DONORS WANTED

Southland Times, Issue 22956, 31 July 1936, Page 8

DONORS WANTED

Blood Transfusion “We urgently need donors of blood for transfusion cases,” stated the medical superintendent of the Southland Hospital (Dr. L. C. McNickle) to The Southland Times yesterday. “We have fewer than six donors on our list. We require about fifty. Only last week a patient’s life was saved by transfusion, and it was extremely fortunate that of our handful of donors a suitable one was immediately available. Otherwise the patient would not have recovered. Unless a great many more donors come forward lives which could have been saved by transfusion will be lost. So far as I am aware Invercargill compares very unfavourably with other cities and towns in the number of people who have volunteered for this service. It is to be hoped that a more generous response will relieve a position which is most disquieting. “Those who give blood for transfusion suffer neither discomfort nor injury. The amount of blood taken is relatively small. Men are preferred to women, though both are most acceptable. In fact one of those at present on our list is a woman 59 years of age who lives at Bluff. She has set an example which younger people might well follow, for it is a service to humanity which definitely saves lives. A blood test—a trifling affair so far as the donor is concerned—has to be taken before the names of donors are placed on the list. I shall be grateful if intending donors would communicate with the hospital before coming for their test, so that arrangements may be made to save any trespassing on their time.”