Awarding blood donors

Blood donors save lives. For doing so, they are gratefully recognized and given awards. More than 300 individuals and organizations were thus recognized last week for donating blood to the Philippine Red Cross blood bank during the last ten years. Last week, the awardees included top business executives, corporations, disabled persons, drivers and office clerks. 

The awards highlighted the celebration of Blood Donors Month with the theme, “What can you do? Give blood. Give now. Give Often.”

The “Outstanding Blood Services Partner of the Year for 2017” award went to the Golden Donuts Inc. and Manila Water Inc. for promoting PRC’s voluntary blood donation through their executives and employees for more than 10 consecutive years.

Blood donors who supplied PRC with blood from eight to up to 50, 75 and 100 times, were given the Blood Galloners, bronze, silver and gold awards respectively.

A beaming PRC chair and CEO, Sen. Richard Gordon, and members of the PRC board of governors handed the awards at ceremonies held at the PRC multi-purpose hall and training center in Mandaluyong City. 

Gordon said, “The Philippine Red Cross was able to provide our share of the country’s blood requirement because of the help of our blood donors and partners who have consistently contributed to our mission of providing safe and quality blood to our countrymen, especially to the most vulnerable.” 

A male nurse, Brian Kae Enriquez, received the Florence Nightingale award. 

PRC driver Anthony Santos was awarded for donating white blood several times. Nurse Micaella Franchezca Torres received a certificate of appreciation for being a “regular” Apheresis donor, having donated six times through a special procedure, collecting 6 to 8 units of platelets in a single donation. The Apheresis award is given to a donor giving a minimum of one gallon of his/her blood, and is considered a member of the Blood Galloners Club.

   A blind person, Jake Lanting, and disabled employee (with an amputated arm) Lawrence Amurao also received special awards. Someone in the audience remarked, “Imagine, they have special concerns, but they willingly donate blood so they can save the lives of other people.” True, true.

PRC continuously organizes mass blood donation activities to provide blood supply at all times, in case of mass casualty incidents, disasters and other emergencies. The UP Diliman Tennis Club, in partnership with PRC, organized a bloodletting session in which club members and university professors and students donated blood. The event was spearheaded by UPDTC president former Sandigan Justice Narciso Nario and PRC Governor Saeed A. Daof.

In Marawi, PRC has been providing blood to weapon-wounded persons and Internally displaced Persons (IDPs) who need blood. Hundreds of blood units are also available to augment the need for blood in government hospitals.

In 2016 alone, PRC provided a total of 407,000 units of blood and served 223,000 patients.

To support indigent patients, the humanitarian organization’s Blood Samaritan Program funded by different individuals and groups, cover blood processing fees of legitimate indigent patients. Last year, the program catered to a total of 19,000 indigent patients. 

PRC has 88 blood center facilities, 27 blood centers, 10 Apheresis centers, and 61 blood collections units and stations nationwide to render different blood services such as blood collection, retention and care, testing, processing and blood issuance.

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ON ANOTHER FRONT, a new book describing President Rodrigo Duterte’s communication style will be launched tomorrow, July 26, in time for his one year anniversary in office. Deconstruct to Understand: Why President Duterte Speaks His Way, edited by communication specialist Crispin Maslog, will be launched at the Roundtable@Lido on 40 Mindanao Ave., Quezon city, hosted by Mel Acuna.

A contributor in the interesting volume, University of the Philippines linguistics professor Farah C. Cunanan describes the president’s speaking style as “very  very raw – direct, unedited, no pretensions. He speaks his mind… how his emotions dictate him. Being open is often thought of positively; but for the President of the Philippines who is speaking to a wide audience, this poses a lot of questions… we often forget that our language use defines us and shapes how other people see us.”

The book is based on the output of a major National Communication Conference hosted by the Asia Media Information and Communication Centre (AMIC) November 25 last year on the theme: “Deconstructing Toward Understanding: The Communication Content and Style of President Rodrigo R. Duterte.” AMIC is headed by Secretary-General Ramon G. Tuazon.

Eight communication specialists talked on the topic during the one-day conference that brought together about 200 communication professionals to dialogue on the communication style of Duterte. 

 The book includes the brief papers of the communication experts and is an attempt at a balanced analysis of the presidential communication style.

An essay by Presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella explains what drives President  “By listening to what he says, one can reconstruct a consistent narrative… He was a reluctant candidate but ran because certain crucial national issues were not being addressed – the Mindanao peace situation, the pandemic illegal drug trade, corruption, poverty.”

On the other extreme, National Artist and Ramon Magsaysay Awardee Francisco Sionil Jose writes: “The President does not realize that his greatest enemy is his own self, his mouth, because he thinks he knows all the answers. This differentiates him from Ramon Magsaysay, who… surrounded himself with the best minds… Whenever Magsaysay realized that he made a mistake, he corrected himself immediately. “

On the other hand, Presidential Communications Coordinating Office Director Martin Andanar justifies the personality of his boss: He talks of a Public Duterte – “the tough-talking mayor of Davao who forged order out of chaos, the man who rides a big bike and swears like a sailor… and Private Rody – a mellow fellow, an introvert pushed to the brightest stage of the land, a kindly and unassuming man driven by empathy, and a romantic visionary… Private Rody is the man who went to his parents’ grave after winning the election, there to weep.”

Inquirer digital edition editor John Nery raises a key question: Does President Duterte listen? “We don’t know. The former archbishop of Davao, Archbishop Emeritus Fernando Capalla, thinks that Mr. Duterte’s seeming inability to take advice or criticism is precisely the problem… If he can only listen… listen to other people. Last week, I heard an ambassador summarize an overview of the national situation through a plaintive question: Is there anyone the President listens to?” 

According to Maslog, Deconstruct to Understand is an attempt by the editor and the authors in the book to deconstruct Duterte’s language in order to make sense of it. “Deconstruction is a method of analysis that states that a piece of writing does not have just one meaning. It shows how meaning depends on the reader.”

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