Despite the festive season in October, many organisations came forth to plan blood donation drives. Sankalp organised 17 drives in October leading to a collection of more than 1350 units of blood. On a complications front, 3.4% of donors faced one sort of complication or the other. However, follow up was done with most of them and there is no reason for concern. Deferral percentages though was again as high as 22.7% and continues to remain an area of improvement despite the introduction of the deferral protocol.
This month saw us joining hands with 3 new organisations.The first of them was Cignex Datamatics, a company located in Whitefield Bangalore. The Bangalore facility organised a blood donation drive on 9 October as part of a national campaign which had drives planned in Ahmedabad, Delhi to commemorate "Daan Utsav". 41 units of blood were collected in the drive. More than 20% of the associates came forward to donate thanks to some strong publicity measures
Sankalp organised a drive at Paypal and e-Bay, 2 new organisations on 29th October 2015. The teams here planned for the event meticulously, put in whole hearted efforts for publicity to reach every associate in their organisations. The result was a phenomenal turnout of 110+ donors from a total combined strength of 459 people. 94 units were collected. There were long queues from the very beginning and the limited space did not limit the enthusiasm of the donors.
Associates at Tejas networks exhibited enthusiasm and commitment in the blood donation camp organised on 30th October 2015 with Sankalp. Several donors expressed interest in donating blood on a regular basis and urged for blood donation camps to be organised frequently. In a company of 400 people, a whopping 20% associates came forward to donate blood thanks to the persistent attempt to create awareness. It was a real pleasure for Sankalp to join hands with all the 3 organisatios. Their interest in participating in the planning and execution of the drive was exceptional.
October also saw us working with Bangalore's biggest educational institution - Bangalore University again. With a sprawling campus hosting 50+ departments, the challenge here is always to ensure that all departments are given a fair chance to participate. A series of 5 camps were held in October at different locations. Students came in good numbers from all departments. 281 units were collected in these drives. Unfortunately most of the young girl students had to be turned down due to low levels of Hb. They were sufficiently advised to improve their Hb levels and come back next month. We wish to thank all the departments of BU for their active participation.
General Motors, a long time partner organisation in Rakta Kranti took the extra initiative of organizing a 2nd blood donation drive in a calendar year for the first time. The timing of the event was also good. Just before the Dusshera holidays. Although the organizers knew that the collection would not be as good as GM's usual standards (which is 250+ donations), they understood that a drive just before a long holiday is a big lifeline to the city. 94 units of blood were collected. The Sports Committee of GM deserves a rich applause for making all this happen
The biggest contribution of the month however came from the most reliable organisation at Rakta Kranti - Capgemini. This time CG also included a new location at Whitefield. This essentially translated to 4 camp days. The volunteers had their hands full on each of the 6 days. Over a 800 associates turned up and more than 600 units were collected. The continued contribution of Capgemini in bringing in voluntarily donated blood on the shelves of blood banks in Bangalore is commendable.
Infosys BPO also played their part with a blood donation drive at their eCity campus - again their 4th in this year. More than 100 people came forth and 85 units were collected. Sankalp also organised a blood donation drive at K H Kabur Institute of Engineering, Dharwad. Enthusiastic students came in decent numbers throughout the day. 47 units of blood were collected. Camps were also organsied for employees of Ratnakar Bank at their Bangalore and Belgaum premises. These camps saw 45 units being collected. We wish to thank all these organisations for their contribution.
Updates from the Thalassemia Day Care Centers
When we have a child walk into a thalassemia day care centre, the primary and the foremost goals are to ensure the child is adequately transfused, given adequate medication and evaluated sufficiently to prevent any complication now and in future. These in themselves are lofty goals. However, these are only steps which help maintain status quo at best if not slow down the damage chronic blood transfusions cause. Our day care centres are making conscious attempt to act as the focal points of prevention and cure as well. Since we started screening public at our day care centers in February 2015, the number of people who are option to get tested for thalassemia, especially from the higher risk population has seen a steady rise. There is emphasis and regular watch out for any pregnancies in the families of children. This enables timely antenatal screening and prevention.
We had difficulty with capacity at the Indira Gandhi Institute of Child Health owing to the sharp increase in the number of children seeking treatment there. Together with the institute we are working towards building capacity to be able to continue to deliver the reasonable quality of care to each child. the numbers are increasing at the day care center at Samraksha as well. However, Samraksha continue to welcome more kids and absorb them seamlessly. Growth in the number of children attending thalassemia clinics is nothing to be happy about in an absolute sense. It is nothing but complete failure of prevention.
However, the context in which this should be seen is that most of these children are coming from far off places where otherwise they have very little access to systematic care and treatment at any level. We are gradually attracting those children who otherwise would have died even without a proper diagnosis. A large role in making this happen is that of the blood banks and doctors all over the region who guide the patients to us.
