STOCKHOLM, Sweden, June 10 (UPI) -- Blood donors in Sweden are getting some positive reinforcement by receiving thank-you text messages when their blood is used.
Donors get the text when they donate and another when their blood is put in a person's veins. There are about 410,000 registered donors in Sweden, and nearly 250,000 of those donate blood at least once a year. Donors in Sweden are required to speak, read and understand Swedish.
"We are constantly trying to develop ways to express [donors'] importance," Karolina Blom Wiberg, a communications manager at the Stockholm blood service, told The Independent. "We want to give them feedback on their effort, and we find this is a good way to do that."
The program began about three years ago in Stockholm and is gradually being implemented throughout the country. There are more than 90 blood centers in Sweden, mostly in hospitals.
"It's a great feeling to know you made such a big difference and maybe even saved someone else's life," Blom Wiberg said. "We get a lot of visibility in social media and traditional media thanks to the SMS. But above all we believe it makes our donors come back to us and donate again."
