The All-Russian event «Donor Code. Mentoring» united more than 700 thousand people throughout Russia.
The marathon of successful practices was attended by representatives of the organizers of the event - FMBA of Russia, the non-profit foundation "National Fund for Health Development" and the Coordination Council of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation on blood and bone marrow donation, as well as Blood Service institutions, non-profit and educational organizations from Kaliningrad to Vladivostok.
The online conference was opened by Elena Stefanyuk, director of the National Health Fund, deputy chairman of the Coordination Council of the Civic Chamber of the RF. She recalled that the event “Donor Code”. Mentoring” was timed to coincide with the Year of the Teacher and Mentor in Russia and united the medical and pedagogical communities to popularize blood and bone marrow donation.
“The approach we have developed - using the theme of the year in promoting donation - allows us to increase the number of donors, increase the social attractiveness of the topic of donation and the recognition of blood service institutions, create new models of cooperation and generate new ideas. In 2023, we, as organizers, focused on the role of teachers and mentors in solving socially significant problems. Today we will see examples of successful programs and projects of the participants in the action, the goal of which is to form an attitude towards donation, demonstrate the potential of educational organizations in the development of donation and, of course, involve teachers and mentors in the donor movement,” said Elena Stefanyuk.
Elena Stefanyuk emphasized that the chosen topic received support from the population and organizations involved in the action and donation. More than 700 thousand people took part in the all-Russian action, 475 thousand people donated blood - these are representatives of 62 regions. More than 250 applications were submitted for the promotion competition, and this is three times more than last year.
“All-Russian event-competition “Donor Code.” Mentoring” is a unique project that has covered the whole country. For the first time, the topic of blood and bone marrow donation was looked at through the prism of mentoring, although it is a cornerstone in the donor movement. Thanks to the work of mentors and teachers, the donor movement expands and is replenished with new donors, primarily due to the cultivation of a new generation of young and responsible donors. “There is a huge responsibility on the shoulders of mentors, and our task is to encourage their work and efforts,” Nikolai Daikhes, First Deputy Chairman of the Civic Chamber of the RF of Commission on Health, Chairman of the Coordination Council of the Civic Chamber of the RF for Blood and Marrow Donation, addressed the participants of the online conference.
According to the head of the department of medical support for extreme work and the Blood Service of the Federal Medical-Biological Agency, Olga Eichler, mentoring is not only an opportunity to popularize successful practices and methods for developing the donor movement. It is an excellent opportunity to unite the efforts of medical organizations, Blood Service institutions, volunteer and non-profit organizations to promote the idea of gratuitous donation.
“Last year, during the implementation of the “Donor Cultural Code” campaign, we were convinced that the completely different areas can create interesting projects, attract a large number of people and provide an incentive for further development. The events within the framework of the “Donor Code”. “Mentoring” are an incentive and can be scaled throughout the country,” said Olga Eichler.
A marathon of successful practices of participants in the all-Russian campaign “Donor Code. Mentoring”, presented at the conference, was divided into three tracks: “The region as one team: experience in supporting blood service initiatives by regional and municipal authorities”, “Donation management. Implementation of management decisions to ensure the stable operation of blood service institutions, preventing the risks of developing negative scenarios in the areas of blood and bone marrow donation”, “Working with the donor contingent. Effective solutions."
The first two were focused on mechanisms for effective intersectoral and interdepartmental collaboration to promote blood and bone marrow donation. Representatives of blood transfusion stations from the Arkhangelsk, Kaliningrad, Chelyabinsk, Novosibirsk regions, the Republic of Mordovia and the Republic of Mari El shared their achievements.
The first two were focused on mechanisms for effective intersectoral and interdepartmental collaboration to promote blood and bone marrow donation. Representatives of blood transfusion stations from the Arkhangelsk, Kaliningrad, Chelyabinsk, Novosibirsk regions, the Republic of Mordovia and the Republic of Mari El shared their achievements.
