Unife supports Avis: not just a party on university Wednesdays

by Elena Coatti

Avis Ferrara opens its doors on Wednesday afternoons to students of the University of Ferrara. The “University Donor Wednesdays” project thus renews the long-standing collaboration between the university and the blood volunteers association.

The presentation of the project was attended by the rector Laura Ramaciotti, the teacher of the Department of Medical Sciences and deputy vice-president of Avis provincial Ferrara Gabriele Anania, the vice-president municipal deputy Andrea Tieghi, the heads of the Avis provincial and municipal school area Diego Monteleone and Patrizia Patria, the administrative manager of Avis Ferrara Federico Gavioli and the representatives of the student councils Riccardo Ghelli, Martina Greco and Gianpaolo Zurma.

“We are very keen to raise awareness among all our students. This project aims to leverage the sensitivity and civil conscience of our young people – declared the rector Ramaciotti – having noted that many prefer to donate in groups rather than individually, because it creates a common spirit of intent and collaboration. We intend to plan extraordinary openings of the collection unit to be dedicated exclusively to Unife students”.

Vice president Anania added: “There is a fundamental agreement with young doctors in training from Unife who can come to work at the collection points. Today’s young people are an inexhaustible source of blood because they are potential donors for the next thirty years and I believe it is the most important catchment area. This idea was born from the students and their need to have this experience in a group which strengthens the will to do so and we also ‘stole’ the idea of ​​university Wednesday from them, a big party every week in the squares which we enriched with the donor day”.

The administrative manager Federico Gavioli also stated an important fact: “There are currently 600 active student donors, who have therefore donated at least once in the last two years, and of these the majority are students. Specifically we have 355 women and 245 men. Furthermore, every year we host banquets within the university premises together with Diego Monteleone and Patrizia Patria and in the 2022-23 academic year alone we recruited 347 young people, a figure more than double compared to previous years”.

Finally, student representatives Ghelli, Greco and Zurma spoke and reiterated the importance of donating blood, not only because it saves lives but because donating promotes a healthy lifestyle at the same time. The managers of the Monteleone and Patria school areas concluded by noting that “thanks to the banquets at the University we build a different relationship compared to the one with the school classes: the children feel freer to ask us questions and this greater closeness increases the strength of word of mouth between all citizens.”

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