We want your blood

I got a card in the mail from the Red Cross yesterday reminding me to donate blood.

I’m not a big fan of having a needle shoved in my arm but the Red Cross staff are usually very gentle and I figure if it saves a few lives then I don’t mind.

I haven’t given blood for a while so it was a timely reminder that I should get the arm out and give a pint.

The donating experience is generally painless and here in Perth at least, you get a little food and drink while you wait a few minutes to recover.

I’m not so sure about the wisdom of the following though.

Numerous visitors at a Czech festival paid for their beer by a donation of blood, following the campaign slogan “beer for blood” of the event organised by a Prague hospital and the Czech Independent Beer Magazine, Czech radio reported.

Many visitors agreed to donate blood at the St Wenceslas fair in Prague, the organisers said.

“Apart from the fun we wanted to recruit new blood donors,” said Doctor Ivo Turek who was involved in the campaign.

The Czech republic had “just barely enough” blood supplies with 400,000 registered blood donors, he said.

I know that they need the blood but I do wonder at the sense of removing blood and replacing it with alcohol.

Posted by Rodney Olsen



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About the author

Rodney Olsen

Rodney is a husband, father, cyclist, blogger and podcaster from Perth Western Australia.

He has worked in radio at Perth's media ministry Sonshine for over 25 years and has previously worked at ministries such as Compassion Australia and Bible Society.

The views he expresses here are his own.

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2 Comments

  • I wonder if they checked if any of these people had alreadly started drinking beer before they donated blood!?

    I don’t know how that would effect the sample, but I’m sure it can’t be a good thing!

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