2023-08-18 00:20:15
Whether it’s a serious traffic accident or an operation – no matter what the procedure: blood donations save lives. How to get more people to donate blood?
Participating medicine – sounds a bit exhausting for some. In Freiburg there was recently an appointment for everyone who can see blood: the Freiburg University Hospital has them new blood donation center presented. In Baden-Württemberg, too, they want to get more people to donate blood. In Freiburg there is a very special trick.
Donate blood with a good feeling
There are very different reasons why people donate blood, says Richard Schäfer from the blood donation center at Freiburg University Hospital. Many come through clubs or through blood donation campaigns. But it is also possible that it is sometimes the fate of the patient that draws the attention of potential donors: “Man, I have to do something, I have to go there”; also perhaps illnesses in the family in the relatives, which show that it is worthwhile.
Blood donation can save lives. Therefore, various associations and clinics keep calling for blood donations.
IMAGO/Sven Simon
Today, chemotherapy and operations in particular depend on the voluntary commitment of donors. It is still not possible to artificially produce blood to the extent that it is needed. Recently, according to Richard Schäfer, a study was published, the first time in humans that red blood cells derived from stem cells were given, which were also tolerated. However, it was only a few milliliters.
Donor blood is therefore indispensable for many years to come. The problem: Germany is getting older.
Our main donation age is between 45 and 50 years, these are the baby boomers of the 1960s. And the big challenge over the next ten or 15 years is to ensure that there are enough new donors here.
There are many regular donors in Freiburg
Donating blood is quick and easy. The new places are suitable for all types of donation – even if only plasma or platelets are taken. The Freiburg University Hospital relies on volunteers like Laila and her sister, regular donors provide more than 30,000 donations per year – feedback included:
We have come up with something very special here, namely an e-mail that donors receive when the product made from your donation has been given to a patient. Then comes: “You saved a life.” I have to say it is actually very good.
In Freiburg, attempts are also being made to advertise blood donation with posters. An e-mail with the message that the donated blood has just saved a life also seems to be an incentive for many donors to donate again.
IMAGO/Winfried Rothermel
Young people and migrants should be encouraged to donate blood
This motivation system is important. Even if, according to the German Red Cross (DRK), the number of first-time donors in Baden-Württemberg is increasing again. Because those who are already donating are getting older, it’s also about getting people interested in donating blood for whom it hasn’t been an issue before – of course young people, but also from immigrant families:
The blood donation comes from the middle of society. The migrants are part of our society – it is our duty and our mission to persuade the migrants to donate blood.
At the DRK, the number of first-time donors has increased again, but in the long term it is clear that more donors are needed – also from other population groups who have had little or nothing to do with this topic up to now: “People with a migration background or who live in their family with a migration background are very important for maintaining our blood supply. And that’s also why there are fundraisers, for example in mosques.”
But it is also important to get migrants or their children to donate blood for other reasons, says Richard Schäfer from Freiburg: “People from Africa or Asia differ more greatly in terms of their blood group characteristics, so perhaps people from Southeastern Europe so that groups of donors have to be motivated to donate sustainably for this patient.” Keyword Eastern Europe: War refugees from the Ukraine also come to the donation center in the university hospital
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