The followings are the news and updates from Sankalp India Foundation for the month of October 2014.
Rakta Kranti
11 blood donation drives were organized in October collecting 926 units.
1) Alliance University
The month started off with drive in Alliance University. As always, there was a great level of enthusiasm from the students of all the disciplines and camp saw a huge turnout. A lot of first years and first time blood donors registered for the camp. This 2 day event saw a collection of 117 units on first day and 82 on second day.
2) ARM
A 2 day camp was organized in ARM on 8-9 Oct. This camp was organized after a duration of more than 3 years by the company. And people were very keen to donate a unit of their precious blood. The camp saw a very good support from company associates. They had arranged for volunteers, soft balls, cake and banana. A total of109 units of blood were collected.
3) Syniverse
Syniverse organized second drive with us on 9th Oct. Though there was a delay in camp start, the company was extremely supportive. The arranged fruits for donors. A good turnout of more than 60 people was seen in camp. 42 could donate blood.
4) HSR Layout Public Camp
A public camp was organized b various wings of RSS on Oct 11. There was a great atmosphere in this camp with melodious bhajans playing. Breakfast and lunch was organized for donors. Organizers promoted the event very well and camp saw a great turnout of people from different walks of life. Several donors traveled a lot of distance, coming from areas such as Electronic City, just in order to donate a unit of their life saving blood. 83 units were collected in the camp, which is really great considering it was a public camp.
5) Biocon
A camp was organized by Biocon on 13th Oct. With ample support from the company and the enthusiasm of the donors the camp saw good turnout. In all 132 units were collected in the event and distributed to 2 premiere govt blood banks of the city.
6) Ratnakar Bank
Ratnakar Bank came forward in support of the cause of voluntary blood donation by organizing nation wide blood donation camps across all their major locations on 14th Oct. The camps were organized nationwide with 2 locations in Karnataka.
Both Bangalore and Belgaum locations saw a very good response from both the bank staff and their customers. 31 units were collected in Belgaum and 41 units in Bangalore location.
7) National Center For Biological Sciences
NCBS organized their second camp with Sankalp on 17th October. This time an excellent publicity by college students ensured much better participation than last time. More than 200 people turned up for the event, which is almost double the last time's turnout. Camp saw a lot of low Hb deferrals and only 97 can donate blood. Kudos to the entire team of volunteers who made it a really successful event with all their efforts.
8) Fedex
Fedex organized a camp on 17th October. While people had registered for the event, many of them could not come on the day of the camp. 9 units were collected in the event.
9) Robert Bosch
A drive was organized at EC location of Robert Bosch on 29th October. This drive was organized after an interval of 4 months. Announcements were done to motivate people and a small team of volunteers was made who managed registration in the camp. Camp saw a very good response, as is the norm with Bosch. More than 120 people came forward for the noble cause. 87 units were collected.
10) Microchip
Microchip organized first camp with us on 30th October. A day prior to camp, awareness session was done at cafeteria of the company. It made a great impact in motivating donors. In an organization of just about 400 people, more than 25% came forward to donate. 96 units were collected in the camp.
Thalassemia Management, Prevention and Cure
Beside regular transfusions there was significant progress made in the direction of cure. More children were offered HLA typing and the results are awaited. Tentative schedule for transplants was drawn out for 2 more kids.
Chelation though thoroughly streamlined is yet to bring down the ferritin tests to acceptable levels. There is still no non-profit access to MRI in Bangalore for the purpose of iron estimation so we continue to reply upon ferritin as the standard to access iron overload.