1,500th Donordate with former House Made participants: Meaghan and Manu
Today Belgian Red Cross-Flanders celebrates the 1,500th Donordate, with none other than DJ-couple Meaghan and Manu, known among other things from their participation in the program 'House Made'. With the Donordate campaign, Belgian Red Cross-Flanders wants to encourage new donors to give blood or plasma. Experienced donors are encouraged to bring along someone who is donating for the first time, but duos of two new donors are also more than welcome.
"It's always nice to donate together and contribute something to society together," says Vincent Verbeecke, spokesman for Belgian Red Cross-Flanders. "We see that sometimes there is still a threshold to donate blood or plasma. If you donate together with someone who knows the process, that threshold largely falls away."
More donors needed to save lives
The Donordate campaign is running for the third time this year. The goal remains unchanged: to attract new donors to ensure that the blood supply is stable, but also to attract new plasma donors. This is because Belgium is not self-sufficient for plasma. Plasma is the liquid component of blood that contains important proteins, essential for life-saving drugs and for plasma transfusions such as for newborn babies with severe jaundice.
DJ couple Meaghan and Manu support the action
Meaghan, a midwife herself, stresses the importance of donations, "At births it often happens that blood is needed. Therefore, I feel it is important to do my part so that everything can be done safely. The process doesn't take long, but you save lives with it."
Even as successful DJs, Meaghan and Manu realize the importance of blood and plasma: "At a festival, the atmosphere can be magical, but behind the scenes, medical care must also be on standby. Thanks to blood donors, there can be quick action everywhere if something goes wrong. You don't always think about it, but blood can make a difference," Manu said.
Successful edition
The third edition of Donordate is running like a train: for now, there are already 36% more Donordates than at the same time last year. "A real success," says Verbeecke. "Moreover, we see that after their first Donordate, many new donors come to donate again within six months. That is particularly encouraging."
The Donordate action runs until June 30, both in all donor centers and during mobile collections of Belgian Red Cross-Flanders. In total Belgian Red Cross-Flanders is aiming at 4,320 new donors through this action.
More information or schedule a Donordate yourself? Surf to www.rodekruis.be/donordate.