Summer is finally [almost here]. But before you start thinking about holidays in far off – or not so far off places – do one last thing for someone else. Something good. Something so important yet so easy to do. Donate blood at our 4th Volunteer Blood Drive.
Donate blood
That’s right, come on down to our Athens HQ on Tuesday, June 12 from 10:00 – 13:00, and donate! And this is not just a call to action for our resident startuppers and employees, but also to fellow members of the local Entrepreneurial Ecosystem here in Athens.
As we always like to point out, donating blood is a brief, selfless act of giving that truly helps to save lives. Effectively and immediately. That’s why we are strongly committed to hosting volunteer donation drives twice per year. And the last time we did it was in January.
Our 4th Blood Drive
As many of our stakeholders have experienced in the three blood drives we’ve held so far, the process of donating blood is only a matter of around 15 minutes of one’s time. It’s also practically painless, and extremely important. All blood collected is donated to Athens’ General Oncology Hospital in the suburb of Kifissia.
How important is donating? Under normal circumstances, blood bags last for up to 40 days, However, blood is always in short supply nowadays. In fact, according to information from our partner hospital, the need is so high that donated blood is used up, in its entirety, on average within just three days! For medium to serious surgery a patient needs on average around 5 units. But that number can go up to 16 for a series of multiple procedures.
One more thing. Anyone who donates as a volunteer is eligible to immediately apply for a blood donor card. The card works as a “blood bank” of sorts. For each unit you donate, you are “guaranteed” immediate access (top of the list) to an equivalent amount of units if you or your family or friends need blood.
A chance to give something back
We want to reiterate that businesses, including tech startups, don’t operate in a bubble. We leverage a lot of what our state and our society provide us with. From the basic public infrastructure that we rely on, to the schools and universities that trained our engineers and other staff.
And with this responsibility in mind, we’d like to invite startups, incubators and colleagues from the tech industry to devote a small slice of their work day to join us once again in this vital initiative.
Remember, giving blood means giving life.