A blood type ID card can save your life

In 2010, 3 people died in accidents on Polish roads. Although this is almost 907% less than the previous year, there are still more deaths in our country than in Germany, which is more than twice as high.

Immediate blood typing can make a big difference in the survival of accident victims, reducing waiting times for transfusions by up to 30 minutes.

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A few days ago, a TV campaign was launched to promote safe driving, in which Krzysztof Holowczyc and Jacek Czohar call: "Long live motorcyclists, long live drivers." Regulation awareness aims to reduce accidents in the holiday season that has just begun. Unfortunately, sometimes it is not enough to look in the mirrors, use the turn signals and keep a safe distance to avoid an accident. Often the only salvation for the victim can be a blood transfusion. This is when the immediate identification of the blood groups of the people affected by the accident matters. Having a card with this information shortens the preparation for a transfusion by about 30 minutes. As you know, in such a situation, every second counts.

- In emergency medicine, there is a concept of the so-called "Golden Hour", that is, the time elapsed from the moment of injury to the adoption of life-saving measures. It is the first minutes that decide whether the victim has a chance of survival. Having a blood type identification card bypasses the entire sampling and testing procedure. A doctor can immediately order the necessary blood from the bank and run a crossword puzzle,” says Michal Meller from the National Network of Medical Laboratories DIAGNOSTICS.

A card with information about the patient's blood group is not only recommended for people who spend a lot of time driving a car or motorcycle. Anyone can be in a situation that requires a quick blood transfusion. Such an identifier can also be used during multiple hospitalizations as a document that reliably certifies the owner's blood type. In the past, such information could be included on an identity card. Today, this function is performed only by cards on the model prepared by the Ministry of Health.

A blood type identification card, in accordance with the law and approved by the Institute of Hematology and Transfusion Medicine in Warsaw, can be obtained at any of the more than 100 collection points of the largest network of medical laboratories in the country of DIAGNOSIS. To do this, it is necessary to fill out a data form and give two blood samples (which will be subjected to two separate analyzes), which eliminates the possibility of an error in the designation of the group.

The card is made once, because it is in the form similar to an identity card or credit card, and the data is valid for life. Carried in a wallet, it avoids multiple blood type tests at the hospital and, in the event of an accident, saves precious minutes during a rescue operation.