PPSA_Poland_Bloody trip to save lives - Bogusia Grzegórska
For the first time this year, the Polish Pharmaceutical Students’ Association (PPSA) organised a National Vampire Cup Campaign. Our volunteers challenged themselves to promote blood donations and make future donors more aware of its importance. Being a part of an IPSF international project not only helped us with expanding the outreach of the campaign but also enabled us to join forces with other students’ organisations such as International Federation of Medical Students’ Association (IFMSA) or Federación Costarricense de Estudiantes de Farmacia (FECOEF) Costa Rica. It was a great adventure for the whole organisation and individuals who created it. Despite some obstacles encountered since the beginning of March 2021, we strived to organise activities at international, national and local levels. Our national campaign was held between 20th-23rd of March, 2021. It consisted of webinars in Polish and English. On the 20th Of March we kicked off the activity with “Vampire Cup Webinar '' co-organised with FECOEF Costa Rica. The event highlighted blood donation activism and enabled the participants to compare how medical procedures with emphasis on blood donation differ among Poland and Costa Rica. It also offered an international networking opportunity for our participants. A few days later; on the 23rd of March, we invited our members for “Blood Saving Life”; a lecture with a specialist from a regional blood donations centre who talked about facts and myths connected to blood donations. it engaged many of our students who could ask questions, engage in the discussion and later on spread the awareness among their friends. Volunteers in our branches outdid themselves and organized a variety of activities. PPSA has organised educational webinars and blood drives in 11 Polish biggest cities. Let’s go for a bloody trip with us! We began in Szczecin, where on 17th March, the branch organised the first Vampire Cup Blood Drive in Poland. Next station was Warsaw! On the 22nd of March, PPSA Warsaw organised a blood drive near the Medical University of Warsaw and in collaboration with Students’ Diagnosticians’ Association (STDL) held a webinar on blood transfusion. Going to the eastern Poland, one day later, our volunteers in Lublin held a blood drive as well. They also put much effort on creating amazing promotional posters which hung at their university walls and infographics for Instagram. The ‘Boat’ city - Łódź impressed us with a movie night with a theme related to ‘blood donations’. Working together has been beneficial, so on the 19th of May PPSA Sosnowiec joined forces with IFMSA Śląsk to hold a blood drive and engage medical students by a blood donation campaign. Let’s see what PPSA Cracow has prepared recently! Their blood drive was definitely the most popular - people could hear about Vampire Cup on radio and see material on Polish national television. Also there were themed competitions. PPSA students were able to donate blood at the beginning of June and take part in themed competitions. On our Vampire Cup trip we missed the following cities: Bydgoszcz, Gdańsk, Białystok and Wrocław. Students from these areas were however able to join the educational social media campaigns organized. Our on-site and online activities so far have engaged more than 200 people and we collected more than 65 000 milliliters of blood to save lives!