ISS organises first blood drive |29 November 2021

The school’s principal and other staff giving blood (Photo: Jude Morel)

Around twenty teachers and staff, including parents, from the International School Seychelles (ISS) participated in a blood drive held at the school premises on Wednesday last week.

The blood drive, a first for the school, was in response to a blood awareness campaign by the Blood Transfusion Unit, in the Ministry of Health, held at the school last year. The drive is to assist the unit to replenish the stock in the blood bank.

“We don’t have enough blood at the moment. All of the types of the blood groups have actually gone very low. So we are actually requesting people to come forward to give blood,” said Elizabeth Banda, senior programme officer, Blood Transfusion Unit.

She explained that usually blood lasts for only one month at the most and this is why it is important to every time have people come in to give blood to replenish the stock as those in store would have expired by then.

The school’s principal, Elodie Vallantine, said the blood drive is aimed at giving back to the community.

She added that the school will, as from 2022, host the drive every four months (3 times a year).

“One of our school values at ISS is community and we want to do everything we can to help the local and national community of Seychelles. We are very aware that the blood banks are very low mostly all the time and we want to assist as much as we can,” said the principal, who is a regular European blood donor since the age of eighteen.

Most of the participants who talked to Seychelles NATION said that they were doing the gesture for a noble cause.

Among the participants was first time donor and parent, Bhavik Mehta.

“I came to donate blood because it is for a noble cause. I know that it will help save the life of someone in need and I am happy about that,” said Mehta, who vowed to come again when the school organises the next drive.

The school’s two health nurses also assisted the health workers from the ministry with the blood drive.

Patrick Joubert