New blood donation centre opens its doors in Lambton Gardens
"Through outreach programmes, educational seminars, and partnerships with local organisations."
The South African National Blood Services is inviting residents to donate at the new centre in Germiston Donor Center in Lambton Gardens.
Kamantha Pillay, donor relations practitioner, said the centre is designed to be easily accessible to donors from all walks of life.
The centre has also digitalised the registration process.
“To ease the process for donors they can now walk in and fill in their forms digitally. Every aspect of the donor experience is optimised for efficiency and convenience. Also, they will be assisted by the friendly staff,” said Pillay.
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She said they understand that blood donation is not just a transaction but a community effort.
“We place a strong emphasis on community engagement and education.
“Through outreach programmes, educational seminars, and partnerships with local organisations, we aim to foster a culture of blood donation and raise awareness about its importance in saving lives,” said Pillay.
She urged the community to support and donate. Lambton resident, Annelize Westcott who has been donating blood for over 24 years said she loved the new centre and enjoys the service from the staff.
“The staff is always friendly and professional. They look after their donors and are always willing to explain and share information,” said Annelize.
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She has donated 100 units of blood and 26 units of plasma. “At the age of 24 I started donating because I understood the impact of blood donations and how it saves lives I also inspired my son to donate and he loves it and we enjoy it because we get to spend some time together also,” said Annelize.
She said she only started recently with plasma after she was encouraged by the staff at the centre and said she enjoys it.
“If my plasma can do as much as the blood does I’m more than happy to donate and I encourage others to visit the centre to know more about donating and become one [a donor] if they can,” said Annelize.
The centre provides the following services:
• Blood donation: This unit of blood can be processed into three components namely red cells, platelets, and plasma. The components are used to save three lives. This process takes approximately 30 minutes to donate.
• Platelet donation plays a vital role in blood clotting and the prevention of excess blood loss. The blood is processed through a cell separator, which retains the platelets and returns the other blood components to the donor’s system. This procedure enables people to donate platelets every month.
Platelet donation is a simple process that takes about an hour and a half to complete.
• The last one is plasma donation which is a similar process to platelet donation and takes about 90 minutes. The blood is processed through a cell-separating machine that filters out the plasma and returns the red cells and other cellular components to the donor’s system. Plasma can be donated every two weeks where possible.
