Record breaking number of blood donations in IDF, MDA campaign
The previous record for blood donations in one event stood at 780 donations.
By TZVI JOFFRE"Blood Brothers" blood donation campaign by IDF and MDA, Oct. 2019(photo credit: MAGEN DAVID ADOM)
Within nine hours, IDF soldiers and Magen David Adom paramedics collected 1064 blood donations at an IDF base in the West Bank on Sunday, according to an IDF spokesperson.The IDF Samaria territorial brigade, headed by territorial brigade commander Col. Sagiv Dahan, carried out the campaign."We are really in the midst of the 'Blood Brothers' campaign, a campaign for the donation of blood in the Samaria territorial brigade," said Dahan during the event. "This is a joint campaign of the regional council, the brigade and MDA's blood services. The great achievement of this campaign is the support of the public. We broke the record of blood donations in one donation [event] in the State of Israel and we are planning on exceeding the expectations of the campaign and receive over 1,200 donations.""This is an initiative of the brigade commander that was formed after his wife gave birth and needed many blood transfusions during the birth after a complication," said the brigade medical officer Cpt. Aviv Lahav. "Therefore, he decided on the initiative of 1000 blood donations in one day in which all the participants donate together. To some of us, it seemed impossible, but now, when we're already after 1050 blood donations, all the doubts are far behind us.""Blood Brothers" blood donation campaign by IDF and MDA, Oct. 6, 2019 (Credit: Magen David Adom)The Samaria Regional Council took care of publicizing the campaign in towns under its jurisdiction and MDA provided and ran over 80 donation stations. The General Staff Division, logistics, brigade medics and others took part in the campaign as well."Residents of the regional council, army preparatory schools, high schools, yeshiva students and, of course, brigade soldiers came to donate," explained Lahav. "Everything ticked like a clock, we began before the planned time and all involved, of course, ran from station to station and made sure that everything ran as needed."The campaign started off with a lot of energy and the first group of participants began donating together at the same time.The previous record for blood donations stood at 780 donations.Lahav reminisced about an incident when an officer in charge of blood donations in emergency situations, such as in war, ran into her sister who was donating blood at the event."Suddenly I saw how strong this event was. This event made a really pure connection between the IDF and the civilian population, and this really symbolized this for me."The medical officer thanked all the participants, adding "The endless work and the vigor just encourage us to dream about more days like this and we will continue to break records, in order that in the end we will save lives in the State of Israel.""We wish to thank, from the bottom of our hearts, the commander of the Samaria territorial brigade Sagiv Dahan for his initiative and support, that brought us so many blood donations that will help save the lives of thousands of people," said Eli Bin, director general of MDA. "Blood donation campaigns are very important, especially on the holidays, during which there is a seasonal shortage of blood. I thank everyone who came, donated blood and helped save lives. I invite the people of Israel during the intermediate days of Sukkot especially and throughout the whole year to continue to come and donate blood."
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