The anniversary of World Blood Donor Day 2023, which was celebrated on 14 June, was supposed to be an opportunity for Avis Comunale of Forlì to involve the city and the territory in a week of initiatives that would give credit to donors for precious solidarity work carried out by them and also included the presentation of the Social Report for the year 2022. The flood that hit Romagna recalibrated the priorities and the Association’s board of directors decided rather to make their closeness felt to the donors through a series of meetings at the Avis sections of the area. Once the most critical moment of the emergency has passed, Avis Forlì is pleased to give an account to the city of the positive effects on the territory determined by the activities carried out last year and also believes it is important to inform citizens about the constant growth in donations observed in the first half of 2023 and in the summer months just passed, a period – the latter – traditionally critical for the collection of blood and plasma.
“From the analysis of the 2022 Social Report – comments the president of Avis Forlì Roberto Malaguti – it emerges that our Association generates prevention, employment, solidarity and, naturally, good results in the number of donors and donations. This allows us to look with confidence at the future and encourages us to maintain an impact of this type on the territory. The confirmations, moreover, also come from the data relating to the collection of blood and plasma for the first eight months of 2023. I would particularly like to underline that, from this point of seen, in the months of July and August there was continuity in donations capable of significantly limiting the typical decline of the summer period. This is the result, among other reasons, of a summer campaign more spread out over time, carried out with a plurality of messages and our constant presence on Social Networks. In addition to this, I want to thank the employees and collaborators for their commitment and, as always, the donors for the attention and sensitivity they reserve for us all year round” .
The 2022 Social Report of Avis Forlì
The document, drawn up in a streamlined and usable form in collaboration with CSR41.com, highlights the added value represented by Avis Forlì’s action in the relevant territory. The promotion of the right to health, volunteering and associations carried out by the Association has a tangible impact from several points of view, starting from the increase in blood and plasma donors, which in 2022 were 5,937 across the entire area Forlì, with an increase of 3.5% compared to the previous year. This data translates, in practice, into thousands of lives saved and people cured of serious and chronic diseases. In more detail, last year 8,146 units of blood were collected (+3.5% on 2021), 3,666 units of plasma (+6% on 2021) and 79 units of platelets, a commitment that made the difference for many people, at local, regional and national levels.
To achieve similar results, the Avis Comunale of Forlì offers solidarity education activities in the area, aimed particularly at young people. This made it possible to welcome 710 new donors to the collection points managed by the Association during 2022. A result that has further incentivized the continuation of the project dedicated to schools: last year Avis organized 54 meetings – 30 in lower secondary schools, 24 in upper secondary schools – for a total of approximately 2,300 children reached.
It should also be underlined that Avis Forlì also has a positive impact in terms of employment: at the end of 2022, the Association had 14 employees hired on permanent contracts. But the objectives achieved last year would not have been possible without the irreplaceable contribution of the volunteers, who made 4,000 hours available to Avis spent on various initiatives and logistical-organizational activities that made the blood collection possible. This is a commitment that is equal to more than 500 working days. The objectives for the future are clear: increase the number of donors and volunteers, especially among the younger generations, and increase the quantity of plasma donated in order to achieve self-sufficiency.
The collection of the first half of 2023
The growth trend – relating to the number of donors and donations – which characterized 2022 is finding even better confirmation in the current year. In fact, the donations collected in the first six months of 2023 were 6,036 in total, with an increase of 3% compared to the same period of 2022 (when there were 5,842). Furthermore, a particularly significant figure should be underlined: out of the total donations made up to 30 June of the current year, 1,954 were plasma, i.e. 203 units more than in the first half of 2022, with an increase of approximately 12%. . This represents a significant result, in response to the request of the Regional Blood Center, which at the beginning of the year had asked Avis Forlì for a further effort to increase plasma collection. In the first half of 2023, the number of donors is also increasing: in fact, 417 new donors have been registered, which, net of the 207 suspended donors, constitute a positive balance of 210 new people who are supporting the Association with their solidarity gesture .
The 2023 summer collection
The summer months are traditionally a critical period for the collection of blood and plasma, which is why Avis Comunale di Forlì has tried to implement more effective, differentiated communication methods, developed through traditional media and social media, and more widespread throughout the of the period, in order to contain a possible decline. The result was there in this case too, because in the months of July and August 2023 alone, the donations were 1,959, thus reaching a total of donations made in the first eight months of the year equal to 7,995, i.e. 292 more compared to the period January-August 2022. In the months of July and August of this year alone it was possible to collect 98 more units compared to the same two months of the past year. The hope, given the total balance of just under 8,000 donations collected in 8 months, is to close the year maintaining the collection trend of around a thousand units per month, for a forecast of around 12,000 units by 31 December 2023 .
