Project “Safe Blood”
I have participated in many projects as a volunteer with different organizations and this is one of my those experiences.
We established a free blood camp with two non-profit organizations “Safe Blood Transfusion Services Multan” and “Care & Cure Foundation” where we collected free healthy blood for children suffering from thalassemia and Haemophilia. we also provided a free service of finding the blood group of our clients (or blood donors) and informing them about it. I was participating as a Psychologist and I was doing so under the supervision of my senior Dr. Azhar (Psychologist), I provided free counseling and therapies (particularly relaxation therapies) to our clients that were feeling afraid of needles or had some sort of misconceptions or superstitions regarding the blood donation. We also addressed some of these superstitions or misconceptions during the process.
We started by reaching the decided location i.e: “Zubair Dari Store near Haram Gate Multan”. We announced in the nearby Masajids regarding the camp we were having, we spend our whole day there. within few minutes of the announcement, people started to visit.
We took the blood samples of our clients, checked them for any diseases, and also for their blood groups. If the samples were clean (clear of any diseases or disorder), we informed the clients of their blood groups and asked them whether they are willing to donate the blood or not? we never force people if they are not interested so we let them go, and for those who were willing to donate, we prepared the required material and took their blood, after which we labeled the blood bags with information such as blood group, place, and the date it was taken on. We repeated this process for our rest of the clients but, there were many clients that had anxiety, fear of needles, and also some misconceptions about donating blood, that’s where my services came in. I talked to these clients and tried to find out the main reason behind their fear or anxiety then, I resolved those issues by providing counseling and therapies (mostly Relaxation therapies) to our clients.
I came to know that there are many superstitions and misconceptions in almost every third person’s mind regarding blood donation so I am addressing those superstitions and misconceptions here:
- Donating blood makes you physically Weak:
Actually, this is not the case, Donating blood actually improves your physical and emotional health. it reduces stress, reduces the risk of heart attack, and allows your body to make new blood cells that are more healthy and better. Although you might feel nausea, lightheadedness, or dizziness which is normal, you just need to lie down for some time or have a glass of juice or some fresh drinks.
2. You will experience excessive bleeding:
Actually, you might experience mild bleeding at the site of the needle after the needle is removed, but applying a little bit of pressure at the site with your thumb usually stops it. In some cases, People might develop a bruise which usually disappears the next day, just avoid any hard physical exercise or lifting heavy weights for a day at least in order to avoid any accidents or mishaps.
We spend our whole day at the camp and collected almost 110 Blood Bags, We enjoyed our time doing this noble deed, we also enjoyed meeting, and talking to new people. Everyone was so cooperative and kind. They also offered us free lunch and cold drinks when it was lunchtime. We did our lunch one by one as there were clients visiting and we could not stop collecting blood because the camp was established only for a day.
It was a great learning experience.
Please feel free to provide your precious suggestions to help me improve my writing.
Thank you! :)
