RSU Takes Honourable 3rd Place in University Blood Donation Competition

At the end of 2022, Rīga Stradiņš University (RSU) joined the State Blood Donor Centre’s social responsibility campaign Asins draudzība 2022 (Blood Friendship 2022). Part of the campaign was a competition for Latvian Universities. RSU students and employees, their relatives, friends, and colleagues participated in the competition by indicating that they represented RSU when donating blood.

RSU students, employees, their relatives and friends donate blood

‘Blood donation is not a sport, but rather serves a higher purpose. You can help and possibly save someone’s life.

And I know that I am a very valuable donor because my blood type is O negative. There is always a shortage of blood of this group,’ says Inga Bēniņa, Head of Office at the Faculty of Law, who has been donating blood for 15 years. ‘I invite everyone who can to go and donate and enjoy the fantastic feeling of helping someone!’

RSU students were especially invited to donate blood and participate in the Blood Friendship competition by the RSU Student Union (SP, Studējošo pašpārvalde) in cooperation with the RSU Alumni Association.

On 14 December, members of SP came together to donate blood and motivated other students to do the same. They spread the call on social media and turned it into a motivational competition to see who could spread the message the furthest via social media.

The winner of this competition, Krista Āboltiņa, received RSU souvenirs and commented on her participation in the campaign: ‘We are a group of friends – former classmates – who have been donating blood regularly since secondary school. It’s an activity we do to spend time together.

Our motivation is like the old Latvian proverb, “A good deed lives two lifetimes”.

We now study at different universities, but when we saw the Blood Friendship advertisement on the street, we knew it was time to get together again and donate! After donating, we went to the nearest coffee shop for some hot chocolate drink as we usually do and caught up our lives and the upcoming winter examination period.’

Lība Vinšteina, RSU SP Deputy Head of Research, and a 2nd year student at the Faculty of Medicine, is also a blood donor. Explaining her motivation, she says that 'as a medical student, I know how important it is to ensure that hospitals have a blood supply to be able to help people in life-threatening situations.

I encourage others to donate too, because by giving just 15 minutes of your life, you help save the lives of at least three people!'