Blood flows from the Heart

THE HAGUE, The Netherlands – After a series of screening and medical tests, Aramco Overseas Company B.V. (AOC) employees let the blood flow from their hearts to give to the Sanquin Blood Supply Foundation – the only organization in the Netherlands authorized to manage the country’s need for blood and blood products.

The employees volunteered for the “Give Life, Give Blood” campaign launched in December 2009 to donate their blood to be used by perfect strangers who they will never meet. These “strangers” are accident victims, seriously ill patients in need of surgery or treatment, women with childbirth complications, and newborn and premature infants who need blood transfusions.

 “I am not new to blood donation,” said Paulo de Sa from AOC Supplier Relations. “I had been donating blood in Portugal every four months together with my wife. When we moved here in the Netherlands, I didn’t know where to go to donate blood. AOC’s campaign gave me the perfect introduction to blood donation in this country, and even after this campaign, my wife and I will continue to donate blood just like we did back in Portugal.“

Leo Chan from AOC Accounting had always wanted to donate blood even when he was still back in Hong Kong but somehow there was always a reason to be excluded – whether he didn’t sleep eight hours or he did not have breakfast. But whatever were the reasons, those are now things of the past. “Thanks to AOC’s campaign, I am finally able to do this,” he said. “I would certainly not have the motivation to do it on my own.”

Even the burliest man on earth could be afraid of the needles, but the courageous volunteers stood up to the challenge out of generosity and selflessness. “I hate needles,” said Marta Bollini from AOC Chapter 8. “But when I think about how my blood is going to save someone’s life, it takes the anxiety away. What I am giving does not cost me a cent yet it is precious and life-giving. It is a part of me, so that makes it really personal.”

AOC encouraged blood donation among its employees by allowing them to do it during work hours. On top of that, transportation is arranged to and from the blood clinic, and the volunteers get free lunch. “I’m not doing it for the free lunch,” Cees Korbijn from AOC Purchasing said in jest. “The important thing that should be highlighted is that the company is promoting volunteerism among its staff and giving them full support for it. That’s cultivating altruism through practice.”