“රුහිරු_ජිවිතයක් උදෙසා”
“රුහිරු_ජිවිතයක් උදෙසා” was the first blood donation campaign organized by the Leo Club of University of Colombo which was successfully held on 31st of March 2017. The campaign was conducted in the faculty premises of University of Colombo. The specific objective of arranging a blood donation campaign was to create a platform to promote voluntary blood donation and to inculcate public awareness that blood donation is a humanitarian act. 
Blood is a crucial element for the survival of each and every living being. By 2013, Sri Lanka has achieved a remarkable success in reaching a self-sufficient blood supply, but over the past few years the pattern has been changed. We notified that currently the National Blood Transfusion Service is demanding for more healthy blood as there is a noticeable boom in number of patients.
As it was specifically mentioned as “Healthy Blood”, we chose university students as the niche to conduct the blood donation campaign. Ultimately it led as an opportunity for many university students to donate blood voluntarily for altruistic reasons and without any monetary rewards. It was reported that over 112 donors have accorded their precious blood to save one’s life while approximately 78 of them were first time contributors.
The project was implemented after looking over the reservation dates at National Blood transfusion service we were able to secure 31st of March 2017 to conduct the campaign at our faculty premises.
Communication campaign was one of the major tasks out of the activities. As our anticipated target was 100 donors, it was crucial to make public aware regarding the campaign. Our communication campaign was accompanied with;
- Posters and banners.
- Created an event on Facebook.
- Facebook and Instagram flyers.
- Short message service of FMF and
- Batch and departmental vies project awareness programmes.
As this was the first blood donation campaign organized by the Leo Club of University of Colombo, we decided to gift a custom-made souvenir to each donor to show gratitude over their kindness to save a life. It was gifted with a customized red colour fingerprint of the donor on it.
A hygienic environment was a pivotal factor to conduct a blood donation campaign. Therefore we reserved the evening of 30th of March 2017 to clean the cafeteria as per the prior plans. The cafeteria floor was entirely scoured and the tables were arranged as necessary for the next day.
Event was started with the arrival of the senior lecturer Dr. Rajistha Alwis and the campaign were comprised with two doctors and fourteen staff members. We noticed that there was a special attentiveness among the young crowd to donate blood. At the end of the campaign, data was reported as follows,
- Number of donors : 112
- Number of first time donors : 78
- Number of beneficiaries : 112 * 3 = 336 patients
Every donor was served with a glass of king coconut (Glucose, Jeewani and Nestamalt were available as alternatives too) prior to donation of blood and a packet of milk, a piece of cake and a tea bun after donation.
“රුහිරු_ජිවිතයක් උදෙසා” campaign was an extreme success because of the immense support, great effort and courage of everyone. It was proud to communicate that we were able to contribute to secure approximately three hundred lives through our hardest effort. Ultimately “රුහිරු_ජිවිතයක් උදෙසා” is not a termination but adjourned for a moment to see a new phase in the following year too.
Blood donation campaign was an unconventional experience for many participants. This event let us face many challenge successfully. Some of the challenges were
- Cleaning the canteen.
- Make sure to serve donors with the appropriate refreshments.
- Properly contemplate the donors prior and after donation.
- Dealing with contingency situations like donors get collapse/faint unexpectedly.
- Handling souvenirs and gift them to donors.
- Respond to opinions of the lecturers.
These challenges were accepted energetically by our team and finally directed the event to the success. Therefore further we hope to purse “රුහිරු_ජිවිතයක් උදෙසා” in new phases for the upcoming years with the intention of contributing to enlighten someone’s life.
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