Railana Dias da Cruz is 28 years old and lives in Belford Roxo, in Baixada Fluminense. This Tuesday (13), she made her third donation at Hemorio, an institute that coordinates the public blood network in the state of Rio de Janeiro. Railana intends to become a regular donor. The first time was in 2020 and the second in 2021. “I think it’s a very beautiful action. There are people who need it. It is very gratifying to know that you can save someone’s life, help society in some way”. The decision was taken before the World Blood Donor Day, celebrated this Wednesday (14). According to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the motto of the campaign this year is “Donate blood, donate plasma, share life, share often”. The initiative alludes to Red June, awareness month about donation. Ronald Gomes has been donating blood since 1978, when he entered the military service. And he didn’t stop anymore. When he is not donating at Hemorio, he donates at another hospital, to meet the needs of a relative or friend. Most of his siblings also donate. In addition to blood, Ronald is a platelet and bone marrow donor. Being a regular donor means, for him, saving lives. “I think it’s very important to do this civic act. We are saving lives. It’s the same as saving a person with bone marrow. The blood does all of that. So, I find it interesting that people donate blood”. Ronald Gomes already has a regular Hemorio donor card. According to Elisa Gomes, hematologist and hemotherapist at Hospital Márcio Cunha (HMC), campaigns are necessary to raise awareness among voluntary donors. “Those who donate blood are helping to save lives”. She said that as much as there are advances in medicine and science, blood is an irreplaceable raw material. “There is nothing that plays the role of blood.” It is what takes oxygen to the tissues, defends the human organism against infections and is responsible for clotting, she commented. The HMC is a highly complex general hospital located in Ipatinga (MG). It has 548 beds and three units, one of which is exclusively for cancer treatment. It serves a population of more than 800 thousand inhabitants, in the east of Minas Gerais. Security The general director of Hemorio, Luiz Amorim, informed that the stocks, at the moment, are between 10% and 15% below the necessary. “For this reason, the campaign comes in handy and will be instrumental for us to have an improvement in stocks, because July is the month of vacation, people travel and donations always drop, compared to June”. On Monday (13), around 30 donation bags entered. The ideal, to provide security, in the event of a tragedy, is to have enough stock for five days. At the moment, the stock is for four days. “The ideal thing is to have it for five. We need to improve because, with the end of the covid-19 pandemic, hospitals are full, surgeries have resumed, treatments that were stopped have been restarted. Today, the demand for blood is even greater, because complex procedures that were not done in 2021 and 2022 are being performed now and the demand for blood is increasing”. Of the total number of donors at the blood center in Rio de Janeiro, 40% are regular and 25% go every two years. “Adding the usual donors with those who don’t come every year, we have close to 70%. Our job is to turn first-time donors into repeat donors and provide an experience that is enjoyable for them. We need regular donors so that campaigns and appeals are not necessary”, stated Amorim. In Brazil In Brazil, only between 1.6% and 1.9% of the population is a blood donor. In European countries, this index reaches 5%. According to the Ministry of Health, 14 out of every thousand Brazilians donate blood regularly in the blood centers of the Unified Health System (SUS). For Luiz Amorim, it is very little. “We would need at least 2.5% to 3%. Globally, the current number is too low for the complexity of medicine in Brazil and, due to the fact that the Brazilian population is increasingly elderly, there is a greater need for blood. We need to improve and increase the donation”. For the general director of Hemorio, the big problem currently is the centralized donation in the institute, located in the center of the city. “That doesn’t work either. People find it difficult to move around, it is too far away, they waste time on transportation. So, more and more we are trying to decentralize”. Every day, the Blood Center deploys two mobile collection teams to assist donors in companies and churches. “Because, then, people adhere much more easily”. Amorim said that more than half of Hemorio’s blood comes from mobile collections. The director-general’s goal is, by the end of this year, to inaugurate two more fixed collection points in the capital, one in Barra da Tijuca and another in Jacarepaguá, neighborhoods in the west zone, and a third fixed point in Duque de Caxias, in Baixada Fluminense. He believes that, with this, the donation will increase. Amorim recalled that, today, blood donation is no longer a myth, nor does it scare the population. Taking advantage of World Blood Donor Day, he encouraged people to donate. “Because, without this donation, we cannot have adequate stock and