Dayron and Yunisleidis are Physical Culture teachers, “but we are also voluntary blood donors, something that makes us very proud.”
This is what the young woman told Granma. She also took over the management of the Emma Rosa Chuy Sports Complex and, together with her co-worker, joined the broad movement that, during the month of August, has promoted such a noble program, with substantial contributions to the National Health System.
“The impact of donations in recent weeks has been such that, from the average of 125 donations made daily in the province, we are now fluctuating between 150 and 205. The result is most notable in the municipalities of Mella, Segundo Frente and Palma Soriano,” explained Bertha Cuevas Ramos, director of the Renato Guitart Rosell Provincial Blood Bank.
The institution is one of those with the largest blood processing capacity in the country – around 100 litres per day – and its work is complemented by that of its counterparts in Contramaestre and Palma Soriano, and the extraction centres that operate in all the municipalities of the province.
A MOVEMENT FOR AND BY LIFE
The example and legacy of the Commander in Chief – who in 1970 extended his arm to donate blood when an earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale shook Peru – has been the driving force behind the voluntary blood donation program in our country, of which mass organizations have been promoters and the Cuban people have been protagonists.
However, the revival of this movement has been necessary not only to meet the demands of hospitals, but also to develop reagents and medicines derived from blood, which are produced by the biopharmaceutical industry. For example, “factor VIII – used to treat and prevent bleeding in people with hemophilia A and other causes of low levels of factor VIII – and Intaglobin, which is obtained at the Havana Blood Derivatives Plant, is used as an immunological supplement for various conditions, such as Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS),” Cuevas Ramos said.
Thanks to this program, whose procedures are approved by the Center for State Control of Medicines, Equipment and Medical Devices, the province of Santiago de Cuba has blood of all types and promotes research projects. For example, the one that will facilitate obtaining a cell panel to certify quality control in the Antibody and Experimental Biomodel Laboratories (Labex), of which the Provincial Blood Bank is an external evaluator.
Gladys Castellanos Jiménez has undergone surgery on several occasions: “My blood type is rh negative, which is rare, and transfusion has been the way to avoid death. I am grateful to those who have donated and, without knowing it, have saved my life.”
It should be noted, the directors insisted, that “in each blood extraction centre and blood bank the equipment is completely sterile and that each donation is screened to detect serological or virological infectious agents.” Hence the risk levels are low and the professional prestige of the staff is high.
The Renato Guitart is also a training center for specialists and one of the national leaders in the implementation of regenerative medicine, in addition, “benefits from the Program because patients, who for certain reasons cannot use their own stem cells, receive allogeneic cells from donors; mainly platelets,” said the head of the Service, Dr. Niurka Alí Pérez.
In this regard, some 44 allogenic patients have been treated at the centre, many of them with platelet concentrates with cells with regenerative capacity to heal wounds, ulcers and burns. It is noteworthy that “with mononuclear cells it was possible to effectively treat a patient who had a lower limb proposed for amputation due to the severity of the ulcer,” emphasised the second-degree specialist in Clinical Laboratory.
The satisfaction is palpable on the faces and expressions of all those who attend. Ana Iris, who suffers from osteoarthritis and hardly complains about the pain and discomfort she had in the past, said out loud while chatting affably with the nurse who assists her: “When we talk about blood donations, everything remains a bit anonymous, but in practice it cures many ailments.”
Pregnant women with negative rhesus undergo immunohematological tests, as do patients who have had multiple transfusions. Although the mobile bank – a bus adapted for this purpose – is currently lacking some spare parts, “our staff assists work centres, communities and other sites designed for this humane task, which, in the case of Santiago, requires a lot of dedication. To mention just one example, the main municipality plans around 1,220 donations per month, a figure comparable to, and even higher than, that of many provinces,” said the Director of the Provincial Bank.
GESTURES THAT REVITALIZE SOCIETY
Thousands of students, young people, women and workers – led by political and government leaders – have come forward to donate their blood. The Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR), the Federation of Cuban Women (FMC) and the Cuban Workers’ Union (CTC), with all their unions, have taken on the challenge of calling on and involving the majority.
“We have achieved this by appealing to conscience and also to objective questions: a blockaded country can only survive with the commitment of its people, that is how it has been and that is how it will be. But also in homage to Fidel, to Vilma, to our heroes and martyrs who offered their lives on the battlefields,” said Elena Castillo Rodríguez, general secretary of the women’s organization in the province.
In this sense, the days leading up to the 64th anniversary of the FMC were marked by the involvement in productive work and voluntary blood donations, as occurred in Palma Soriano, a municipality in which a total of 153 donations were made in a single day.
All this movement has also been “to demonstrate that we, the people of Santiago, can reach the 66th anniversary of the Revolution with better results in social and economic programs,” said Beatriz Johnson Urrutia, first secretary of the Provincial Committee of the Party.
The moral and material encouragement to those who carry out such a praiseworthy action is something that must be strengthened by labor groups, neighborhoods, and organizations and institutions. At the Provincial Blood Bank, a Cimex Corporation store provides services that offers basic necessities, always in accordance with availability, and up to one month after the donation, to those who reside in the Hero City.
In the remaining eight municipalities, recognition actions must be carried out by their governments and the organizations to which the donors belong. All this without undermining either the purpose or the substantive value of the altruistic act they have carried out.
Female donors receive priority care in shops, bus stations and other services within a period of four months. For male donors, the period is three months.
Santiago de Cuba is a province in which the National Health System can meet the demands and can rely on its banks to assist others, such as Guantánamo, Granma and Las Tunas. Above all, the Fidelista principle prevails that “the value of a blood donation cannot be measured in millions or in money.”