The participants spoke about the high results during the events within the framework of the campaign, which were achieved thanks to the authorities and regional ministries and departments. According to the chief physician of the Arkhangelsk blood transfusion station, Sergei Bobovnik, the regional leadership has a huge influence on the development of the donor movement, however, when there is no response from volunteers, educational and medical institutions, all this work comes to nothing.
Successful collaboration between regional authorities, educational and medical organizations, non-profit organizations and foundations significantly increased the number of people involved in the campaign events. According to the chief physician of the Blood Transfusion Station of the Kaliningrad Region, Nina Kabanchuk, the topic of donation and mentoring attracted more than 1,300 participants, of which over 1,200 people donated blood.
The chief physician of the Chelyabinsk Regional Blood Transfusion Station, Anatoly Krokhin, spoke about the “On the Wings of Knowledge” project, implemented as part of the campaign, which attracted over 10 thousand participants, of which eight thousand people donated blood. As part of the project, more than 90 thematic donor events were held, in which 38 mentors took part.
The second track of the marathon was dedicated to management decisions in the field of donation. Nomination of the competition “Donation management. Implementation of management decisions to ensure the stable operation of Blood Service institutions, preventing the risks of developing negative scenarios in the areas of blood and bone marrow donation” turned out to be the smallest in terms of the number of applications. All received works are worthy of replication throughout the country.
As part of the online conference, one of these projects was presented - a day hospital at the Novosibirsk Clinical Blood Center. The center's chief physician, Yulia Moor, spoke about the main goal of creating the hospital.
“We wanted blood and bone marrow donors and patients who need constant blood and plasma transfusions to meet. Our hospital is unique. Donors and patients are in constant contact. Patients see donors and feel gratitude towards them; donors understand that there are people nearby whose lives their blood can save,” says Yulia Moor.
According to the chief physician, the opening of a day hospital made it possible to increase the motivation of donors, increase the percentage of repeat donations, and also provided patients with the opportunity to receive surgical transfusion therapy without breaking away from their usual lifestyle.
Participants of the track “Working with donors. Effective Solutions" shared effective tools for working with a young audience. It requires non-standard approaches, new methods of communication that will build trust with the audience and clearly talk about the benefits of donation. Creating a positive atmosphere in the field of donation is the basis for attracting new people to the donor movement, especially when it comes to working with young people, schoolchildren and preschool children.
As part of the track, representatives of blood transfusion stations from the Vologda region, Primorsky Krai, Yaroslavl, Sverdlovsk and Penza regions shared their experience. Representatives of the autonomous non-profit organization “Center for Social Projects “Donor Volga””, Kuzbass Blood Center, LG Electronics, St. Petersburg State University for Youth Policy, National Medical Research Center for Hematology of the Ministry of Health of Russia and the Donbass National Academy of Construction and Architecture spoke about their projects.
According to the participants, mentoring plays a key role in work with children and teenagers. The personal example and ability to inspire a young audience and instill new values based on giving, compassion and charity will help create a new generation of responsible donors who care about their health and the health of others.
Summing up, Elena Stefanyuk thanked all the conference participants, noting that during the marathon only a small part of the successful practices submitted to the “Donor Code. Mentoring” event was presented.
“The theme year provides many opportunities for creativity, development, and work. Support from the authorities is bearing fruit for the development of blood and bone marrow donation. Regarding work with youth and universities, a lot has been done this year, but there is still a lot of work ahead. We have to further implement the mentoring system and conduct outreach work among young people. As for working with school audiences, there are many formats and tools, but the main difficulty now is that this work is not yet systematic. First of all, we all need to work on creating a system to popularize donation throughout the country,” said Elena Stefanyuk.
The final event of the all-Russian campaign “Donor Code. Mentoring" will take place on 20th of December. The solemn ceremony of awarding the winners and laureates of the event will begin on 16:00 at the International Multimedia Press Center "Russia Today".
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