In picture: Saira showing off her Mehndi during the festive season as she waits for her transfusion.
This month saw us joining hands with 3 new organisations.The first of them was Cignex Datamatics, a company located in Whitefield Bangalore. The Bangalore facility organised a blood donation drive on 9 October as part of a national campaign which had drives planned in Ahmedabad, Delhi to commemorate "Daan Utsav". 41 units of blood were collected in the drive. More than 20% of the associates came forward to donate thanks to some strong publicity measures
Sankalp organised a drive at Paypal and e-Bay, 2 new organisations on 29th October 2015. The teams here planned for the event meticulously, put in whole hearted efforts for publicity to reach every associate in their organisations. The result was a phenomenal turnout of 110+ donors from a total combined strength of 459 people. 94 units were collected. There were long queues from the very beginning and the limited space did not limit the enthusiasm of the donors.
Associates at Tejas networks exhibited enthusiasm and commitment in the blood donation camp organised on 30th October 2015 with Sankalp. Several donors expressed interest in donating blood on a regular basis and urged for blood donation camps to be organised frequently. In a company of 400 people, a whopping 20% associates came forward to donate blood thanks to the persistent attempt to create awareness. It was a real pleasure for Sankalp to join hands with all the 3 organisatios. Their interest in participating in the planning and execution of the drive was exceptional.
October also saw us working with Bangalore's biggest educational institution - Bangalore University again. With a sprawling campus hosting 50+ departments, the challenge here is always to ensure that all departments are given a fair chance to participate. A series of 5 camps were held in October at different locations. Students came in good numbers from all departments. 281 units were collected in these drives. Unfortunately most of the young girl students had to be turned down due to low levels of Hb. They were sufficiently advised to improve their Hb levels and come back next month. We wish to thank all the departments of BU for their active participation.
General Motors, a long time partner organisation in Rakta Kranti took the extra initiative of organizing a 2nd blood donation drive in a calendar year for the first time. The timing of the event was also good. Just before the Dusshera holidays. Although the organizers knew that the collection would not be as good as GM's usual standards (which is 250+ donations), they understood that a drive just before a long holiday is a big lifeline to the city. 94 units of blood were collected. The Sports Committee of GM deserves a rich applause for making all this happen
The biggest contribution of the month however came from the most reliable organisation at Rakta Kranti - Capgemini. This time CG also included a new location at Whitefield. This essentially translated to 4 camp days. The volunteers had their hands full on each of the 6 days. Over a 800 associates turned up and more than 600 units were collected. The continued contribution of Capgemini in bringing in voluntarily donated blood on the shelves of blood banks in Bangalore is commendable.
Infosys BPO also played their part with a blood donation drive at their eCity campus - again their 4th in this year. More than 100 people came forth and 85 units were collected. Sankalp also organised a blood donation drive at K H Kabur Institute of Engineering, Dharwad. Enthusiastic students came in decent numbers throughout the day. 47 units of blood were collected. Camps were also organsied for employees of Ratnakar Bank at their Bangalore and Belgaum premises. These camps saw 45 units being collected. We wish to thank all these organisations for their contribution.
Updates from the Thalassemia Day Care Centers
When we have a child walk into a thalassemia day care centre, the primary and the foremost goals are to ensure the child is adequately transfused, given adequate medication and evaluated sufficiently to prevent any complication now and in future. These in themselves are lofty goals. However, these are only steps which help maintain status quo at best if not slow down the damage chronic blood transfusions cause. Our day care centres are making conscious attempt to act as the focal points of prevention and cure as well. Since we started screening public at our day care centers in February 2015, the number of people who are option to get tested for thalassemia, especially from the higher risk population has seen a steady rise. There is emphasis and regular watch out for any pregnancies in the families of children. This enables timely antenatal screening and prevention.
We had difficulty with capacity at the Indira Gandhi Institute of Child Health owing to the sharp increase in the number of children seeking treatment there. Together with the institute we are working towards building capacity to be able to continue to deliver the reasonable quality of care to each child. the numbers are increasing at the day care center at Samraksha as well. However, Samraksha continue to welcome more kids and absorb them seamlessly. Growth in the number of children attending thalassemia clinics is nothing to be happy about in an absolute sense. It is nothing but complete failure of prevention.
However, the context in which this should be seen is that most of these children are coming from far off places where otherwise they have very little access to systematic care and treatment at any level. We are gradually attracting those children who otherwise would have died even without a proper diagnosis. A large role in making this happen is that of the blood banks and doctors all over the region who guide the patients to us.
In picture: Saira showing off her Mehndi during the festive season as she waits for her transfusion.Patrika Edition
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