The late Susan Omotosho, a Past President of Rotary Club of Ikoyi, who devoted her lifetime making sure that people donated blood in order to save lives, especially during emergencies, died three years ago, hence the family hosts the blood donation annually in commemoration of her passion while on earth.
The late Susan Sidikat
Omotosho was indeed an eagle as she soared higher than her peers with a life
full of passion for altruistic blood donation. Herself a nurse, she was the
brain behind the establishment of the Blood Bank by the Rotary Club of Ikoyi at
the Falomo Police Hospital in Lagos where it has been ascertained that over
N100million worth of blood is currently stored.
As expected this year’s
edition was an exemplification of the humaneness of Nigerians as they trooped
out en mass to donate blood altruistically.
Gbogboade who confirmed that by the end of the exercise about 40 people were expected to donate blood, encouraged her members and indeed the general public to imbibe the legacies of the late Susan Omotosho. “We all should imbibe the legacy Susan has left for us, legacy of promptness, legacy of team work, and legacy of loyalty and team support in whatever you believe in.”
Past District Governor, District 9110, comprising Lagos and Ogun states, Kamoru Omotosho, husband of the late Susan Omotosho averred that his late wife was instrumental to establishing the Falomo Police Hospital’s blood bank. “We did a lot of projects for the police hospital Falomo, and to sustain the memory of my wife who was instrumental to making that project happen, the blood donor centre was created for this hospital in Falomo. We think we can sustain her memory by arranging annual blood donation and we also partner with Lagos State Blood Transfusion Services, for this project."
On what he has missed about his late wife, Rotarian Omotosho said, “We lived together, we shared a lot of passion together, we do Rotary together, we were in the medical profession together, and because of that it is difficult not to keep remembering her, and I think the best way to do it is to do it in a way that would benefit other human beings.”
Dr. Austin Irabor, Past
President, Rotary Club of Ikoyi, also has warm memories of the late Susan
Omotosho, “Mrs Omotosho to me is like the mother of Rotary. She was a mother, a
trainer and a coach; she was a role model to me particularly. When I joined
Rotary she was the one who organized the training for about three of us. She
was somebody you can rely on in any aspect.”
His message to the blood
donors, “We want to thank them immensely for the humanitarian job they are
doing, and we pray God will meet them in whatever they are doing in their
private businesses because it is not an easy exercise to donate blood. So we
appreciate them and we encourage others to come forward and donate and join
hand in building this blood bank to be able to serve the larger community.”
Muti Makoye, the step daughter of the late
Rotarian Susan Omotosho stated that the late icon was selfless. “She gave her
whole life to giving back to society, this blood bank was her own creation, she
was a nurse, she knew the importance of donating blood, and importance of
emergency, and making blood available. So we are are doing this in remembrance
of her where we come together and then we donate our blood to ensure that
during emergency people have blood.”
She also spoke on other ways the family has
chosen to immortalize Susan Omotosho. “This is the major thing we are doing to
immortalize her, we also go to her grave from time to time. However, this is
the third year we are doing the annual blood donation, and then all the lovely
things she liked we are trying to do, like this is her legacy, she is gone
three years ago, but what she wanted is still being done.
She opined that even
though the diseased is being celebrated, the people should also work to make
sure they are remembered when they are no more. “We should also create our own
legacy, selfless things, not only was she prompt, she influenced and ensured
that Rotary Club of Ikoyi was known for promptness, and as we go home let's
reflect, what are the characteristics we should like to be known for, the
question I ask myself is am I dependable, can my dad, my mum depend on me, can
my friends depend on me? My take in all these is what are the legacies are
we going to leave behind,” Mrs Makoya queried.
On her part, Dr Bodunrin
Osikomaiya, Executive Secretary, Lagos State Blood Transfusion Service, thanked
the voluntary donors, saying that giving blood should be altruistic, coming
from an unselfish mind, just to help without any need for gift or even thank
you, adding that many give blood without understanding the essence of the
exercise. “But most of the people even though they have the altruistic mind
they don’t understand that without blood many people will not survive, so
voluntary blood donation has moved from being altruistic to being a necessity and that is what PAG. Susan Omotosho preached when she was
alive.”
She said
part of the advantages of donating blood is that it gives opportunity of free
health check. “They check for HIV, Hepatitis, even their blood pressure, you
see donors talking to us like in consultation; it is very important for our
donors that these things are done, and so we do encourage you all, even though
you have done your HMO, it is good for you to know your status. The second
thing I want to say about voluntary blood donation, they have the opportunity to
get blood without replacement, if they need real support during emergency, they
would get this blood without donation, so it brings a lot of succor to their
mind.”
Dr Osikomaiya
who maintained that giving blood has no disadvantages, also gave tutorials to
the blood donors or intending donors on how they can easily replace lost blood.
‘Giving blood has no disadvantages. Now that you are giving blood, I should
have told you that you make sure you have good and healthy meal, but if you
have given try to rest, when you give this blood, if you have any strenuous
exercise, please just take it easy for a while, take a lot of water. The most
important thing about giving blood is fluid, specifically water, after that non-alcoholic
juice, so take a lot of water, take so much water so that you can replenish
what you lost during the next few hours.”
She advised
Rotary Club of Ikoyi to flaunt their blood donation activities having done so
much in that regard. “Rotary Club of Ikoyi has done a lot but you are not
showing off what you are doing, you only show off when you are doing free
vaccination, cleaning the environment, let us show off blood donation, it is a
thing of pride. Outside the country, international bodies that give blood, you
see them with a lot of batches, I think Rotary Club can do such for us, there
is much more we can do than just say, I donated blood, let’s flaunt it out and
let people envy us.”
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