French -speaking Switzerland
In summer, blood donors are rare
Due to vacation departures, transfusion centers are still looking for volunteers. In Geneva, platelet donations are essential.
Illustration photo: a young woman gives her blood. In Geneva, the HUGs try to rejuvenate their donors.
Getty Images/Westend61
- Blood reserves are particularly fragile during the summer holidays in Geneva.
- The HUG actively seek donors to deal with the needs in blood platelets.
- Blood plates only keep seven days against forty-two for blood cells.
- The hospital now targets young people to rejuvenate its regular donors.
During vacation periods, and more particularly during the summer, cities were empty and their blood transfusion centers too. In mid-July, Geneva launched a vibrant call to don you sang who has borne fruit. Donors have presented themselves to Geneva University Hospitals (HUG) and stocks could be partly reconstituted.
The need for blood plates nevertheless remains glaring. We take stock with Doctor Sophie Waldvogel Abramowski, doctor responsible for the transfusion hematology unit at HUG.
Dre Sophie Waldvogel Abramowski, doctor responsible for the transfusion hematology unit at HUG.
HUG
Your call for blood donations seems to have been heard, but you already renew it. For what reason?
Indeed, the Genevans responded present. But our canton shows a particular fragility because of our important need for blood plates. The HUGs shelter the stem cell transplantation center and patients in the cantons of Neuchâtel, Jura and Vaud come to Geneva to benefit from an allogreffe. This is a service that we offer to all of Romandie.
The need for blood is important during organ transplantation as in the event of complex surgery. These two medical acts are “large eaters” of pockets of blood. Erythrocytic pockets, taken for their red blood cells, are 90% used in surgery and platelet pockets are 90% used in onco-hematology.
Currently, the erythrocytic stock is good thanks to our call, but between July 15 and August 15, we always record a drop in donations of 25%, as at Easter and Christmas.
Why is the gift of platelets as crucial all year round, including in summer?
Onco-hematology patients with leukemia cannot wait for the holidays to end to benefit from a stem cell transplant, at the risk of seeing the disease take over. We need ten platelet donors per working day. Within three weeks following a transplant, the transfusion of plates and red blood cells is very regular while waiting for stem cells to start producing it.
In July, we had a very intense program of transplantation, with new cases of leukemia. During the weekend of 1is August, the shortage was serious. The priority for plates has been given to patients in surgery who bleed abundantly, such as accident victims. Plates are the first step in coagulation. They act as a plug.
How is the gift of platelets?
It lasts about fifty minutes. The blood passes through a machine that separates the platelets from other blood components (red blood cells, plasma, etc.) which are reinjected into the donor’s arm.
At the HUG, we have more than 20,000 active red pocket donors, erythrocytic blood, and 4000 white pockets, platelets. These are usable only seven days, against forty-two for red pockets.
Is it beneficial to give blood? Is the blessing of the medieval bleeding verified?
No, donors do it by generosity, the act gives good conscience. The donation is rich in iron, it represents 250 mg on the 450 ml of blood taken. So don’t miss it. The interval between each visit must be three months for men and four months, for women, to give the body time to recover the iron he gave.
Hemoglobin control is done each time by pricking the finger. Women, because of their rules, are more likely to lack iron.
For platelets, on the other hand, the problem does not arise, since the machine restores the red blood cells to the donor. The donation can be twelve times a year. Some of our donors have come more than 90 times in their lives. They are extraordinary, altruistic and courageous.
What is the age limit to give blood?
It is set at 75 years. The law expressly provides that the donation “should not harm the donor” and an elderly person has an increased risk of being sick.
Is the gift analyzed to avoid contamination?
Obviously! During the sample, four tubes are extracted from the derivation pocket. Tests, HIV (AIDS), hepatitis B, C and Syphilis, are carried out. We have a legal traceability obligation. A tube is kept in a freezer for years. The sample is coded and the code key is carefully preserved. She delivers all the information on the donor.
Do you have young people among your regular donors?
We don’t have as much as we want. We launched a campaign to give the donation a more modern image.
A study conducted by us shows that young people are afraid of the needle and the flowing blood. They find the act too long and too strict. To improve care, we plan to invite them to express themselves on their fears or on a poor previous experience. We aim to offer them a comfortable and calm environment to reduce anxiety. Giving blood requires courage.
A criticism often comes up on the constraints of the questionnaire. Would he dissuade donors? What do you think?
Some questions from the questionnaire seem unnecessary, but they are not. They all relate to the safety of the patient and/or the donor.
We could actually make different questionnaires depending on the types of donors or donations, respectively depending on biological sex or the number of donations. This would decrease the number of questions a little, but it should never be forgotten that injecting the blood of an individual to a patient is a high -risk gesture!
Should centers in Switzerland make gifts, should the HUG not make the same?
We too, but we do not mention it on the website. Ditto for the taste events we organize. It is important to recall, for security questions, that the interested donation is to be avoided.
“A gift saves three lives”
The situation is also tense in French-speaking Switzerland, informs Véronique Coppey-Uster, communications manager with interregional CRS: “The stocks are low during this vacation period for our three regions, Vaud, Valais and Bern. The needs of hospitals are just as high during the summer vacation as the rest of the year, hence the importance of giving blood during this period. ”
To reward the donors and donors who take the time to go to its seven sampling centers, CRS interregional transfusion-one of the eleven regional Swiss CRS transfusion services, attached to the Swiss Red Cross-offers small gifts in the form of entrances to municipal swimming pools with Épalinges and Sion.
The two main university hospitals in French -speaking Switzerland – HUG and CHUV – require large amounts of blood. “Switzerland needs more than 700 pockets of blood per day and around 270,000 per year, explains Véronique Coppey-Ulter. For our three regions, we use 1,700 pockets per week. ” And to recall “that a gift saves three lives”.
A laborious gift
Touched by the situation of a nearby friend, Sacha decided to give his blood for the first time. The 28 -year -old young man recently went during his lunch break to the blood transfusion center and the Donation of the Hug blood. When arriving, the receptionist asks her to fill out a form. “It was very long, I had to answer around forty questions, about my life, on a possible illness or a medication. I was surprised that I was asked about my mother’s stay in Brazil, which dates back to the 70s, well before my birth. ”
Arrested, the Dre Waldvogel Abramowski indicates that “the gift should not harm the donor, nor make the recipient sick”: “In Brazil, the mother was able to contract Chagas disease and transmit it to her asymptomatic child. Its blood would be likely to be contaminated and the 0n applies the precautionary principle. ”
After the questionnaire, Sacha is received by a nurse, to whom he must repeat the answers given orally. She checks her hemoglobin level, the number of red blood cells contained in her blood. He is deemed satisfactory.
Then the young man joins the sample room, where a nurse stucks him. “He found my vein but could not run my blood in the pocket. He stirred the catheter for about five minutes. It was quite painful. ”
The caregiver finally calls his colleague for help. She explains to Sacha that her blood coagulated because of the past time. It inquires about the amount of water drums. A liter and a half would have been necessary … but no one warned it when making the appointment!
The Dre Waldvogel Abramowski acknowledges that the website should highlight this information: “Drinking beautiful well -filled veins, which easily releases blood.”
Sacha is then offered to drink for thirty minutes and take his blood in the other arm. But the time goes and the volunteer must return to work, disappointed: “I was a little unhappy, I don’t really like the bites, at the base.” He nevertheless promises to come back, because the lack of blood in Geneva touches him a lot.
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