Volunteer Days will traditionally start with the Steelmakers’ Drop of Blood drive
Are you a regular blood donor, or have you been considering taking the plunge for a longer time? Just do it. You will help to rescue lives of people after injuries, or planning an operation, or severely ill patients in need. The Steelmakers’ Drop of Blood drive, which kicks off the grand tenth year of the corporate event called U.S. Steel for Košice Volunteer Days on May 13, 2016 at six o’clock in the morning, can be the right springboard for you, as well as for many of our colleagues.
The medical staff and the doctors in the Košice-Šaca Hospital Hematology-Transfusion Department at the Medical Center in the U. S. Steel Public Access Area, which is managed by chief consultant Dr. Annamaria Bratková, are prepared to handle a larger number of donors without any problems.
“Four collection beds will be available, like in previous years,” clarifies Edita Petrášová, the nursing officer at the Transfusion Center. “We would like to ask donors participating in this event to come for the blood collection at intervals. Thus we will avoid unnecessary delays.” This event with an expected capacity of one hundred donors is scheduled for the morning of May 13.
Dedicated blood donors already know that the collection of about 450 milliliters of blood is not a long process; it takes no longer than fifteen minutes. Newcomers should prepare for their first blood donation responsibly. They should know that the day before the blood donation they should drink plenty of fluids, especially in the form of tea, water or mineral water, to be hydrated enough. Before the blood donation it is necessary to drink at least half a liter of tea. Doctors also recommend not donating blood with an empty syomach; however, do not eat fatty meals for dinner or breakfast beforehand. They also recommend that you should not smoke for at least six hours before the blood donation, and you should avoid strenuous mental stress and physical exercise the day before the blood donation.
We repeat the basic criteria that you must meet in order to be able - after the doctor’s approval – to lie on the collection bed. Men can donate blood once in three months, women four months after the last blood donation, and they should not donate blood just before, during or just after menstruation. You should be between 18 and 60 years old and your body weight must not be less than 50 kilograms. You cannot donate blood if you have had hepatitis B or C, you must not be an HIV virus carrier or suffer from other serious or chronic diseases.
