Rotary Clubs of The Bahamas in Rotary District 7020 and clubs in two US Districts, Florida 6980, and Georgia 6900, with the support of a matching grant from The Rotary Foundation have donated a state of the art bloodmobile to the blood banks at the Princess Margaret Hospital and Doctors Hospital in the Bahamas. The Bahamas is located at the north-east of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean , consisting of 29 islands with 330,000 inhabitants.
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Picture caption: Rotarians, PMH Blood Bank Representatives, and Doctors Hospital's Blood Bank representatives at the occation of the donation of the bloodmobile.
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According to the website bahamaislandsinfo.com (April 26, 2010), the joint project "enables Rotary to present a fully equipped vehicle for the two hospitals to work together for the benefit of both blood banks and the country. Rotary will also serve as a catalyst to provide a new dynamic for getting blood donations."
Designed to host blood drives in the country's capital,
All of the blood collected from donations will be shared equally between the blood banks at the two
The required needs for donor blood in The Bahamas, according to the standard set by the World Health Organization (WHO), is
The results of the national shortage equates to prolonged hospital stays, delayed surgeries, people being treated without the required units of blood, cancer patients unable to receive necessary replacements, and ultimately persons dying from inadequate supplies. Also, there are no reserves in the event of a disaster or mass casualty, writes the Bahamas Islands Info.
The bloodmobile was driven down through
The blood mobile is the first its kind in the
Deputy Prime Minister Brent Symonette was the first to donate blood for the Rotary Clubs of the
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