Remarks by President McAleese at World Blood Donor Day 2011
Crown Plaza Hotel, Santry, Tuesday, 14th June, 2011
Dia dhíbh a chairde, I am delighted to be here on World Blood Donor Day to honour those thoughtful and good-hearted men and women who have given 100 donations, or more, of blood and platelets. I thank Andy Kelly, CEO of the Irish Blood Transfusion Service for asking me to this celebration aptly being held in the city of Literature that gave us Count Dracula whose less than altruistic thirst for blood stands in sharp contrast to the volunteered generosity of our citizen donors!
Today we give thanks for all voluntary, unremunerated blood donors throughout the world. Here in Dublin we express that thanks by showcasing an exceptional group of people who are distinguished by the sheer extent of their blood or platelet donations.
The Irish Blood Transfusion Service has a long tradition of recognising the enormous contribution of donors in donor award ceremonies. I have attended more than a few and they are both moving and memorable for here are people who do not have to be donors, who generally have no idea who is to benefit from their donation and yet whose sense of civic duty to the neediest of strangers is of the highest and most faithful level. To be part of this milestone event will have taken literally years of regular giving of blood or platelets. Without any fanfare, these donors will have slipped quietly and often into a Bloodmobile station or a parish hall or a national school or a specialist clinic. They will have dropped out of busy lives for a few precious minutes which will have a profound and often life-lengthening impact on another human being down the line in a hospital somewhere.
Each one of you is a wonderful example of active citizenship. Each one of you is an impressive role model and most importantly each one of you is absolutely essential to our health system as it strives to maintain a reliable, regular base of consistent donors.
I am delighted that this afternoon we are joined by people who can tell the other side of this story from the perspective of the recipients of donations and their families. I hope their narratives and their gratitude will encourage others to do what our honoured donors have done and I hope that those donors here today feel vindicated and fulfilled in their self-giving which has resulted, as the theme for 2011 World Blood Donor Day says, in ‘more blood, more life’
The IBTS could not exist without the 3,000 or so people who give blood or platelets every single week all over Ireland. But the success of IBTS in attracting so many faithful donors is also in part due to its culture of welcome and reassurance allied to the skill and expertise of its very professional staff. The IBTS misses no opportunity or technology to keep in touch with donors – so you’ll find them e-mailing, texting, facebooking and tweeting. It even launched its own iPhone application, as well as a quarterly on line magazine in 2010. From high technology to pencils and stickers, to performance art installations, IBTS never leaves a stone unturned in its efforts to raise awareness of the need for and the importance of blood donation.
Today I thank the whole IBTS team for the efforts you go to in order to attract and hold donors and to make the donation process as safe, convenient and pleasant as possible for all its volunteer donors.
Confidence in the blood donation process and the entire transfusion service is essential. Safety and integrity are your priority and we the public, rely on your restless vigilance in maintaining the quality and safety of the blood transfusion service. It is a very sacred trust and I thank you all for that fundamental work of care. I also pay tribute to the Board and its Chairperson, Katharine Bulbulia, the management of the IBTS, including its Chief Executive, Andy Kelly and the Medical and Scientific Director, Dr. Ian Franklin, who guide the organisation, driving it to the excellence for which it is renowned.
Tonight the donors are in the spotlight. Volunteers are described often as the lifeblood of all sorts of community organisations and in your case the term applies both literally and figuratively. We salute you and what you have done to get here tonight. We all know and respect the fact that no giving of yours was ever done for reward or recognition but we need your stories to be known so that others will see the same need you see and step up as you have done. So please enjoy this awards ceremony, enjoy each other’s company and know at a time when our teenagers are obsessed with the fictions Twilight and True Blood and all sorts of vampire movies, the factual results of your gentle care for blood and for life are infinitely more dramatic and laudable.
Go raibh míle maith agaibh go léir.