Pharmacists’ crosses now show live blood supply in Flanders
© Marc Herremans – Mediahuis
The temperature, time and date: You often see that information on the green lit crosses that hang on pharmacies. But something new will be added soon. With twenty pharmacies in Flanders you will now also be able to read the current blood supply. Towards the end of the year, more than a hundred pharmacy crosses would show that info. It is an initiative of Red Cross-Flanders, which wants to make the blood supply visible and want to increase the consciousness around blood donation.
Source: Belga
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For this project, Red Kruis-Vlaanderen started a collaboration with Pharmes, market leader in LED signs for pharmacists. « With this innovation we want to give pharmacists the opportunity to play a visible social role. They naturally decide for themselves whether they activate the position, but we are already receiving many positive reactions and concrete questions from pharmacists who want to participate, » says manager Mathieu Dejager.
Pharmes supplies around 120 new LED crosses to pharmacies every year. From April, twenty crosses will have the opportunity to display the blood supply live, based on real-time data from Red Cross-Flanders. By the end of this year there must be more than a hundred.
In Flanders there are occasional times with specific shortages. In 2024 there were eighteen days on which at least one blood group reached a critical level. That happened every time after holiday periods or holidays. During such periods, many people are traveling and they cannot give blood. Moreover, whoever travels outside of Europe may not donate blood for one to six months.
A critical blood supply means that deliveries to hospitals are limited, so that non-urgent operations may be postponed. Urgent supply is almost always guaranteed.
© Red Cross
