Ever since the Parish of Virgen del Camino was first built more than 40 years ago, the parish has been collaborating with the Blood Transfusion Centre of Malaga (Spain) which, on a quarterly basis on a Monday afternoon from 5-9pm sends a mobile unit to unload their stretchers and necessary utensils in the rooms of the Parish. The donors sit down in the courtyard. A preliminary interview is carried out with the doctor in one room and then the volunteers go on to donate in another.
Although the sscc community thought that in this time of pandemic no-one would come, the Blood Transfusion Centre wrote saying that "given the present circumstances, they are urgently looking for people to come to donate blood".
The exceptionality of the situation changed the way things are usually done: instead of coming spontaneously, each donor is approached and following a telephone appointment is invited to come at a particular time, thus avoiding crowds. Moreover they are asked to come wearing gloves and masks. For our part, we ensure that the room is ventilated and that there are less stretchers than usual.
Once again the response of the local community has been very generous and the arrival of people has been continuous. As one donor commented: "in this time of confinement it is the way to feel that you are doing something for others".
04/24/2020