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Blood donation in Hagen: Life-saving help under high pressure!
A look behind the scenes at the Hagen Blood Donation Center: Find out how blood donations are processed and tested.
Blood donation in Hagen: Life-saving help under high pressure!
In Hagen, where the blood donation center of the German Red Cross (DRK) plays a crucial role, an impressive spectacle of blood processing is carried out every day. “Breitscheid is here!” shouts an employee in a white coat as she pushes a cart with valuable blood samples into the room. The clock is ticking: donations must be processed within 24 hours, otherwise they must be discarded. Thorsten Kirschnick, the department head, emphasizes the urgency: “At 24 hours and one second, the product must be discarded.”
The employees are already on duty at 7:30 a.m. to process the fresh donations, which come from North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland, as quickly as possible. The blood is tested for diseases such as hepatitis and HIV in state-of-the-art laboratories - everything is automated and with a high safety standard. “The probability of coming into contact with the blood is close to 0,” explains Kirschnick, while machines process the samples like in a car factory.
Hagen: A blood donation stronghold
Hagen is one of the largest blood donation centers in the world, where up to 4,000 donations are processed every day. “The blood plasma can last up to two years, while the red blood cells can survive up to 35 days at 4 degrees,” explains Kirschnick. Particularly noteworthy: Extremely rare blood reserves such as Bombay blood, which are only found in one in 300,000 people, are also stored in Hagen. These canned goods are frozen at -80 degrees so that they are quickly available when needed.
But the situation is tense: the number of donors is falling. “It is currently problematic again due to the waves of colds,” says Kirschnick regretfully. He calls on society to donate constantly, because everyone could one day need to donate blood. “Women can donate blood four times a year and men six times a year,” he reminds us urgently. The need is clear: blood donations are important not only in the event of accidents, but also in obstetrics and cancer treatment.