When it comes to blood donation, youth donors are a vital part of the solution in keeping the blood stocks in the Western Cape afloat. Covid 19 has made it extremely difficult for the Western Cape Blood Service to reach our youth donors due to students studying off campus and online.
Imagine our excitement when we had the opportunity to visit UCT for the first time since 2019 and meet and interact with existing and potential new donors. During the week of 20 -22 April the WCBS offered free blood group testing and registration to enthusiastic students on upper campus. We were so happy to be back and had an overwhelming response from those who visited our exhibition. We blood grouped and registered almost 330 students over that period.
Students got to find out their blood type, were gifted with a much sought-after tote bag and were entered into lucky draws each day.
Two weeks later we were back on the Plaza at upper campus for the blood donation clinics which took place in our mobile bus and caravan on 4 and 5 May. Once-again the response from students was amazing and we had to extend the donation clinic to Friday 6 May to accommodate everyone who wanted to donate. Over 350 students attended the donation clinics over three days and we collected 229 full units of blood and had 142 new blood donors. As each unit potentially saves three lives, that’s 687 lives saved.
We would like to thank UCT as well as the students and staff for welcoming us back on campus and making a difference in the lives of so many South Africans who rely on donated blood. The future is bright when the youth reach out and do something remarkable.
