The first Tatlisu blood donor day
By Claire Lamb
The first Tatlisu blood donor day was held yesterday – 17th November 2014 – at the new ambulance station in Tatlisu.
After some advertising of the event in various forms of the media it 
was good to see so many people turn out ready to do their bit! Four members of the CESV were there to assist the team if required. They were also there to hand over a pulse oximeter and a portable sphygmomanometer to the ambulance crew on duty.
Phlebotomists from Lefkosa set the session up which started at 10am with two members of the CESV – Claire Lamb and Stuart Mitchell – being the first into the chairs. Initially two chairs had been set up as donation stations but it quickly became apparent that more would be needed resulting in another two stations being added.
There was a good mix of ex.pat. donors and members of the local community and despite some language problems the banter flowed as well as the blood! The Tatlisu mayor – Mr Hayri Orçan also came along to donate and encouraged staff from the local Belediyesi to come and donate. It was good to see such camaraderie in such a good cause!
By the time the CESV members left at 11.45am there had been 17 donations given, with the promise of more next time as some people who attended were unable to donate on the day for various reasons.
Thank you to everyone involved in organising the event and also to those who came along on the day to do their bit to help save a life.
