The first FIDAS Coast to Coast, an initiative developed by the Italian Federation of Blood Donors’ Associations (FIDAS, Federazione Italiana Associazioni Donatori di sangue), with Kedrion’s support and contribution, will officially start on 7th July. Presented yesterday at a press conference in Rome, the event consists of a journey on two sailboats that, sailing all along Italy on two parallel routes, will meet in Reggio Calabria on 27th July to coincide with the VII charity journey known as Traversata della Solidarietà.
The purpose of this initiative is to raise awareness of blood donation, especially in summer which is a most critical time, by involving all the Italian Blood System professionals. The initiative is supported by the Coast Guard, under the aegis of the Health Ministry, the Yacht Club, the National Blood Centre, SIMTI (Società Italiana Medicina Trasfusionale ed Immunoematologia – the Italian Association of Transfusion Medicine and Immuno-Haematology) and ANCI (Associazione Nazionale Comuni Italiani – the National Association of Italian Municipalities). In addition, at every stopover (the boats will call at 41 ports in 14 Italian regions), famous athletes and celebrities will take part in the events organised by FIDAS.
“This project – Danilo Medica, Italy Country Manager at Kedrion, explained yesterday – is one of the initiatives that Kedrion is engaged in, to support the culture of voluntary, anonymous and free donation through donor associations, and to help achieve the final goal of making our country self-sufficient in plasma-derived products”.
Through its production sites located all over Italy, Kedrion manages the whole plasma processing cycle on behalf of the National Health System: collection, production and distribution of the medicines. The company collects nationally-sourced plasma from public transfusion centres and from the centres run by donors’ associations, according to a model that responds to the requirements of the National Blood Centre and the Italian Regions.
“Our company – Medica added – has always been close to the volunteers’ world, working hard to support and promote the excellent standards of the Italian system. It is a system that is one of the best in the world just because of the contribution of over 1.7 million donors, mostly members of the associations, who with their regular, unpaid donations are the mainstays of the entire Italian Blood System”.
