Over the years, the voluntary blood donation movement in Quang Ninh province has become one of the most vibrant and meaningful activities, with exemplary blood donors demonstrating a positive and voluntary spirit. This has created a widespread impact, encouraging all segments of the population to participate in voluntary blood donation.
Exemplary figures
Pham Tien Anh (31 years old, residing in Bai Chay ward, Ha Long city), a member of the Quang Ninh Living Blood Bank Club, said: "I first participated in blood donation when I was a student at Hai Phong Polytechnic College (in 2012). I was a little nervous at the time, but seeing my friends participating made me more confident. After donating blood, which took about 5 minutes, I was very surprised; I didn't think blood donation was so simple."
After graduating in 2015, Pham Tien Anh started working at a bank in Ha Long City. There, he actively participated in blood donation activities organized by Bai Chay ward and Ha Long City, and met and interacted with youth union members and volunteers in blood donation clubs throughout the province. In 2016, Pham Tien Anh became a member of the Quang Ninh Living Blood Bank Club, directly participating in blood donation at the Provincial General Hospital and Bai Chay Hospital.
At the Provincial General Hospital, doctors said that Pham Tien Anh's platelet count was higher than average, and platelets were currently scarce, so he switched to donating platelets. According to Pham Tien Anh, platelet donation is usually needed immediately by patients, and donations only need to be spaced one month apart, unlike whole blood donations which require three months.
To date, Pham Tien Anh has participated in blood donation 25 times. "About a year ago, I donated platelets to a terminally ill patient being treated at Bai Chay Hospital. After donating blood, I saw the patient's eyes light up with renewed health, and I was very happy that the patient could continue to live. But about a month later, I learned that the patient had passed away. I felt a great sense of loss, but that also motivated me to continue participating in blood donation," Pham Tien Anh confided.
Energetic and enthusiastic – that's the image of Nguyen Phuong Anh (33 years old), Secretary of the Youth Union of Mao Khe Ward (Dong Trieu Town), who has participated in blood donation 21 times in a row. Embracing the pioneering spirit of youth and sharing the difficulties with patients in need of blood, in 2009, while still a student at the National Academy of Public Administration, Nguyen Phuong Anh participated in a blood donation drive organized by the school. After graduating and returning to work in his hometown, participating in Youth Union activities, he has always considered blood donation a meaningful act, contributing a small part of his blood to help treat and save patients.
Having grown up participating in youth union activities, Nguyen Phuong Anh annually participates in blood donation drives organized by the Dong Trieu Town Blood Donation Campaign Steering Committee. In early 2021, a friend posted on social media about a man whose father had been in an accident and was being treated at the Vietnam-Sweden Uong Bi Hospital, urgently needing blood. At that time, due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, blood reserves at hospitals were very low. Upon receiving this information, Nguyen Phuong Anh drove straight to the hospital to donate blood to the patient.
Not only has Nguyen Phuong Anh directly participated in blood donation many times, but he also has extensive experience in promoting and mobilizing union members, association members, volunteers, and the public to participate in voluntary blood donation. As a Youth Union official, he proactively advised the Blood Donation Campaign Steering Committee of Mao Khe ward to disseminate information about the purpose and significance of voluntary blood donation to officials, union members, and the people in the area.
These are just two of the 22 outstanding individuals honored by the Quang Ninh Provincial People's Committee as "Outstanding Blood Donors of Quang Ninh Province in 2023," an event held on June 18, 2023.
Spreading the blood donation movement
Among the 22 outstanding individuals in blood donation activities honored by the Provincial People's Committee in 2023, Trinh Thi Hang, Vice President of the Tien Yen District Red Cross Society, has participated in blood donation 16 times consecutively. Furthermore, Ms. Hang plays a crucial role in advising, proposing, and developing plans for organizing blood donation activities in Tien Yen district.
