Arsenal in Neuss
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City and DRK call for the 20th blood donation marathon
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City and DRK officials call for blood donations.
Photo: Wolfgang Walter
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Neuss 400 blood donations. That was the goal when the city and the DRK called for the 2021 blood donation marathon. The number was not reached. And it doesn’t look good for the repeat this year either. There are many reasons for this.
Exactly one year ago, 273 people from Neuss came to the Arsenal and donated blood. The city and the German Red Cross would like to break this mark and are calling for the 20th blood donation marathon on Thursday, June 30th. It begins at 10 a.m. in the Arsenal and ends at 7 p.m.
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According to the DRK, only three out of 100 people donate blood regularly. In order to cover the normal daily requirement of up to 15,000 donations, it would have to be significantly more. “For this reason, we hope for a lively participation,” appeals Mayor Breuer, patron of the event. Appointments can easily be reserved via the website of the DRK blood donation service at blutspendedienst-west.de.
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“Last week, the DRK blood donation service still had almost 25,000 blood units across Germany, reports Thomas Hetzel from the DRK. That may sound like a large amount, but in reality it only corresponds to what the DRK-Bluspendedienst West in Essen alone has in the fridge at this time of year.
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According to the DRK, the reasons for the drastic decline are the pandemic but also a generational change. While there are still many older people for whom regular blood donation is “usual”, younger people only follow such calls sporadically. Unfortunately, the number of companies and organizations calling on their employees to donate blood together is also declining, according to the DRK.
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