Lampertheim.Clench your hand into a fist and then press firmly onto the puncture site. For Helmut Redig this is already pure routine. For almost 50 years, the man from Lampertheim has been donating a small part of his life several times a year. But now that’s an end due to age. The 72-year-old has reached the maximum age. During the blood donation in the settler hall, he had the needle given for the last time.
So nobody in the hall has to explain anything to him anymore. Helmut Redig has been one of the “regular customers” of the German Red Cross in Lampertheim (DRK) for decades. He addresses many doctors in the blood donation service by their first name – we know each other. For the 114th and last time he donated around half a liter of blood. “We have already become a solid community here,” says Redig. And yet, with his very last donation, a lot is different than in previous years. This time it is not a real meeting. As with the two previous appointments last year, the DRK waived the traditional snack due to the corona restrictions. Instead, each participant receives a “snack to go” – a bag with a bar of chocolate, a New Year’s pretzel and a soup in a glass.
Decrease every 15 minutes
In any case, the donation date is trimmed to the shortest possible length of stay in the hall. Only those who have previously registered can take part. Everyone has a fixed arrival time. Ten people willing to donate are admitted every 15 minutes. After a temperature measurement, extensive hand disinfection and the wearing of medical mouth and nose protection are on the program.
The blood donation service rejected nine out of a total of 174 visitors. “There is also that”, explains the Lampertheim DRK boss Christian Schmidt, “the health and safety of the donors is always in the foreground”. A total of six volunteers from Lampertheim were on site with Schmidt. They are particularly grateful that the settlement community made the hall available free of charge. It is thanks to people like Helmut Redig that so many came despite the corona pandemic.
He no longer knows exactly how he originally got into donating blood. “That was in the 1970s. There was just a need and it is still necessary today, ”he explains. He has no concerns about possible crowds. “I feel very safe here and blood is needed even during the corona pandemic,” emphasizes Redig. Over the years he has also convinced “his boys” and their buddies and regularly brought them with him. In the future, however, they will have to do without him.
Because even now Helmut Redig is only allowed to take part with the exemption of his family doctor. Actually only people between the ages of 18 and 69 are allowed to donate blood. In addition to the old hand, 13 first-time donors also take part on this day. The appointment even has a health advantage for all of them: If something is wrong with the blood values, the donors will be informed free of charge. The sap of life is not only examined for the blood group and the Rh factor. The blood is tested for HIV (AIDS), hepatitis B and C (jaundice) and syphilis, and the laboratory also determines the liver value.
© South Hesse tomorrow, Monday, January 4th, 2021
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