

Local steering committees for voluntary blood donation at all levels have intensified communication campaigns in recent years, enhancing community awareness of voluntary blood donation to further develop the blood donation movement in the province.

The province now has nine blood donation clubs with 425 active members.

The provincial Red Cross volunteers actively coordinate with various university, college and vocational school teams to organise blood donation events at the provincial General Hospital on the third Sunday of every month.

Phạm Minh Phương, chairman of the Nam Định Red Cross Society, said previously, voluntary blood donation was unfamiliar to many people.

Initial scepticism and psychological barriers often resulted in lower participation rates.

However, the intensified communication efforts had helped the movement gain momentum and become deeply ingrained in the community.

“Observing that blood donation does not adversely affect health and can save lives, more people are gradually drawn into the movement, creating a broad-based initiative,” Phương said.

In the first six months of this year, the province organised 13 voluntary blood donation events, attracting nearly 4,300 participants and collecting 4,626 units of blood, with a 60 per cent repeat blood donation rate.

Phương said localities should focus on building networks of blood donation volunteers across various groups and areas to ensure the continued expansion of the voluntary blood donation movement. — VNS