Blood Grouping and Education awareness day

To mark National Blood Donor month, NHC Honeydew, held an awareness day on 15 June to educate residents about their different blood groups. Tests were conducted by the South African National Blood Service (SANBS) for the community members who did not know their blood group. “It is of the utmost importance to know what your blood group is, for numerous reasons, namely accidents and emergencies. Knowing your blood group and donating can help save a life,” said NHC Honeydew centre manager Jackie Bothma.

“Today is very important as people out there need to know that we [SANBS] need them [residents] to donate their blood to help save lives,” said SANBS donor educator Oscar Ramutsheli. He explained that only 1 per cent of the national population are donating blood, which is not enough to reach their aim of collecting 3 000 units of blood every day.

He also shared some statistics on which cases blood transfusions are frequently needed:

• 4 per cent for accidents

• 26 per cent childbirth and gynaecological cases

• 27 per cent other medical cases

• 21 per cent in surgeries

Medical representative Neil Jackson, from Mirren, was at the awareness day to teach residents about the effects of having too much iron in your blood and how having a supplement and donated blood can help. “Some people may suffer from cramps at night and, as a result, they may suffer lack of sleep because of too much iron. With the right supplement and by donating blood, the problem can be alleviated,” explained Jackson.