Surgeons Donate Blood to VH Bank

Contact: Julita Peter

Friday, September 28, 2001 - Surgeons employed with Victoria Hospital have gone beyond their official call of duty by donating several pints of blood to the Victoria Hospital Blood Bank. One donor Dr. Charles Greenidge says over the past couple of weeks there have a few trauma accidents where patients died because of lack of blood.

“We have patients we want to operate on who have cancer who we cannot operate on because it would be unsafe without a reserve supply, because most operations would involve some blood loss and even though you may not need the transfer, you still need to have the blood in the event that you need it,” said Dr. Greenidge.

Meanwhile Veronica Lee, Medical Technologist attached to the Victoria Hospital Blood Bank, says the bank is presently in demand for blood type ‘O’ Positive, a blood type which she says is carried by more than half of the local population.   She says despite the numerous pleas for persons to donate blood, the blood bank continues to operate below its reserve capacity, which is about twenty units of blood.

“People are basically afraid to donate blood; I mean donating blood is a very personal thing and people want to know who is getting their blood, they like to know that a family member is getting their blood, and for those reasons they stay away from the blood bank unless there is a need, most times within their family and then they realize the need for donating blood.”

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