BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - THE Blood Bank in St. Kitts has reached its minimum level and a call is being made for persons to urgently donate blood.
Lab Manager at the Joseph N France General Hospital, Candace Gumbs declared to SKNVibes Health in an exclusive interview that currently there is no shortage of blood at the bank, but it has reached its “minimum level” because there is no frequency in the way blood is being donated.
“I wouldn’t say a shortage, but it’s just that we don’t have enough to cover what we would like, as persons don’t donate on a regular basis. We are always at a minimum level.
“We tend to prefer it to be based on how many patients we have on the ward and whatever surgeries that we have, we want the Blood Bank to have a certain amount of blood inside there. So today we may have two patients on the ward and we don’t have anything at all or we have some, so we just need to have a certain amount or a security level,” Gumbs said.
No payment for blood donation
When asked if a cost is attached to one in receipt of blood, Gumbs explained that patients do not need to pay for blood but rather pay for the overall cost of treatment they would have received. She also explained that people who donate blood would not be paid because it is a voluntary process.
“The patients themselves, not through us, but I think in the overall care there is a cost incurred for the test that is involved in getting the unit itself. No, there is no cost…it’s basically free if you want to call it that. But from the outside looking in, I would think in the overall care of the patient some type of minimal cost you would incur.
“It’s voluntary! What we currently have is replacement blood donations whereby persons come and donate on behalf of a friend or family; but that is not the idea from a blood donation that we are doing. From since 2012 we have been trying to change the culture and mindset of donors and encourage them to come in and donate voluntarily. We have had a bit of success and we are looking for more, but two is better than zero. So whatever little we have at the lab, we are seeking to have more. We are getting blood from volunteers with which we are quite happy with.”
Sensitisation and communication
The Manager outlined to SKNVibes Health the areas in which they have begun to spread the word of blood donation in the Federation, noting that this started approximately two years ago.
“We went on the youth media, we had used ZIZ’s Up Front and Dr. Mac Lachlan had a programme on TV but I’m not sure if it is still aired. We used the media for the past two years and we gave information, and we have recently developed a brochure where we intend to pass around and give some of the business people with information on blood donation.
“And we also started having blood drives at the Circus in collaboration with major events that we have throughout the year. We also had blood drives in the Square for persons who were curious. They came across to us and wanted to know what was going on and we gave them information. Sometimes they do actually donate and then they would say they never knew this was possible;’ and now we have them coming every three months or six months to donate.”
She explained that in previous years the Blood Bank would institute three areas of blood donation throughout the year but that was not instituted in 2013.
“We had one with the National Carnival Committee during Carnival where we encouraged persons to come out and donate, and in 2012 the the past queens donated. We also collaborated with the Music Festival Committee and held a blood drive. We had it on the Independence Calendar so persons were aware of it, and then between January and June of this year we will target business places.”
Donating blood
Gumbs indicated that in 2014 they are hoping to have more persons onboard with blood donations, as they continue to put more information out into the public domain in order to have an increase in the drive to donate.
“I think, more specifically, with the information being out there persons are now aware of what is voluntary blood donation, the importance of it, how does it affect persons who are actually receiving the blood, and in turn how it actually affects the actual donor. It’s just knowledge persons need to be aware of.”
She informed that blood type ‘-AB’ is current below its minimum level but stressed that they would not take a person who is ‘-AB’ unless “we have somebody on the ward to receive that unit, because we don’t want to take it and have it on the bank sitting there…because blood only has a 35-day expiry date”.
Gumbs however explained that they would put on record those individuals with such blood type in the event that the need arises.
Guidelines for donating blood
In order to donate blood:
· Drink lots of water and eat at least an hour before donating; nothing too fatty or oily;
· Abstain from smoking marijuana for three days and nicotine for three hours;
· Abstain from consuming alcoholic beverages for eight hours; and
· One must weight over 110 pounds.
Persons interested in donating blood can do so by visiting the Blood Bank at the Joseph N France Hospital.
