Volunteer Blood Donors: satisfactory results despite 2 difficult years

Françoise Didier surrounded by Véronique Vincent-Viry, municipal councilor in charge of social affairs, and Sylvain Zanetti, representing the UD88 and Regional Volunteer Blood Donors.

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The annual meeting of the Association of Volunteer Blood Donors of Gérardmer / Xonrupt-Longemer took place this Friday evening at the Salle des Armes where President Françoise Didier returned to two years marked by the health crisis which has somewhat modified the habits.

Despite everything, as the emblematic president of Donneurs Bénévoles pointed out, “the results of the past two years have remained satisfactory compared to many other places in France. “While a slight drop was recorded between 2029 and 2020, the figures are relatively stable in 2021 with the hope of rising again in 2022. In 2020, the association welcomed 998 donors compared to 10,75 in 2019, i. 7.16%, 943 bags were collected against 982 in 2019 (-3.64) but there were 116 New Donors against 91 the previous year. In 2021, the figures will hardly vary and it is useful to specify that the New Donors are Spontaneous Donors since no information session could take place in high schools in particular.

The friendly could therefore be satisfied with these results which are altogether flattering given the context. But Françoise Didier and her volunteers regret not having been able to do better since the end of 2021, mainly because of the collections by appointment which were started last October at the request of the national EFS. A way of proceeding and organizing the collections which seems unsuited to the Gérardmer sector, not allowing ” manage many donors within a reasonable time frame. Not to mention the tourists that we can only too rarely welcome and who often come spontaneously because they have seen our banners or heard us during our visit with the vehicle of the friendly… summarizes the president. And to add: Admittedly, the EFS teams do what they can to favor appointments, but then it is the people passing through who, seeing that there is a collection, stop to donate and are unhappy because call appointments before they do…well, in our country it’s the snake biting its tail…No doubt it works better in other large cities. But in a provincial city, very touristic moreover, it is, at least in my opinion, not at all the panacea“. To be continued…

For 2022, the association hopes to be able to seriously resume its communication and awareness-raising operations in primary schools or even high schools, knowing that there is ” work to be done to use the words of Françoise Didier because the stocks remain very fair and often low to such an extent that we regularly hear calls for donations on national radio. And as there is work to do, the Amicale wanted to launch an appeal for the youngest to join the committee, which is still dynamic but which is starting to age. It’s always good to think about the next generation!

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