Issue 3
March 2015
I am pleased to welcome you to
2015 and the 3rd edition of our
Donor Newsletter, The Blood
Stream. This gives me an
opportunity to not only welcome
you to a new year of reaching
great heights together, but also
to say thank you.
My heartfelt thanks are for the vital part you our donors
play in ensuring a safe and sustainable blood supply in
Namibia. This is achieved through giving blood regularly
and by promoting safe blood donation far and wide.
You promote blood donation by sharing how it feels to
make a real, tangible difference when you save lives. This
encourages new donors to sign up, which is essential for
keeping our blood stocks healthy both now and in the
future.
The donation part is easy. By giving blood at least 4 times
in 2015, you will help us to ensure that 2,500 units of blood
are collected every month—a total of 30,000 units of blood
this year—which is needed to meet demand.
Remember though that you are not limited to donating only
4 times, as you can actually donate 6 times in a year if you
give blood every 8 weeks.
We know how important it is to continue making
improvements to ensure that blood donation is the
enjoyable experience you deserve. In 2015 we will, once
again, aim to continue to improve our service delivery
areas by living our values—Excellence, Care, Service and
Accountability.
Your altruistic, generous blood donations make me proud,
as does our talented, dedicated staff, both of which
enables us to save and improve the lives of so many
patients.
I wish you all a happy
and healthy 2015.
Dr B von Finckenstein
2015 Message
1
Milestone Awards
2
Donor News
3
NamBTS Staff News
4
BLOOD STREAM
F
or many, blood donation is a lifetime commitment.
If you start donating blood at the age of 16 and
continue donating an average of 2.5 times per
year until the age of 65, you could potentially give
blood 123 times over an expanse of 49 years.
Donors reaching 50+ donations however, are invited to the
NamBTS Annual General Meeting every year, where these
extraordinarily committed donors are recognised for their
dedication through the NamBTS Milestone Recognition
Awards.
Some donors reach this, others give even more, reaching
astounding milestones like 200 plus donations.
A total of 170 donors were up for 50+ Milestone Awards in
2014. Together these donors have spent hundreds of hours
in the donation chair, given hundreds of litres of blood, and
potentially saved thousands of lives.
Recognised blood donation milestones are 2, 5, 10, 20, 30,
40, 50, 75, 100, 125, 150, 175, 200, 225, and 250
donations. Every single milestone and donation in between
is something to be extremely proud of.
Congratulations and thank you to these donors and those
working towards these milestones—saving lives through a
lifetime of dedication.
Above, 50 donations: These donors have given roughly
23 litres of blood, spent 25 hours in the donation chair, and
have potentially saved 150 patient’s lives.
Above, 75 donations: These donors have given roughly 34 litres of
blood, spent 38 hours in the donation chair, and have potentially saved
225 patient’s lives.
Left, 150 donations: This donor has given roughly
68 litres of blood, spent 75 hours in the donation
chair, and have potentially saved 450 patient’s lives.
Above, 100 donations: These donors have given roughly
45 litres of blood, spent 50 hours in the donation chair, and
have potentially saved 300 patient’s lives.
Above right, 175 donations: These donors (pictured with
NamBTS Board Chairman Mr Osea Angula in the middle) have
given roughly 79 litres of blood, spent 88 hours in the donation
chair, and have potentially saved 525 patient’s lives.
Above, 200 donations: These donors have a reason to smile. Each one of them has given roughly 90 litres of blood,
spent 100 hours in the donation chair, and have potentially saved 600 patient’s lives. Truly inspiring!
Page 2
Issue 3
A great number of logistics happen behind the scenes to ultimately make blood donation opportunities
possible. Without careful planning and assistance from many key role-players, blood drives at educational
institutions, businesses, town centres, factories and shopping centres wouldn't be possible.
During the 2014 NamBTS AGM, some of these role-players were recognised for their efforts. Amongst these
award winners were Marjolize Scholtz (pictured right), who received the Top Clinic Contact Award, which
recognises support, initiative, dedication and a passion for the cause in a Clinic Contact.
The Biomedical Society (pictured left) received the Community Award, which is awarded to
an organisation or group that, through its own initiative, actively educates the community
about blood donation and ultimately facilitates blood donation through recruitment.
NamBTS would like to thank all these behind the scenes role-players, without whom,
a sufficient blood supply cannot be guaranteed.
Above: Mr. Ulf Waskow and his son Ryan Waskow regularly donate
blood together at our Tal street Donation Centre. This inspirational father
and son team challenges other families to make a difference together
and donate blood regularly.
Above: Manuela Lima is no chicken! She saw a
newspaper article in January about the New Year
blood shortage and decided to play her part in fixing
the problem by donating blood for the first time at our
Tal Street Donation Centre. Thank you to Manuela
and others like her who take it upon themselves to
make sure that Namibia’s patients have access to a
safe and sufficient blood supply!
Page 3
Mr Hans Hendricks (pictured above), Principal at Eldorado Senior Secondary has
accepted the ‘Donate 4 times in 2015’ challenge and is leading by example.
He recently joined his staff and students at a blood drive at his school by donating
blood for the first time. We hope that more principals and staff will take up the
challenge and encourage the donors of our future to become lifesavers.
At NamBTS we are lucky to not only have dedicated blood
donors to support our cause, but also dedicated staff
members.
These three committed staff members (pictured left with
Medical Director Dr von Finckenstein on the right) recently
received recognition for Long Service.
Sr’s Onooyene, Upingasana and Sinvula have each worked
for NamBTS for the past 15 years.
To ensure that patients have access to safe blood products, donated blood goes through an array of technical tests and
processes in the NamBTS laboratories, located in Windhoek.
The staff that work in these laboratories receive in-depth technical and practical training and qualify as either Medical
Technologists or Technicians. Congratulations to the following group for successfully completing their qualifications and officially
joining the NamBTS team!
Above: Michael Munika
From Left: Shaunee Abrahams, Pita Nghipandulwa, Elana Jantjies, Edwig Hauwanga,
Keagan Titus, Lorato Khiba and Uvatera Tjitendero
Doing what we do, we don’t often have the opportunity
for silliness. When we do let our hair down however,
we play as hard as we work! Our staff went all out
dressing up for last year’s 2014 end-year function.
t: 061 386 300
e: [email protected]
Newsletter compiled and edited by: Leandi Sadie, [email protected], 061 386 300
www.bts.com.na