“Don’t go on holiday without having booked your blood donation.” And the firm appeal of the president of Provincial Avis of Verona Fiorenzo Zambelli at the debut of the summer. Which also comes alongside one challenge: exceed last year’s donation threshold.
Looking at the data, the number of bookings of blood donors making appointments for the procedure is decreasing. In the first months of 2024, until late spring, the calls from volunteers who facilitated the booking of donors by telephone, text message and email were over 28 thousand. In the same period of time, in 2023, there were 33,500.
The goal is now reverse course. At the end of the year, provincial Avis with its municipal offices generally reaches over 73 thousand contacts for bookings which on average translate into around 34 thousand bags of plasma and blood. But there are another seven months until December to recover and maybe exceed the threshold of 35 thousand bags. It is for this period of time that Zambelli’s call comes.
«Let’s get over it! The need for blood and plasma does not go on holiday, which is why it is important to donate even in summer. I will never get tired of repeating it – explains the provincial president of Avis –. Donating blood is an infinitely precious gesture. Even more so because it’s free.”
But Zambelli is not just aimed at aspirants. «It is an invitation that I address to everyone, in this case especially to those who already donate: book your appointment before going on holiday. Blood donations drop during the holidays, a period in which the need increases, also due to the greater flow of tourists in our area and the frequent events of strong appeal and aggregation, from festivals to concerts”.
Reservations drop significantly in summer affected by holiday absences or suspensions for trips abroad. AND patients are worried so much so as to launch an appeal, especially due to the shortage of plasma, which Zambelli does just that by also explaining where the donated blood ends up. «Every day, even in summer, there are patients who continue to have regular blood transfusions to treat severe anemia. There are those who need blood because they undergo surgery or receive an organ transplant or because they have a serious trauma or bleeding event. Blood is also a support for many oncological and hematological therapies. Furthermore, for many patients, plasma-derived drugs such as albumin or immunoglobins produced from plasma donations, the liquid part of the blood, are life-saving.”
«The lack of plasma – concludes Zambelli – is seriously putting the health of many patients at risk. Donations and collections are not sufficient to cover national needs of plasma, our country is still far from self-sufficiency, with serious consequences for many patients who require medicines derived from plasma for their treatments, which often save lives”.
The provincial Avis of Verona was established on 6 September 1958 and currently includes 66 municipal Avis for over 20,000 donors and volunteers. It is chaired by Fiorenzo Zambelli with a board of 15 people. It is based in Verona, in Strada dell’Alpo, 105.
