Prestige Awards to thank donors

An elegant award ceremony was hosted by SANBS Limpopo at a local hotel on Friday evening to thank and award volunteer donors in the community.
Dottie Pinn, Public Relations Practitioner Limpopo and Master of Ceremonies fwelcomed everyone to the event where entertainment was provided by Straight Ahead Jazz Band.
SANBS Head of Marketing, Willem van der Merwe thanked the donors for their unselfish contribution towards saving the lives of others. He stated that if not for blood donors, life-saving medical treatment for children with life threatening anaemia, trauma victims, women with pregnancy related complications, organ transplants, bone marrow transplants, complicated surgical procedures and cancer treatments would not be possible.
“Every single unit of donated blood is rigorously tested for diseases, blood groups and compatibility to the patients who require transfusions and blood products. To ensure maximum safety, the blood goes through an antibody test as well as an Individual Nucleic Acid Amplification Test which detects the presence of HIV, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C and Syphilis,” he said, assuring possible recipients of the safety of donated blood.
Anaesthetist Francois Jonker explained the importance of blood in the theatre.
He related an incident where he was recognised and thanked in public for saving the life of a child. He later remembered the case of a child injured when falling from a jungle gym and needing emergency surgery. The unit of blood needed to save the patient had been donated by a volunteer earlier, was rushed to Mediclinic Limpopo, and used to help save the boy’s life. Jonker said although a number of people had helped the fresh unit of blood, was the most important to secure the patient’s survival.
Donor awards were presented to donors in different categories according to the number of units donated. The James Blundell medal went to persons who had donated 100 units. The top accolade for the evening, the Coombs Moreschi Medal for donating 175 units went to Norman Anandale, Avryl Fox, Johannes Page, Christiaan Stoumann and Robin Tapinos.
Molebatsi Masedi, Parliamentary Liaison of the Department of Social Development for Limpopo explained that since being diagnosed with a damaged heart valve in 2014 he had received donor blood on four occasions. He realised that someone had given his or her blood so that his life could be spared and thanked the donors for being angels.

Story and photos: Alet-Elize van Jaarsveld
>>alet-elize@observer.co.za

Featured photo: Willem van der Merwe, Head of Marketing for SANBS, Dottie Pinn, Public Relations Practitioner Limpopo, Molebatsi Masedi, Parliamentary Liaison of the Department of Social Development for Limpopo and Francois Jonker, anaesthetist, attended the Donor Awards Ceremony on Friday.