Next week, I’ve co – erced my husband to coming with me to donate blood. It’ll be his first time in about twenty years.
In Australia, there is very little known about Immune Deficiency and IVIG therapy and I want to put an end to that, at least in our neck of the woods, to start with.
IVIG or specifically Intragam P is based on plasma, which is a blood product. One six gram vial of this liquid gold has to have over three hundred people donate to gather enough antibodies and, like the USA, it is in short supply.
In Australia, we are not paid for blood donations, the Australian Red Cross appeals to our sense of community and our want to help another human being. I think donations sit around every one in thirty people and statistically, one in three people require blood on a daily basis.
High demand and not enough supply, which is one of the reasons Ivy’s need for IVIG therapy goes under review every six months. People who have been on long term treatment suddenly find themselves on trials off the Intragam because the National Blood Authority are trying to keep their stock up.
At this stage, we have only one Australian pharmaceutical company that makes the Intragam and the government has allowed one American company to import Octogam.
So, my plan is to raise awareness and encourage others to donate, through Ivy’s story.
I just don’t know where to start, really.
Every week I see stories for different causes and organisations appealing for donations and help, so that is where I’m going to start. When David donates I’m going to photograph him during the process and then write an article for our local newspaper
and we’ll take it from there.
Anyone out there advocates for their children’s special needs or associations?
Any people out there in media ?
Any tips for starting out?
Your initial plans sound very good.
Consider making a page on your blog (linked in the top right column with others). Then look for everywhere else to send, post, share the permalink/url. BIG sites that receive thousands of hits/day, AND your local news media website.
Name the page with words like: Blood Donations Save Lives. Words that will attract a google search.
Set your goal beyond awareness. Get people to commit to giving blood, and track the commitments.
Here just about any organization can sponsor a blood drive – a vampire crew will come to (church, school) location if the sponsoring organization manages all else. Boy scouts do this often here for meeting requirements for Eagle Scout.
My Hubby has been stingy in the blood category, too. (He has many other fine qualities, however.)
We’ve done newspaper articles, and met with legislators.
We’re still working and advocating.
The last time I gave blood my blood pressure bottomed out and I had to stop before they finished.
I was silly and didn’t take care to eat and drink properly beforehand. Maybe you could post some tips on how people can prevent that from happening…is it just to eat and drink a lot beforehand? Should I drink a soda or load up on carbs? I think tips like that would help people like me have a good experience giving blood and thus be more likely to come back. I’m type O- and I definitely am going to try and donate again, but I want to donate smarter this time!
Barbara and Tammy, thanks, great ideas and good to know that a newspaper article might be a good way to start.
Katie, A great idea! Thanks.
I think the local paper is a good place to start. One of the things I have found – but not sure how to go about promoting it more widely – When I worked at 2 local highschools (Catholic ones – if that is relevant at all) We used to get the red cross in and our senior students could donate blood. Parent permission forms were required depending upon the age of the student. We found that students viewed it positively and many donated – our thinking was that it was a start to encouraging them to continue to donate when they were adults.