Blood donors can redeem points earned from donations to obtain limited edition Formosan black bear travel mugs, the Kaohsiung Blood Center said yesterday, as it announced a goal of stocking 20,000 units of blood prior to the Lunar New Year.
The last month of the lunar year is National Blood Donation Month, when local centers seek to stockpile blood for use during the Lunar New Year holiday.
The blood demand in southern Taiwan — including Tainan and Kaohsiung, as well as Chiayi, Pingtung, Penghu and Taitung counties — is about 2,000 units per day, the center said.
Photo: Hsu Li-chuan, Taipei Times
The donation campaign aims to boost the region’s blood reserves from seven days to 10 by Lunar New Year’s Eve, it said.
The center this year continued its collaboration with the Taiwan Black Bear Conservation Association using the association’s mascot “Heibao” (黑寶) in the design of limited-edition stainless steel travel mugs, which are available in exchange for three points earned by donating blood, the center said.
People can earn a point by donating 250ml of blood and two points for 500ml, it said.
Photo: Tang Shih-ming, Taipei Times
Center doctor-in-chief Tseng Shih-pin (曾士賓) said that donating blood not only can save people, but also boosts a donor’s metabolism.
While Taiwan’s blood donation rate is high, often ranking among the highest in the world, donations fall in the winter, likely due to cold weather and students going home for the winter break, Tseng said.
Donations from young people have decreased over the past few years amid a falling birthrate and aging population, while blood demand continues to rise, he said.
Blood consumption tends to spike around Lunar New Year, which this year is to last nine days, due to falling temperatures and increased hospital visits by people with cardiovascular or gastrointestinal diseases, Kaohsiung Department of Health Director-General Huang Chih-chung (黃志中) said.
Blood stocks could be critically low during the holiday, Huang said, urging people to donate.
To encourage young people to give, the center recruited TSG Hawks outfielder Wang Po-hsuan (王博玄) and TSG Wing Stars cheerleader Kaya (昆昆) to be the campaign ambassadors in the city.
Separately, the Changhua County-based Rong Hua Charity on Sunday raffled off bottles of gold accessories, valued at NT$6,000, as prizes for people who donated 500ml at a blood drive in Changhua City.
The event attracted hundreds of donors.
A man surnamed Wang (王) from the county’s Puyan Township (埔鹽) said that he and his wife arrived at about 4am to be first in line, hoping to win a prize.
The gold accessories come in shapes such as Chinese-style ingots, coins and lucky turtles.
Other raffle prizes included mobile phones, dehumidifiers, vacuum cleaners, headphones and gift vouchers worth up to NT$1,000.
The Taichung Blood Donation Center on Sunday also held a blood drive with the goal of amassing 60,000 units this month.
The city has about four days of blood in reserve, with only three days’ worth of type A and type O blood supplies, far below the secure inventory level of 10 days, the center said.
If the blood supply is not increased, it might be unable to meet the demand of central Taiwan, which amounts to 1,800 units per day across Taichung and Changhua, Nantou and Yunlin counties, it said.
Additional reporting by Tsai Shu-yuan
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