Blood collection centre reopened at Spanish Town Hospital
Published:Wednesday | June 22, 2022 | 12:08 AMAsha Wilks/Gleaner Writer
Twelve years after the closure of a blood donation centre at the Spanish Town Hospital (STH), a new unit was reopened on Tuesday.
The reopening of the facility is expected to alleviate the inconvenience usually suffered by blood donors, who were required to travel to Kingston to make donations of the life-saving fluid for surgeries at the St Catherine-based health facility.
The centre was formally opened on World Blood Donor Day, celebrated under the theme ‘Donating blood is an act of solidarity. Join the effort and save lives’.
The resumption of blood collection at the Spanish Town Hospital was critical, said Jacqueline Ellis, the chief executive officer, who informed The Gleaner that the long distance travelled to donate blood was a major hindrance to collection efforts.
The shutdown of the previous collection centre, said Ellis, was due to a number of issues that the hospital would have encountered at the time. Despite the fact that she was unable to speak about the nature of the issues, because the closure occurred before her time, she stated that the new area would assist greatly to ramp up national blood collection.
Currently, there are 11 blood donation centres islandwide.
The STH performs over 2, 500 surgical operations per year. In previous instances of elective Caesarean deliveries (C-section), which needed immediate use of blood and blood products, relatives were asked to donate blood because the hospital would often time be confronted with shortages, said Ellis.
“So, having the site reopened in Spanish Town is a plus for us, [as] we believe in quality patient care,” she said.
NO COST TO THE HOSPITAL
The building, which was previously used for phlebotomy services, came at no cost to the hospital, as it was built with blood transfusion equipment and beds donated by the Jamaica National Blood Transfusion Service, or the Blood Bank.
The site has a capacity for six patients and will have a minimum of five staff members in attendance.
Dr Natalie Sharpe, director of the Blood Bank, said it would not have been able to function and offer the services it does without the support of donors, for whom she expressed gratitude.
As donations would have declined in the last two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Blood Bank being unable to conduct blood collection drives in communities and corporate spaces, that is set to change. The Blood Bank is about to intensify efforts to sensitise persons on voluntary blood donations, as opposed to replacement blood donors, who are more commonplace in the Jamaican society, she said.
State minister in the Ministry of Health and Wellness, Juliet Cuthbert-Flynn, expressed pleasure in seeing the opening of the centre.
She thanked the commitment and devotion shown by staffers at the hospital to the care and well-being of Jamaicans.
“Donating blood is an act of love, an act of caring for one another; as the Good Book says, ‘love thy neighbour as thyself’,” said Icilyn Golding, custos of St Catherine, in her remarks.
She added that the need for the gift of ‘love’ increases daily, while recognising those individuals who have, over the years, donated blood to save lives.