The South African National Blood Service (SANBS) hosted a blood drive in Feurhof on 25 January to promote their Be The One campaign.
According to Betty Jelle, who is an employee of SANBS as well as a community member, this was the first blood drive held in this area. “I hoped this drive would be a success, in order for us to have more in the future. We hold blood drives on a trial and error basis – if the first one is unsuccessful, we will try hosting one on a Saturday to allow more community members to participate,” she said.
She said the SANBS visited the community in November last year to do donor education and have residents pledging to become regular donors. “We had a good response from the residents, and 92 of them were keen to become regular donors by taking the pledge,” Betty said. She also mentioned that the majority of the interested residents were part of the older generation. “It seems the younger ones are a bit scared of the needle,” she said, smiling.
According to Betty, the turnout was not as good as they had hoped, possibly because of a few factors, like the power outage experienced throughout most areas as well as the event being held on a week day.
She said the general feeling in the community towards blood donation had been positive and the residents were very excited, and indicated they would definitely support the SANBS. “People should remember that to donate blood is to save lives. It is for a good cause and you will feel good knowing you gave somebody’s life back,” she concluded.
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