188 Ignatian heroes pour on rainy December 2;
Dugong Atenista hailed Bicol’s top blood program

By Rodolfo ‘Sonny’ SB. Virtus Jr.
With statistical data produced by Janice L. Tresvalles

The low pressure that brought discouraging rains to the City did not stop the Dugong Atenista 2, but created, instead, a high tide of one hundred and eighty eight (188) new and old Ignatian heroes at the Xavier Hall last December 2 for this year’s second  bloodletting activity.

The challenge posed on the University community to beat the July 31, 2008 record (151) proved achievable as the Office of Student Affairs (OSA) relaunched and relentlessly sustained full blast campaign through office visits, pre-registration sign-ups, text brigade, and the announcement that ran for two weeks straight at the Public Announcement system appealing to all the sectors in the University, from the administrators to the security guards to “donate blood and save lives”.

 This record-breaking figure is 25 percent higher than July 31, 2008 bloodletting activity, 109 percent higher than December 3, 2007, and 119 percent higher than the July 2007. When added, the number of units of blood collected has reached 335 this year alone, excluding unsuccessful donations but which were still credited to ADNU. Bicol Medical Center (BMC) officials confirmed that Dugong Atenista, with such affirming figures, is now the most successful blood program by an academic institution in the region with the most number of blood donors recruited and units of blood collected in one setting.

One of the highlights of the Feast of St. Francis Xavier, the activity ran smoothly from 9 a.m. till 5 p.m. After the short opening program where representatives from OSA and BMC each gave their messages, the bloodletting followed. Before the donation, donors passed through mandatory procedures which included screening and blood typing.

The morning was definitely not a blockbuster, far from the scenes on July 31 when donors jam-packed Xavier Hall in the morning. Having finished with just around 60 donors at noon time, the organizers thought it was statistically improbable to reach even a hundred, much more beat the previous record.

The afternoon ushered in unsympathetic rains and a miracle. Donors arrived in pairs, tens and twenties. At 3 p.m., the BMC personnel and Donor Care, almost in disbelief, filled the Xavier Hall with cheers and claps upon hearing the dreamed announcement: the 152nd donor, Danny Glean P. Labordo, an Engineering student, bled. It then became real to everyone: Dugong Atenista 2 has surpassed the previous record. With two hours still left, the organizers were certain that the activity will finish with a roaring success, more than they imagined it to be. The 188th hero, Maybelle Ann Buenaobra, a member of Tourismo Ateneo, bled last.

Students displayed overwhelmingly inspiring presence in the activity as they comprised huge 90 percent of the total number of donors. Non-student donors included faculty (1.06%), office staff (5.85%), administrator (0.53%) and alumni (2.72%).

Most colleges posted significant upsurge in their number of donors. Contributing more than a quarter of the total, the College of Nursing retained the record as the top donating college. The colleges of Commerce (26.60%), Arts and Sciences (11.70%), Computer Studies (6.19%), Engineering (6.38%) and Education (2.13%) followed respectively.

The dominance of the College of Nursing could be explained by its involvement in the said program. For one, the Donor Care, the team of some thirty student phlebotomists responsible for the extraction of blood, are Nursing students. They have been equipped by BMC with the appropriate knowledge and skill through rigid lectures and trainings and exposures on actual bloodletting activities off-campus. Donor Care was also instrumental in the success of the pre-registration and the promotion of the program among students. Aside from Nursing students, the college’s clinical instructors led by their dean, Dr. Ma. Clara L. Rubino, made strong endorsement of the program among their students. Some also made their presence felt in the activity as they joined the Donor Care from start to finish.

For the first time, the High School Department was able to send one donor, Luane Priscilla C. Mendoza, testing officer of the High School Guidance Office, making the High School now an official stakeholder of the program.
Student organizations, it would be fair to recognize, was the largest contributor as 63.30 percent or 119 of the donors indicated that they represented 45 student organizations of the University. Among the top donating organizations include: Association of Nursing Students of Ateneo (14), Youth for Christ (8), Sentient Ateneans Reaching Out (7), Gabay Scholars (7), Days with the Lord-Men (5), Days with the Lord-Women (5), Association of Bikol Business Students (5), Lightning Scorpion of the Philippines (4) and Junior Philippine Institute of Accountants (4). The co-curricular organization of Nursing has been the number one donor organization for the last two bloodletting activities.

Interestingly, there were more first-time donors, 98 or 52.13 percent, than regular donors, 90 or 47.87 percent. This is a strong indication that OSA’s campaign was effective in developing positive public knowledge, attitudes and beliefs towards blood donation by stressing on its importance and safety as it takes a lot of courage for one to donate blood the first time.

Many of the donors already took part in one or more of Dugong Atenista bloodletting activities. This affirmed that the program has already developed a pool of regular blood donors and their number has grown since the first-ever bloodletting activity. In the evaluation, most of the donors also expressed that they would still be wiling to donate on July 31 next year.

Another success indicator of the program’s advocacy, the number of female donors has dramatically climbed by 31.08 percent (74 donors) since July 2008 bloodletting activity as against 11 percent increase in the number of male donors. This dispelled the myth that blood donation is only for males.

Student donors are expected to meet again in a processing session where their experiences shall be recounted, and their motivations checked. This defines the formative aspect of Dugong Atenista. It is in this light that program strives to motivate the University community, especially the students, to donate blood as a selfless act of volunteerism, an expression of unconditional love for others and as a way for thanking God for our giftedness.

This is best articulated in Dugong Atenista’s now popular tagline: We Could Be HeroesI. Most of the donors understood this, positively claiming that they donated out of their altruistic desire “to help save lives”.

Inspired by this great affirmation of the entire ADNU community’s acceptance and support of the program, OSA and other Formation and Student Support Offices under the Ignatian Formation Center give back with a determined and optimistic response: We will continue to work hard towards sustaining, strengthening and expanding Dugong Atenista next year and beyond.

After the progress of Dugong Atenista as a formation program under the recently launched Ateneo Student Awareness and Action Program (ASAP!), OSA is in the process of recruiting and developing a database of on-call/walking donors to respond to special cases (e.g. Dengue, leukemia, etc.).

As a party in the Memorandum of Agreement with BMC, the program stakeholders further pledged to continue to commit to being an instrument to the realization of the government’s National Blood Services Act of 1994.

They will continue to provide the members of the University community and their immediate families a ready supply of safe blood, through the collected blood from blood-letting activities of the program, during emergency situations.