Iloilo thirsts for more blood – Red Cross

By Francis Allan L. Angelo

 

Demand for blood never ebbs, especially in the city and province of Iloilo.

That is why the Philippine Red Cross continues to campaign for more donations amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Gilbert Paul Valderrama, administrator of the Philippines Red Cross (PRC) Iloilo Chapter, appealed to all eligible donors to help support the PRC’s blood donation campaign.

“The need for more blood supply is always present but with this raging pandemic, there is more reason for us to stress out how important every drop of blood that goes to the PRC blood bank contributed by our donors,” Valderrama said.

In 2020, PRC-Iloilo noted a sudden shortfall of 3,000 to 5,000 units of blood compared to previous years as the pandemic forced local government units to cancel blood donation drives as they focused on curbing the spread of the disease.

“But what we do is to campaign even harder. We really have to innovate to generate more so we can support the much-needed supply of the hospitals in the city of Iloilo as well as the need of district hospitals all over the province,” Valderrama said.

Despite the sudden drop in donations all over the country amid the pandemic, Valderrama hopes that everything will go back to normal.

“Although we had a sudden drop since the pandemic, I am very grateful because Iloilo Chapter still came on top all over the country in terms of number of units collected notwithstanding Covid-19 and this is a testament of the support of the community. What we only did is to launch massive campaigns, but the people who responded to our campaigns should be given the compliments,” he pointed out.

Valderrama said blood donors from various organizations and companies, including LGUs, reactivated their donation drive in support of the PRC “for us to have sufficient supply of blood at all times because hospitals depend on us for their blood requirements.”

“Notwithstanding their fears, we are seeing a lot of organizations and corporations along with the LGUs stepping up to our call for us to be more capable to supply the much-needed blood for our hospitals. We have to remember that Red Cross cannot give what it doesn’t have, which means that for every unit that we supply to our hospitals, it comes from a donor who offered not only his blood but “also his time and effort to help save the lives of others.”

Valderrama said that behind a strong Red Cross is a strong community and “for a chapter like us to be successful needs a very strong and very vibrant community behind.”

“That is why we are so thankful for all the donors, that because of them we have a strong Red Cross here in Iloilo,” he said.

Valderrama said they will hold a blood-letting activity to be hosted by MORE Power, the power distributor in Iloilo City.

“Without the involvement of companies like MORE and the other donor organizations such as radio stations, religious groups, business groups, and even fraternity groups, we won’t be able to overcome the need for a more blood supply in the city and province of Iloilo. In all our efforts, the key-point really is the community, so I hope that soon we will be seeing more of MORE Power,” Valderrama said.

Sarah Diana Habacon, human resource manager of MORE Power, said the blood-letting campaign is part of the month-long activities lined up by the company in celebration of the second anniversary of its franchise as well as its first year of operation.

On February 14, 2019, President Duterte signed into law Republic Act 11212 that gave MORE Power the franchise to distribute power in Iloilo City.

But it was only on February 29, 2020 that MORE Power was able to start its operations.

“Since the approval of our franchise falls on the love month as well as the start of our operations, we have lined up a series of activities for this month and these activities will kick off with our blood-letting activity on the 8th,” Habacon said.

Habacon said around 80 employees will join the activity with the addition of donors from their third-party contractors.

“These donors are composed of MORE Power staff including line warriors, security and utility personnel together with the employees of our contractors who volunteered to also join the bloodletting drive. In fact, MORE Power is going to have it as part of our yearly activity and we will do it two times a year,” she said.