Recently, a different trailer was seen parked outside Express Group’s head office. This trailer, more commonly known as the Mobile Blood Donatio Unit was in attendance as 17 employees, managers and directors from Express Group donated blood as part of a blood donation drive organised by the company. For 9 of these employees, this was their first blood donation experience and one of the employees donated blood again after 30 years!
“Donating blood is commendable. In fact, it has been acknowledged that every pint of blood donated by one person has the potential to help up to three other people. However, it is also very commendable when someone does it for the first time because it means that the individual has managed to overcome his own fear. We are proud of our employees who participated in this initiative, more so with those who did this for the first time,” said Franco Azzopardi, Chairman of Express Group.
“We operate in a challenging environment and our work and resilience are being constantly tested. This was a different challenge, yet our employees embraced it and donated blood to save lives. We look forward to other opportunities and we hope that other companies will encourage their employees to give blood, especially those who might be experiencing this for the first time,” added Mr Azzopardi.
“The average number of daily blood donations stands at around 50-55 bags however, this is never enough and the demand has been increasing at an average of 2000 blood bags yearly,” explains Paul Mercieca from the National Blood Transfusion Service.
“This demand has increased mainly due to more surgical inteventions needing blood transfusion support, more specialised treatment for cancer patients which need blood transfusion support over a period of years, and regular unfortunate accidents at places of work and road accidents.”
A number of reasons keep people away from donating blood but the main factor is a complex of fear, which my be overcome if groups are oganised and one supports each other.
“Nonetheless, donors numbers have been increasing even during events organised by companies. This year, over 730 donors from companies and businesses successfully gave blood. These blood donation drives organised by companies induces employees to come together as a group, supportng each other and overcoming that initial fear barrier. Once that barrier is overcome, donors will experience the unique sense of pride and self-satisfaction in knowing that one’s blood might be saving a life, or two, or three!” concluded Mr Mercieca.
People who intend giving blood should ideally have had a light breakfast and are encouraged to drink water a bit more than usual before donating blood. To donate blood, a donor will also need to present his ID card or any other means of identification. Companies who would like to organise blood drives for employees or come over as group any of the blood donation sites in our Islands should contact the National Blood Transfusion Center on 220 66 209, 79 307 307 or email [email protected].