18 | July | 2012 | Otterman speaks...

From September, you will be able to donate blood in Singapore City itself, at Dhoby Ghaut Xchange at Basement 1 of Dhoby Ghaut MRT Station.

I just saw this announcement on the Singapore Red Cross Facebook page, after it was highlighted by Geraldine Yeo, the blood donation drive organiser at St. Andrew's Junior College.

This new donor site will be helpful to large number of office workers and shoppers in the city. This is a more accessible location to donate blood, compared to the existing blood donor centres at Outram and Woodlands.

The other potential catchment will be people working or living close to stations along the North South, North East and Circle lines near to the Dhoby Ghaut MRT station.

Meanwhile, from 16th July to 15th October 2012, the Bloodbank@Woodlands

will extend its operating hours on Saturdays and Sundays from 9am to 6pm.

These measures will help address the periodic shortages of blood supply to hospitals during Ramadhan (from Jul – Aug this year), periods of heavy rains and during a surge in accidents or in dengue cases.

For more information about blood donation in Singapore, visit the HSA and DonorWeb websites.

St. Andrew's Junior College's blood donation drive is a lovely way to introduce youth to the process and a way for some to overcome their fears in the company of friends. An NUS Life Science graduate and old friend Geraldine Yeo overcame her fear of needles and contributed her first blood donation at her college blood donation drive. Earlier this year, she made her 25th blood donation!

Now the biology teacher at SAJC, she and a team organise this donation drive and introduce SAJC students to the process. I'm proud that she has done so much personally and helped to organise these drives which encourage others to start the process, just like she did.

I dropped by the school hall last year but sadly had to give the blood drive a miss this year. Massive body aches flattened me these few days and I am still feeling a little woozy. You have to be hale and hearty for this an even panadol requires a three day deferment.

Meanwhile, the status of our blood stocks is: