Thoburn House Blood Donation Charity Event

My first impression of the event was its systematic and orderly flow. The four stations were easy to navigate for blood donors and we learnt that the screening process is tightly regulated in Singapore, so that the safest blood will reach the hospitals. We understood that an individual has to be absolutely healthy in order to donate blood. These stations included registration, weight measurements, the haemoglobin test and medical screening before finally donating blood at the fifth station. We were so proud of Jocelyn Tham, one of our Year 6 Thoburn House leaders, who was one of the blood donors that day. All of us offered encouragement and support towards Jocelyn and it was also a fortuitous opportunity to learn from the experiences of a dedicated nurse, who explained at length, how the blood obtained was later separated into platelets, red blood cells and plasma back at the Health Sciences Authority. This allowed for quick transfer to hospitals to be used for different medical conditions. For example, we learned that platelets are used to help a patient who has difficulty in forming blood clots.

In addition, it was a fantastic opportunity for us to get in touch with the event organisers, one of them being Mr Ee, who patiently explained the process and background work of planning a blood donation drive. He was extremely friendly and led us in conversing with many donors that day. One of the reasons why Mr Ee does this is simple: “Just help where you think help is needed.” – an advice that reminded us to always put others before ourselves.

We were gratified by the end of the event. One of our ACS (International)’s IGNITE values, noble, came to our minds as we left the venue, being more knowledgeable and confident, to organise our very own blood donation drive in the future.

Isabella Tan, 5 Thoburn