We Are Heroes – Panama (IFMSA-Panama)

Name of the activity: We Are Heroes

Country/NMO: Panama (IFMSA-Panama)

Program: Organ, Marrow & Tissue Donation

Contact information: [email protected]

Type of the activity: Campaign

Focus area:

Blood donation

Problem statement:

The Hospital del Niño (Children Hospital) in Panama, received a maximum of seven pints of blood per day, which represents a decrease of 46.6%. Although there are many campaigns to voluntarily donate blood, there is still a significant donor deficit.

Target groups and beneficiaries:

The activity was aimed at medical students mainly because as health promoters it is our duty to cooperate and learn in order to help others.
The patients benefited were the patients of the Oncological Institute, that is, patients with cancer.

Objectives and indicators of success:

Raise awareness among the undergraduate students of the faculty of medicine at the U of Panama about the need to donate blood
• During a campaign day, break stereotypes about blood donation
Indicators
• 10% of students attend teaching with a specialist
• 40% of the students who attended the teaching, come to donate the expected day.
• On the day of the donation the specialists explain to the students the benefits, risks, and how often it is possible to donate.

Methodology:

In celebration of World Blood Donor Day, we worked together with non-governmental
entities to collect pints of blood for patients with cancer from the Oncology Institute.
 First we made a teaching a week before the donation with Dr. Gabriel Rebollón to provide information and break stereotypes.
 The collection was made on September 20 from 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., thanks to the
Fundacancer and DonavidaION foundations, who provided support with the bus that contained the equipment to collect blood, the bus has capacity for 40 pints of blood.

Plans for evaluation:

The day of teaching a list of the participants was made.
we plan to do a quiz after teaching to see how much the participants learned.
Ask to the staff in charge of the blood collection how many pints of blood were collected and the names of the donor and thus compare with the list
of attendance at teaching.
As a follow-up method, we plan in the future to make a list with the voluntary donors in order to create a database of the University and know who has donated.