Travel long distances to donate blood and promote blood donation
Ly Nhu Pa (Ha Nhi ethnic group) donated blood for the first time when she was a student at a teacher training college. Initially, Pa participated in student volunteer activities. But gradually, Pa understood that her drops of blood were helping others, even saving lives.
After graduating, during 12 years of working as a "teacher", Pa never thought that one day she would change her career and work for the Red Cross Society of Muong Te district, doing the volunteer work that she loves. Although the salary is not as good as the job of teaching children, the passion for mobilizing people to donate blood keeps her going every day.
"Mobilizing blood donation in Muong Te is very difficult. Some people even told me that as a woman, donating blood is exhausting, and that giving birth to children will make me very weak. The elders in the village say that blood is sacred, and that only ancestors have the right to take it. People do not believe in modern medicine, and do not understand what blood donation is. I was constantly rejected and doubted," said Ms. Pa.
But then she explained, I set an example, I donated blood myself first, and gradually people understood. Now, she not only donates blood regularly 2-3 times a year, but also mobilizes the whole family to participate, her husband, children, and parents-in-law have all donated blood.
“I am proud that every drop of blood I donate not only saves lives, but also spreads awareness to ethnic minorities, where people do not yet understand this volunteer work,” Ms. Pa confided.
Mr. Pham Van Thuc (Lam Dong) has been donating blood voluntarily for 22 years, starting by chance when he was a first-year student at Ho Chi Minh City University of Education. After that, he often went to the city's Blood Donation Center to donate blood as a habit.
Later, when he returned to Lam Dong to work, because he lived in the most remote and difficult district of the province, he could only wait for voluntary blood donation campaigns organized by the district's Red Cross. "Many times, I had to ask other teachers to watch the class instead so I could participate, then return to school and stand on the podium. When the students came back, they still saw the blood-stopping cotton patch on their elbows. When they asked, I told them that I had gone to donate blood. Through that, I also promoted this activity to the children a little bit," Mr. Thuc confided.
For Dr. Trinh Hong Son ( Yen Bai ), the opportunity to donate blood voluntarily is very special. Since he was a young boy growing up in the poor countryside of Yen Bai, where there was not a single doctor in the entire commune, sick people often went to get herbal medicine to drink, and when the illness became serious, they had to go to the clinic or hospital, which was very far and very difficult, he had longed to become a doctor.
Then when he became a medical student, he participated in many volunteer activities and many voluntary blood donation programs. Son saw the noble meaning of donating blood: one drop of blood given, one life left.
But perhaps the greatest motivation for me to donate blood and mobilize many relatives and friends to donate blood was when I became an emergency physician at Yen Bai General Hospital, directly providing emergency care and treatment to seriously ill patients who required a lot of blood transfusions, such as pregnant women with uterine atony, patients with hemorrhagic shock, multiple trauma, or when implementing blood filtration techniques, plasma exchange in patients with septic shock, acute pancreatitis, myasthenia gravis, polyradiculoneuritis...
"Looking at the eyes of the patients' families when they put their full trust in me and the hospital, and when I had to mobilize medical staff to donate blood to rescue dozens of critically ill patients, I truly saw how noble and meaningful voluntary blood donation is. Voluntary blood donation is a noble act and if I can, I will continue to donate and call on many others to participate in the cause of taking care of people's health," Dr. Son shared.
These are just three of the 100 outstanding blood donors honored in 2025. They bring with them many experiences in their journey of donating blood and promoting blood donation, bringing with them the joy of helping patients; and the sadness of having donated blood and platelets in time but the patient still did not survive...
Honoring 100 outstanding blood donors in 2025
From June 3 to 5, the Ministry of Health, the National Steering Committee for Voluntary Blood Donation, the Vietnam Red Cross Society and other organizations organized a program to honor 100 outstanding blood donors nationwide. This is the 17th year the program has been held on the occasion of International Blood Donor Day, June 14.
Among the 100 role models honored this year, there are 29 female delegates, 71 male delegates; 9 delegates are medical staff, 13 delegates work in the education sector, 8 delegates are in the armed forces. The oldest delegate is 60 years old (3 delegates), the youngest delegate is 28 years old (delegate from Nam Dinh province).
100 delegates donated a total of 4,800 units of blood and platelets, each person donated an average of 48 times. Eight delegates donated blood 16-29 times, 53 delegates donated blood 30-49 times, 25 delegates donated 50-69 times, and 9 delegates donated 70-99 times.
Notably, 5 delegates all from Hanoi city have donated blood and platelets more than 100 times: Ms. Huynh Thi My An (110 times, including 28 blood donations and 82 platelet donations), Mr. Pham Phu Phat (107 times, including 47 blood donations and 60 platelet donations), Mr. Nguyen Trung Kien (106 times, including 10 blood donations and 96 platelet donations), Mr. Le Hong Minh (102 times, including 1 blood donation and 101 platelet donations), Ms. Pham Thi Thuy Trang (102 times, including 15 blood donations and 87 platelet donations). Typical blood donation families include: Mr. Nguyen Van Hien's family (Vinh Phuc province), Mr. Nguyen Thanh Toan (Binh Dinh province).
The achievements of the delegates are not only admirable numbers but also stories of love, of hearts that persistently contribute and spread the good things of life.
In Vietnam, over the past 30 years, the voluntary blood donation movement has gradually spread widely in society and is growing stronger. In 2024, the whole country mobilized and received nearly 1.75 million units of blood, equivalent to over 1.7% of the population participating in blood donation, of which 98% were from voluntary blood donors.
Along with the honoring ceremony, blood donors also participated in the journey "Returning to the Ancestral Land" to offer incense to the Hung Kings, the ceremony to report to Uncle Ho at Ba Dinh Square and commemorate heroic martyrs, a journey connecting traditional values and modern compassion.
Source: https://nhandan.vn/vuot-kho-khan-de-van-dong-nguoi-dan-di-hien-mau-post884594.html
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