Ms. Trinh Thi Hang stated that when she started working at the Tien Yen District Red Cross Society (in 2014), blood donation activities in the district were not receiving much attention. Officials and employees in agencies, units, and localities were hesitant to participate in voluntary blood donation. Therefore, mobilizing blood donations faced many difficulties, with only one blood donation drive organized each year, collecting just over 100 units of blood.
In order to spread the blood donation movement throughout the district, Ms. Hang directly participated in blood donation to prove that blood donation is not harmful to health, but has the noble meaning of saving lives.
Since 2014, Ms. Hang has regularly donated blood twice a year. She has also advised the District Blood Donation Campaign Steering Committee to promote awareness of the purpose and significance of blood donation among officials, employees, union members, youth, and volunteers in the district, aiming to raise awareness about blood donation and understand the urgent need for blood in treating and saving lives. As a result, blood donation activities have spread widely among officials, employees in agencies, units, and localities, as well as the people throughout the district.
Every year, Tien Yen district organizes two blood donation drives, with the amount of blood received each year being higher than the previous year. In 2022, Tien Yen district organized two blood donation drives with 600 registered participants, receiving 539 units of blood, exceeding the provincial target by 120%.
The participation of exemplary individuals has further spread the blood donation movement in Quang Ninh province. This is concretely evidenced by the fact that the amount of blood donated each year is always higher than the previous year. According to data from the Provincial Red Cross Society, in the 10 years from 2008 to 2018, the total amount of blood received in the province was 64,768 units. Specifically, in 2008, the entire province only received 2,807 units, but by 2018, the total amount of blood received in the province was 9,500 units, an increase of 6,697 units compared to 2008.
Over the four years (2019-2022), the total amount of blood received in the province was 62,510 units. Specifically, in 2019, the province received 15,970 units; in 2020, 12,570 units; in 2021, 15,408 units; and in 2022, 18,962 units. In the first six months of 2023, the province organized 44 blood donation drives, with over 11,000 people registering to participate, collecting 10,434 units of blood, achieving 63.6% of the 2023 blood donation target. Quang Ninh ranked 13th out of 63 provinces and cities nationwide in terms of blood donation participation rate.
Mr. Vu Hong Hai, Chairman of the Provincial Red Cross Society and Standing Member of the Provincial Blood Donation Campaign Steering Committee, stated: The above results show that the province's blood donation activities have spread strongly throughout the community. In particular, there has been active participation from civil servants, union members, youth, volunteers, armed forces personnel, and workers in industrial parks and economic groups… Therefore, blood donations have been continuously organized from the grassroots level to the provincial level. The province currently has 177 Red Cross volunteer teams; over 8,200 volunteers participate in blood donation activities; and each year dozens of volunteers are honored as outstanding blood donors.
According to the Chairman of the Provincial Red Cross Society, Vu Hong Hai, blood donation activities in the province have received close attention and guidance from the provincial level down to the grassroots. The province has also invested in infrastructure, with four hospitals directly involved in receiving blood donations: the Provincial General Hospital, the Vietnam-Sweden Uong Bi Hospital, the Obstetrics and Pediatrics Hospital, and the Bai Chay Hospital. This ensures a sufficient blood supply for patients.
Notably, the Red Cross Blood Donation Point at Bai Chay Hospital, established in December 2020, is a permanent blood donation center, facilitating the collection of blood from patients' families, volunteers, students, and the general public on all days of the week. This helps the hospital proactively secure a local blood supply for treatment, reducing treatment time and costs for patients.
In the near future, a blood center will be established in Dam Ha district with equipment for receiving and storing blood, ensuring a sufficient blood supply for patients in the eastern region. Simultaneously, the Provincial Red Cross Society will sign a humanitarian agreement with Amata Group in Song Khoai Industrial Park (Quang Yen town), which includes the participation of workers in the voluntary blood donation movement. The Provincial Steering Committee for Voluntary Blood Donation will promote blood donation activities through Humanitarian Month; "Spring Blood Donation Festival," the "Summer Blood Donation Campaign," "National Blood Donation Day," etc., to further develop this movement.
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