Last week Saturday morning, Junior Minister of Health Dr Fuad Khan unveiled a plaque to formally dedicate the building which houses the National Blood Transfusion Service at 160 Charlotte Street in memory of the late Dr Mc Donald Jorsling, the man who had devoted his life to improving blood banking in Trinidad and Tobago.
In 1966, Mac, as he was always known, returned to his homeland, having studied X-ray technology at the University of Buffalo, medicine at the University College of Dublin and The National University of Dublin, and finally became a Fellow Of The Royal College of Surgeons. He joined the Health Service and it was as a young surgeon at the Port of Spain General Hospital, continuously plagued by the shortage of blood, which situation incidentally still exists today 32 years later, that Mac complained and was told "look here Jorsling why don't you do something about it."
Being a man of action, who says son Richard "couldn't take ole talk", Mac got together with some friends in 1972 to discuss "blood banking." And it was out of these discussions that the Friends of the Blood Bank, which eventually became the Friends of the Blood Bank Association in 1992, started. At the time of incorporation as a company, members of the FBBA were David Hannays, Dr David Quamina, Dr Valance Massiah, Georgina Masson, Barbara West, Dr Violet Forsythe-Duke, Phyllis Pitt, Dr Hugh Spicer and of course, Dr Jorsling.
According to Saty Seemungal, chairman of the FBBA, and a member of the group since 1974 "the members were very enthusiastic and set up in a room at the Port of Spain Hospital from where the Friends operated. The FBBA, however, soon realised that money was needed to encourage and promote voluntary blood banking, and one way to raise funds was to have a fete. This was the start of what remains to this time one of the leading Carnival all-inclusive fetes, an annual fixture on the Sunday of Panorama.
For the first six years, Mac and Pauline Jorsling unhesitatingly gave their home on Serpentine Road, St Clair, for the the Blood Bank fete. Says Seemungal: "That house became the most painted house in Port of Spain as each year after the fete the house had to be deodorised and repainted. The grounds too benefitted as they received enough urea in one day to last until the following year. This however did not in anyway deter the Jorslings from continuing to host the fete."
Eventually, the fete outgrew its Serpentine Road venue and moved to the Hilton, where through public relations manager Georgie Masson, the hotel played a major part in assisting with the fete that continues to this day.
It was through the success of the fete that the FBBA, with Mc Donald Jorsling as the lone remaining original member, was able to move from the room in the hospital and house the National Blood Transfusion Service in what was a former Military Hospital at 160 Charlotte Street, the building which last Saturday morning was formally dedicated "in the memory of Mc Donald Jorsling M.B.B.S., F.R.C.S., C.M.T - Gold. for his devotion to Blood Banking in Trinidad and Tobago."
Mac Jorsling, who remained an active member of the FBBA until his passing in January 1998, was a man obsessed during the construction of the building and lived, ate and breathed Blood Bank. With the help of corporate sponsors and generous contractors, the building was converted "from a slum to a palace" and equipped with the most modern laboratory at that time costing nearly $500.000. On completion the FBBA handed back the new building, retaining an office for the FBBA, which continues to play an integral role in assisting to provide an adequate and safe supply of blood for Trinidad and Tobago.
The FBBA, which has had to intervene on occasions to prevent total collapse of the building, has its own paid staff together with a Mobile Unit donated by Phoenix Park Gas, for which the association is extremely grateful. However, says Seemungal "this mobile unit is no longer adequate and we are now trying to acquire another unit through the generosity of our corporate sponsors" and asks the question "Any takers?"
Additionally, the FBBA is looking for alternative property as the present arrangement at the NBTS is adversely affecting efforts to increase voluntary blood donation. "We are of the opinion that it is highly unsatisfactory that a donor should be made to wait for hours to donate a unit of blood. The shortage of nursing staff at the blood bank and the high rate of deferrals for social and other reasons militate against voluntary blood banking" said Seemungal, as he went on to praise Dr Waveney Charles, Director of NBTS, for the tremendous job she has done "in keeping the show on the road. She has had on many occasions to go down to the floor and interview and bleed donors."
The effects of the many things lacking at the NBTS are reflected in the drop of voluntary blood donors from a high of 52 donations monthly average in 1998 to a low of 38 donations per month. Seemungal is of the opinion that the country will be in serious trouble bloodwise "if we were to need a lot of blood urgently. Hopefully this will never arise with the continued support of the corporate sponsors and our voluntary blood donors, we expect blood donation will improve to the extent that we may one day have an adequate and safe supply of blood for all citizens who may need blood."