Blood Centre celebrates World Health Day and invites people to give blood

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The North Estonia Medical Centre’s Blood Centre invites all healthy and helpful donors to pop in on 7 April to celebrate World Health Day and enjoy some healthy snacks provided by our partners. Every Friday in April is Vitamin Day, when we send winter exhaustion on its way and energise donors with healthy fruit. The Blood Centre invites people to do good as donors, because you never know when you or someone close to you might be in need of help.

The Blood Centre’s donorship development director Ülo Lomp says: “Versatile and healthy food, a good mood and getting enough exercise are the basics of health and feeling good, and donors have always been a great example of that. We also want to guide donors towards healthy lifestyles, so we’re offering them fresh fruit and juice, vitamin drops and other health products with the help of our wonderful partners. On World Health Day we’ll also be offering donors glazed cheese curd snacks.”

The Blood Centre’s head of production department and senior doctor Erna Saarniit invites all healthy and health-minded people aged 18-60 to become donors, because even though the Blood Centre’s supplies are fairly good and they have managed to meet hospitals’ needs, they constantly need more blood of every type as well as new donors. Dr Saarniit says: “The North Estonia Medical Centre needs the help of donors with blood types O ja B- , because currently there are several hospitalised patients with these blood types in critical conditions who need transfusions of different blood components. Also, we need to add to our A+ stocks.”

For some time there has been great demand for components made from O- blood. In Estonia, only 4.3% of the population has O- blood. This donor blood is universal, from which erythrocytes can be transfused to people with any other blood type and in situations where there is no time to confirm the patient’s blood type. “That is why donors with O- blood are constantly being invited to donate,” Dr Saarniit explained.

Suitable donors are aged 18-60, are healthy and well-rested, have eaten and weigh at least 50 kg. The Blood Centre encourages donors to donate regularly – three or four times a year. The minimum amount of time between donations is 60 days, although in the case of women 90 days is recommended.

Every donation helps at least three patients. Donor blood is used in difficult surgeries and births, to treat bleeding, complex trauma, anaemia and leukaemia, in the case of cancer and liver disorders, for burns and for other diseases. Donor blood also helps with the performance of many planned surgeries, which would otherwise not be performed from fear of major blood loss.

World Health Day

World Health Day has been celebrated on 7 April every year since 1950. The day acknowledges the founding of the World Health Organization (WHO) and presents an opportunity to shine the spotlight on health issues of world-wide importance. The theme of this year’s World Health Day is depression. Even though depression is treatable, almost half of those suffering from it do not get treatment.

Depression is characterised by long-term feelings of sadness and loss of interest in things that normally make you happy. It usually comes with decreased ability to cope with everyday activities, for at least two weeks in a row. Additionally, depression is accompanied by a lack of energy, changes in appetite, insomnia or constant sleepiness, anxiety, trouble concentrating, inability to make decisions, restlessness, feeling worthless, guilty or hopeless, and also thoughts of self-harm.

Depressioncan hit anyone.

Additional information on depression

World Health Day websites in English: