With the slogan Give the Best of Yourself: Come to TRAMvida to Give Blood, TRAM is offering a place where the Blood and Tissue Bank of Catalonia can attend to blood donors in a different space in the middle of the city. For the fifth year in a row, the ‘TRAMvida’ will be parked at the Francesc Macià station next Friday 17 September from 11 am to 8 pm.
More donations are needed to attend to patients
The campaign is aimed at increasing the number of voluntary donors, and especially first-time donors, who will become regulars. In recent months, transfusions in hospitals have risen 15% compared to 2019, and this is why more donations are needed to guarantee these treatments. Hospitals are resuming the treatments that they had to stop due to Covid-19, and 1,000 donations are needed per day. However, a year ago this figure was just 800, an amount equivalent to between four and five trams filled with donors.
Covid-19 safety measures
In order to avoid crowds at the stop and inside the ‘TRAMvida’, this year we recommend making an appointment on the Blood and Tissue Bank of Catalonia website www.donarsang.gencat.cat. Donors must enter the tram wearing a mask that covers their nose, mouth and chin at all times and have to wash their hands with hand sanitiser as they enter.
Furthermore, the Blood Bank staff inside the tram will follow the same protocol that has been in place since the start of the pandemic: disinfection of the cots before each donation, changing glove between donations and wearing special masks and clothing covers.
To turn a tram into a donation centre, the bars, handholds and seats inside the vehicle have been removed, so the space was free to install the cots and fridges and provide space for both blood donors and healthcare staff.
Give the Best of Yourself
Remember that voluntary, altruistic blood donations are the only way to get the blood needed to care for the ill. You can give blood more than once a year: women can donate up to three times and men up to four.
At least three people benefit from each blood donation. When each bag of blood is processed, it yields red blood cells, platelets and plasma. All these components of blood expire after a few days, and this is why it is essential to donate regularly.
Tramvia de Barcelona's blood donation campaign is being held yet another year in conjunction with the Department of Health of the Government of Catalonia, the Blood and Tissue Bank, the Metropolitan Transport Authority and Alstom. All donors in the tram parked at Francesc Macià will receive a one-way ticket with two journeys and a gift from TRAM.