June 15, 2022
The Russian Red Cross (RRC), the oldest humanitarian organization in Russia, held the nationwide event "The Donor's Way" in 76 regions of the country. The event was coincided with the International Blood Donor Day. For three days, from June 13 to 15, participants of the action donated blood and its components, listened to lectures, talked to experts and attended special sessions.
The International Blood Donor Day is celebrated annually on June 14.
"The Russian Red Cross has long been engaged in promoting blood donation in our country, and this year we launched a rebranding of the entire area and scaled new practices to our regional branches. A new format demonstrated the importance of blood donation and guided donors all the way through their donation journey. More than 10 thousand people took part in the action all over the country," said Pavel Savchuk, President of the Russian Red Cross.
As part of the Donor's Way campaign, educational and interactive events were held: topical lectures and meetings with experts, creative contests, quizzes and contests for families with children, for students, schoolchildren and adults. Everyone was able to donate blood. "Five tons of donor blood were collected during the campaign," said the RRC President.
In 45 other regions of Russia, activists of the donor movement will take part in strategic sessions and discuss how to develop donation in Russia together with the state, taking into account regional specifics.
Moscow was the central site of the action. On June 14, everyone could donate blood at the Blood Center of the RF Federal Medical and Biological Agency (FMBA). Both in Moscow and in other regions, donors got souvenirs from the Russian Red Cross. In the capital the action took place on the premises of City Clinical Hospital No. 52 (June 14) and VDNKh (June 15). At both sites you coud donate blood and receive souvenirs.
The official group of the Russian Red Cross in "VKontakte" social net was broadcasting the action live. Users could follow the entire donor journey and get comments from an expert - Deputy Medical Director of the FMBA Blood Center of Russia, a transfusiologist of the highest category, Yaroslav Glazov. Two regional branches of the RRC joined the broadcast and spoke about their activities in the regions. A recording of the broadcast is available at the link.
In addition, as part of the campaign, the Russian Red Cross launched the "First Step to Donation" challenge in the "VK Zdorovye" app. Any user of the social network could walk 80,000 steps in eight days, from June 8 to 15, and the 10 most active ones would receive prizes from RRC: shoppers, T-shirts, sweatshirts, water bottles and stationery. Through the app, you could go to the donorstvorkk.rf website, check out the Donor's Way route and apply to become a donor. 256,687 people participated in the challenge.
The first 500 users who complete tasks of the Russian Red Cross on the "Other Business" platform will also be awarded by trips as part of the "More Than a Trip" project. This is a youth tourism development program aimed at encouraging active and talented young people throughout Russia: participants and winners of various contests, volunteer initiatives, and Olympiads. The donor marathon of "Other Business" will end on June 20.
The action was implemented as part of the federal project "Support for the activities of the Russian Red Cross" in cooperation with the Russian Ministry of Health, FMBA of Russia and the Russian Public Movement of Healthcare Volunteers - "Medical Volunteers".
