By Sarwell Meniano/PNA
TACLOBAN CITY — The Philippine Red Cross and the family of screen legend Rosa Rosal will continue with their blood donation advocacy in the country to answer the growing demand for blood.
On Saturday, officials of Red Cross Leyte chapter and Rosal’s grandnephew and PNA Newsroom anchor, William Thio, led the bloodletting activity dubbed “Be a Super Hero this Christmas! Give Blood. Be a Hero” at the Robinsons Place Tacloban.
“This is our pilot project under my supervision, but we hope to be able to do it in many provinces and in the National Capital Region. Rosa Rosal has been doing this for seven decades since a lot of people need blood, especially that dengue fever cases have been rising,” Thio said.
The news anchor lauded donors who came to the venue to “give a part of themselves that money cannot buy to help save the lives of others.”
Rosal joined the Philippine Red Cross as a volunteer-member of its blood program in 1950, and was later elected to its Board of Governors. She has become widely known and respected for her humanitarian work and effort to promote mass blood donation in the country.
Red Cross Leyte Chapter service representative for blood services Nilda Quiero said a single unit of donated blood can extend and save three lives.
“We organize mass donation activities this holiday season to have adequate supply of blood. While the rest of us are enjoying the holiday cheers, others spend theirs in hospitals because of the medical care they need, which mostly is blood transfusion,” Quiero said.
The Red Cross said they were able to collect 33 units. One unit is 450 cubic centimeter of whole blood.
The chapter has an average stock of 100 to 150 units of blood in its facility.
To guarantee that donating blood is safe, the Red Cross personnel made sure that each sterile needle was discarded immediately after single use.
Likewise, it is important that a blood donor is in good health, well-rested, and has eaten prior to the bloodletting.