the hospitals cannot perform surgeries, adequately treat patients. Nothing replaces blood donation, even if it is done every three or two years. Any donation is helpful. We encourage the population to continue donating and to increase the number of donations”. How to donate Arte blood donation – Arte/Agência Brasil To be a donor, you must be between 16 and 69 years old, weigh at least 50 kilos, be in good health and present an official identity document with a photo. Young people aged 16 and 17 can only donate blood with the authorization of their parents or legal guardians. The authorization can be accessed on the Hemorio website. In the age group of 60 to 69 years old, people can donate, as long as they have made a previous donation. It is not necessary to be fasting, but you should avoid eating fatty foods in the four hours prior to the donation and not ingesting alcoholic beverages 12 hours before. Tattoo and piercing prevent donation for six months. Hemorio warns that perforation in the oral or genital region is still an impediment to donations while the piece is in use. Information can be obtained through the toll-free number 0800 282 0708. The director recalled that anyone who wants to can schedule a day and time to donate, on that same phone number, or on the website. “It’s much faster and the process is much simpler.” Some situations, however, temporarily prevent blood donation. Among them, having a fever or the flu. Pregnant women cannot donate either. The same applies to those who had a tooth extraction seven days ago. Women who are breastfeeding can only donate after one year after giving birth. Anyone vaccinated can donate, respecting the interval, which can be 48 hours for flu vaccines and for the Coronavac vaccine against covid. For the other covid-19 vaccines, the break is one week. Solidarity route To help reinforce Hemorio’s blood stocks, companies in the mobility sector in the state of Rio joined together in an unprecedented partnership, aiming to facilitate the integration between donors and the Institute. Called Solidarity Route, the action is part of Red June and will be launched this Wednesday (14), World Blood Donor Day. The MetrôRio, VLT Carioca, Semove and SuperVia concessionaires are part of the initiative, in addition to the technology company 99. Together, these companies provided 6,350 free rides for the campaign. To participate in the Solidarity Route, donors must go to Hemorio and inform which modal they used to get there. They will receive two tickets to cover travel expenses. If you decide to use the 99, just access the application and enter the coupon SALVARVIDASRJ in order to guarantee a 50% discount on up to two rides to and from Hemorio. The limit is BRL 8 per trip. In addition, by placing the word “Salvar Vidas” in the destination option of the application, the direct address of the institute will appear. In all, 5 thousand vouchers will be made available. The initiative also has the support of Rodoviária do Rio and Riogaleão, whose spaces will be used to attract the attention of visitors arriving in the city. The expectation of the campaign is to reinforce Hemorio’s stocks, serving more than 25 thousand people and considering that each bag can save up to four lives. Other actions are also planned during the month, including raffling tickets for parties and distributing gifts to donors. The general director of Hemorio said that this is the first partnership between the modes, across the country, for a good cause. Amorim believes that Rota Solidária has everything to become a traditional action, “since it has the face of Rio residents, always ready to help others”. For him, the initiative could inspire other similar actions in Brazil. After donation According to information from Hemorio, after donation, the whole blood bag is centrifuged and separated into three components: red blood cell concentrate, platelet concentrate and plasma. Laboratory tests are performed to determine the blood group and to detect diseases transmissible through blood. After these tests, the blood bag is released for transfusion. Blood is mainly used in major emergencies, which include traffic accidents, gunshot wounds, acute hemorrhages, among others, as well as surgeries and patients with oncological and hematological diseases. Hemorio distributes blood to more than 200 public hospitals and those associated with the Unified Health System (SUS) in the state. Each person has, on average, five liters of blood. It is safe to donate, because the material used is sterile, disposable and for individual use. In addition, the donor undergoes a consultation, before donating, where clinical conditions are evaluated. The body replaces the volume of donated blood on the same day. For this, Hemorim recommends drinking plenty of fluids. Blood type O Negative is considered “universal” because it can be transfused into anyone, except in very rare cases. It is the blood that saves in emergency situations. In Brazil, only 5% of the population has this blood type. Therefore, blood centers find it very difficult to maintain regular stocks of this type of blood.
Agência Brasil
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