Donating blood is not painful at all, and Yang Li Xia (left) is all smiles after her first donation.
With his head of white hair and geared up in his exercise shorts, Chen Xing Yuan may be old, but he is still hale and healthy. With a blood donation frequency of once every three months, over the past 30 years, he is already on to his 125th donation.
“I’ve been doing so since my national service days,” said Chen, who is 65 years old. Though he has surpassed the 60-year-old age limit for blood donors, regular donors are allowed to continue till they hit 65. Hence, this is Chen’s final year of donating blood. After he was done, he took a picture with Tzu Chi volunteer Wang Wen Han, and even encouraged the latter to join the league of blood donors while he was still young.
According to statistics reported by the local media, there are only 1.8% voluntary blood donors in Singapore’s population. Though the numbers have increased by about 39% from 51,000 in 2005 to 71,000 last year, the greying population will mean a decrease in the number of donors
On the other hand, the number of patient surgeries will increase with more elderly people in the population, and thus the demand for blood will increase correspondingly. Hence, the greatest challenge currently is to encourage the young to start donating to the blood banks.
Singapore needs 120,000 units of blood for patients annually and the main driver is the Singapore Red Cross Society (SRC). Since 2003, Tzu Chi has partnered the SRC in organizing blood donation drives and in 2009, the initiative was expanded to cover various community blood donation points.
One of such points is the Tampines Central Community Club, where blood donation drives have been organized since 29 July 2010, with the objective of making blood donation convenient for the neighbourhood residents and thus increase the pool of donors. From the once monthly exercise, it has been changed to a quarterly exercise since May 2015.
During the blood drive held at the Community Club on 25 August 2016, out of the 61 people who successfully donated their blood, 5 were first-time donors and 49-year-old Yang Li Xia was one of them. She remarked, “In the past I thought that donating blood would be painful. After having experienced it today, it wasn’t the least bit painful.”
Yang works in the renovation business and often has to run about the whole of Singapore. She had always wanted to donate blood, but upon thinking that she would have to specially make time to go to the blood bank, she lost all enthusiasm. That day, she happen to buy lunch for the Community Club workers and made a return trip to donate blood after having accepted a Tzu Chi volunteer’s invitation to do so.
Yang has heard of Tzu Chi in the past, and with the opportunity afforded to her, she decided to become a volunteer herself.
“I’ve long wanted to be a blood donor, but didn’t know where I could do so,” said 51-year-old Xiao Chun Lan, who accomplished a meaningful milestone in her life that day by becoming a donor. She works shift hours in a factory, and having seen volunteers holding up posters and inviting people to participate that day, decided to walk into the venue.
Holding up her bandaged hand, Xiao requested volunteers to help her snap a picture for posterity. “This is a memorable day (for me). Now that I know blood donation is so convenient, I will do so again for sure.”
There are stringent criteria in place if one wants to be a blood donor in Singapore. Apart from the age cap, those on long-term medication, those who have taken medication for fever recently, or have recently returned from specific countries are not suitable for donating blood. In addition, those whose hemoglobin level is below 12.3 or whose body weight falls below 45kg are also not eligible.
Out of the 71 people who came forward to donate that day, 61 were successful in the attempt. Hence we can see that it is a wise choice to make full use of the opportunity to help others when our bodies are healthy. If you are successful in donating blood, that indicates that your health is in good condition, and this is truly a blessing.
65-year-old Chen Xing Yuan (left) poses for a photo with a Tzu Chi volunteer after the completion of his 125th time donating blood and wishes to encourage young people to be blood donors while they are young.
Workers from the Singapore Blood Bank arrive early to prepare the Tampines Central Community Club for the blood donation drive.
Tzu Chi volunter Shen Shui Yue promotes the importance of blood donation to passers-by.
A Myanmar donor who has been living in Singapore for 10 years (left) was donating blood for the fourth time; she even met a fellow Myanmese nurse from her hometown at the donation site.
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