SAVING LIVES: Hyatt Regency Kinabalu staff donating blood.
KOTA KINABALU: Some 50 staff of Hyatt Regency Kinabalu took time off from their busy schedules to donate their blood to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital’s blood bank.
A recent blood donation drive held at the hotel’s training centre saw 48 employees of the five-star hotel chain get their blood tested for donation.
The drive was open to all employees and members of the public.
At the end of the day, 33 pints of blood, mostly ‘O’ type, were collected for the blood mobile blood bank which supplies blood to the 13 hospitals in Sabah’s west coast.
Team leader nurse Faridah Jonius who led a team of seven staff from the blood bank, said that it is always a pleasure to work with the hotel.
“We always look forward to coming here. The staff are not just generous,
but friendly, helpful, cooperative and disciplined,” she said.
Deliance Don, a 22-year-old waiter at the hotel’s Chinese Restaurant, said that he enjoys saving lives by donating blood.
This is his seventh time donating blood in the last four years at the hotel.
“I always try to donate blood whenever I can.
“I feel like it is my obligation to help if I can and it doesn’t cost me anything,” he said, adding that he felt like fainting after his first donation but was soon addicted to the act of goodwill.
The Hyatt Regency Kinabalu conducts at least three blood donation drives a year.
More employees are becoming aware of the need for blood donations through the efforts of Hyatt’s Corporate Social Responsibility programme called Hyatt Thrive.
Hyatt Thrive aims to enable thriving communities by contributing to the prosperity, health and advancement of the many places in the world that the Hyatt calls home.
As one of the leading hotels in Kota Kinabalu, Hyatt Regency Kinabalu will continue to support blood donation drives, as well as create awareness of the need for blood and give the staff the chance to help those in need.
Other donation drives, visits to charity and volunteer work are also carried out yearly.