BLOOD DONATION ESSENTIAL AFTER LOCKDOWN PARALYSIS

The Fiesta Commission Mare de Déu de Loreto will be carrying out its blood donation campaign as usual, despite not being able to celebrate the fiestas on honour of the patron saint of the port zone this year, and will be asking for suitable donors to head down to the Commission HQ in Calle Severo Ochoa in the port next Tuesday 18th August.

Aware of the current need for donations, the Fiesta Commission has contacted the Valencian Community Transfusions Centre in order to be able to carry out the annual donation and give property, despite the ongoing health emergency, to those activities of a solidarity nature that the fiesta community encourages throughout the year.

The donations can be made during the morning of Tuesday 18th August between 10.00am and 1.30pm and then in the afternoon of the same day between 5.00pm and 8.30pm. The Fiesta Commission will prepare their facilities in accordance to the requirements established by the Transfusions Centre. Amongst the safety measures which will be adopted is the mandatory use of a face mask at all times during the visit to the centre, the washing of hands with soap and water before the use of hydroalcoholic gel and the maintenance of required safety distances between stretchers and the waiting area. The stretchers will be covered with disposable sheets which will be changed after each donor whilst the pens that will be used to fill out the corresponding forms will not be returned.

In addition, the Transfusions Centre recommends that anyone who has a respiratory condition or fever in the two weeks prior to the donation should stay away from the facilities as an extreme precaution.

The Valencian health organisation has warned about the importance of participating in these type of local donation events as the reserves of blood are lower than advised levels. In the Comunidad Valenciana, some 650 units of blood are required every day to meet the hospital demand which, taking into account the lengthy paralysis of donation due to the lockdown, is why this type of initiative becomes more essential than ever.

NOTE: Anyone who has lived continuously in the United Kingdom between 1980 and 1996 (one year minimum and not only British people but any nationality) cannot donate blood in Spain due to the risk of transmitting ‘Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD)’, the human form of BSE or ‘Mad Cow Disease’ which is fatal.