Jo Ann, Baguio pride as the country's most outstanding barangay nutrition scholar (volunteer worker) in 2005, is no stranger to distress. Her husband has been on regular dialysis since he was diagnosed with kidney failure in November 2005. It was not her first time to depend on the RC, as Francis would now and then have to undergo transfusion.
Her experience is common during medical emergencies as blood is usually hard to come by when needed. This despite repeated calls of hospital emergency doctors and the Red Cross for people to join the roster of life-saving blood donors.
That's why Councilor Erdolfo Balajadia, chairman of the Baguio Red Cross, saw fit to recognize new regular donors and induct them into its Galloners Club at the chapter office on July 26.
Each will receive a certificate attesting he or she had already bled 10 times, equivalent to a gallon or 4,000 c.c. or four liters. Each will receive a medal fit for heroes, as some of the blood they pumped out saved lives of people they never knew and may never meet.
"With their entry, we now have a total of 36 in the roster," said RC administrator Annie Tamayo. "Kindly have their names published so the community may know them," she said.
The donors are Carlito Estipular, Crispin Flora, Ike Manuel Flores, Jeffrey Alimbuyao, Froilan Serrano, Rolando Vergara, Andres Ramos, Carlu Jhon Zamora, Emmanuel Dong-e, Tom Noefe, Ray Bernard Baviera, Lily May Mallare, Frederick Pedregoza, Ronald Rivera, Ruel Aquino, Mary Claire Tagubasi, Robert Cabatu, Richard Bernard San Luis; Francis Salcedo, Ritchie Baptista, Floro Estrella, Juvelon Garcia, Rogelio Maquinto, Edward Dulnuan, Reynante Dilim, Irvin Requintina, Janice Kaylyn Lonogan, Felipe Eleponga, Arnulfo Tayao, Egon Mile Jordan, Rolando Haban Jr., Jonas Aspuria, Michael James Abad, Jony Sadinto, Robert John Liquete and Crispulo Ducusin.
The roster should help dispel the wrong and all-too-common notion that donating blood is bad for one's health even if one is medically found fit to give, Tamayo noted.
"People need not donate immediately but register and be ready when they're called," Tamayo said. "The lifespan of stored blood is 35 days and only five days for plate concentrate. Still, we have to stock up as the threat of dengue fever cases rising this rainy season is real," she said.
She announced that ABS-CBN, the national television network, has set a bloodletting project on July 28, the venue of which will be announced later.
Similar projects are also being done annually by Bombo Radyo, locally through radio station dzWX, under manager Paul Ballesteros and the Association of City Employees (ACE) now headed by Mercedes Pel-ey.
Pel-ey said the three units used for Jo Ann's husband may be temporarily placed in the names of walk-in donors during ACE's last bloodletting drive. This will give time for Jo Ann to look for replacement to keep the RC ready to address other medical emergencies requiring blood.
People who would like to help her replace the stock, pay the cost of blood screening (P1,500 per unit), or answer Francis' treatment needs may call Jo Ann's cell phone number 09195294047.
"Aside from the Red Cross, I'm grateful, too, to the Gavis family in Tomay, La Trinidad, for its support to Francis," Jo Ann said. The donor family last week gave Francis 10 boxes containing 60 peritoneal dialysis bags and dialysis solutions.
Doctors advised peritoneal dialysis when his veins, regularly punctured by needles of dialysis machines, collapsed. (RD)
