Vampire Cup to get bloody

Could UCC be the bloodiest college and win the Vampire Cup?

Glenn Curtin, a third year direct entry medical student in UCC, set out at the beginning of the year to replicate an initiative being run in Australia called Vampire Cup. This initiative pits colleges against each other to see which college student population can donate the most blood - then the so-called 'bloodiest college' will then win the Vampire Cup!

UCC medical student and organiser Glenn Curtin said: “I’m absolutely thrilled to be leading an extraordinary team of students from across the country as we try to get more young people to think about blood donation. At the beginning of the year, I decided I wanted to do something about the notoriously low levels of young people’s participation in blood donation by implementing a successful initiative being run in Australia.” He added: “I want people to realise what I came to realise when I started studying medicine. No doctor, nurse or therapist can be a hero by themselves. Healthcare is about community and blood donation is a perfect example of this. “When ordinary people step up to donate blood, they’re saving lives and becoming the lifeblood of healthcare - no medical degree necessary!

“With the launch of Vampire Cup, I hope we can facilitate the creation of lifelong donors that we can call upon to improve the outcomes of patients.”

The Vampire Cup Australia began in 2008 with 300 donations and thee most recent one received over 3,000.

Each participating college will be tasked with running effective campaigns to inform, educate and encourage their students to consider participating in blood donation.