“I’m pleased. I think the campaign was a success,” Magdalena Gałkiewicz, a teacher at Zespół Szkół Handlowych i Usługowych and co-organizer of the initiative, told Boleslawiec.org / IstotneInformacje.pl Magdalena Gałkiewicz. Students from all of Bolesławiec’s upper-secondary schools supported the noble initiative. More than 50 people attended.
“To donate blood, you must first of all be healthy, be at least 18 years old and have eaten a light breakfast,” explains Sławomir Smoczyński of the Regional Blood Donation and Blood Treatment Center in Wałbrzych. This year’s graduating students donated 450 milliliters each. Every young donor underwent tests, including one for the presence of HIV. The students could also find out—if, of course, they did not already know—which blood group they have.
Why did so many young people take part in the initiative so willingly? “Many people need blood, and hospitals are short of it,” notes Paulina Salamon, a graduating student at ZSHiU. “I want to help—maybe someday someone will help me?” adds Czesław Czubak from the same school.
“We have been blood donors for years, and someday we will have to stop donating blood. Here, a new generation of donors is coming along,” says Adam Fornal, head of the Bolesławiec branch of the Polish Red Cross, which patronized the “Be Mature—Donate Blood” campaign. “It warms the heart. We can see that we have successors,” echoes Roman Bodak, a member of the Presidium of the Lower Silesian Honorary Blood Donation Council.
Both men have been donating blood for several decades. Adam Fornal has already donated 48 liters, while Roman Bodak has donated only 10 liters less. “There is no medicine that could replace blood. No one has produced artificial blood yet, and certainly no one will for a long time,” argues Bodak. In his opinion, the amount of blood donated on April 22 in the gymnasium of ZSHiU could save the lives of 5–6 people.
Tuesday’s initiative is not the last blood-donation project involving Zespół Szkół Handlowych i Usługowych in Bolesławiec. “Another campaign organized by the Polish Red Cross will begin on September 5. I will also attend it with my school,” assures Magdalena Gałkiewicz.
(GA report)