PEMBROKE PARK, Fla. – Community blood drives have vanished in the face of this pandemic, but the need for blood donations has not.
A new effort by OneBlood to encourage donations allows recipients to anonymously send a “thank you” note to their donor through a new program called Message My Donor.
“This is a one-way communication so the blood recipient, the patient, is able to send an email to the donor whose blood donation they received but the donor is not able to respond to that patient and they do not know who that patient is. All they get is this message to them saying, ‘Hey, I received your blood donation and you helped save my life,’ and we’ve seen some of the messages come in and out to the donors and it’s really impactful,” said Susan Forbes with OneBlood.
The Message My Donor campaign comes on the heels of a program initiated early last year called My OneBlood Journey, which let donors track their contribution all the way to its final destination.
To find out more about how you can become a donor, go to: oneblood.org.
Also in health news, updated guidance from the National Comprehensive Cancer Network recommends COVID-19 vaccinations for all patients with cancer, with a preference for the MRNA-based vaccines.
Although a study of fully vaccinated patients with cancer showed that breakthrough COVID infections were often severe and required hospitalization, cancer experts said vaccination still remains a vital defense against the virus.
The study concluded that a multi-layered approach that includes vaccination of close contacts, boosters, social distancing and mask-wearing for cancer patients should be continued for the foreseeable future.