The importance of blood donation is often overlooked or simply disregarded by the society these days. In order to create awareness among the students & staff in Taylor's College Sri Hartamas regarding blood donation, at the same time encouraging them to help those in need, DOT Club has organised a Health Carnival on the 7th of May 2010, with the Blood Donation Drive as its main event.

The blood donation drive was held in the Beta Theatre with the help of University Malaya Medical Center (UMMC). The registration opened at 12:30 p.m and closed at about 5:00 p.m. Much to our surprise, the number of students and staffs who registered reached to 72, but unfortunately, only 58 were eligible to donate their blood. After registration, students and staffs were asked a few basic questions regarding their health and later they had to undergo a health check. After they have successfully transmitted their blood, they were given biscuits and milo which were prepared by the DOT Club committee themselves as a token of appreciation and also to increase the sugar level in their blood. Among the lecturers who have taken their time to donate their blood were Mr. Hariandra Muthu, Mr. William, Miss Goh and Miss Anne Moses.

Besides the blood donation drive, several other booths were also opened for the Health Carnival. Sunway Medical Center, for example, opened a booth for students to check their Body Mass Index (BMI), blood pressure and glucose level. There were also booths set up to provide students additional insights to specific diseases and/or health matters, for example booths by Breast Cancer Welfare Association (BCWA), Family Planning Association, National Cancer Society Malaysia and TCSH's very own Bodyweight and Fitness Club.

While most of the DOT Club committee members were busy organizing this event and putting it together, other members took the initiative to instill awareness to the students by setting up an info gallery regarding smoking, H1N1, dengue fever, obesity & sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). Our club held it as a competition where three groups with the most informative and creative info boards would be rewarded. During DOT Club's official prize-giving ceremony, it was announced that the group which won first place was the group with the tittle of smoking, and their group members consisted of Lyana, Alex Chin, Sangeeta, Fauziah, Wong Suok Ping and Yasmine Tran. The first runner-up was the H1N1 group with group members of Aishah, Julia, Sean, Raymond and Athina while the second runner-up was the group who set up the obesity info board, and their group members consisted of Anzhi, Nikhita, Chong Jia Huei, Kishan Kumar, Sam Wai, Sim Ee Leng and Joey Lee. All three groups were rewarded with hampers while other groups were rewarded with consolation prizes.

The creatively-designed and informative info boards.

In conclusion, DOT Club has definitely met our objectives and aims of organizing a blood donation drive and a Health Carnival at the same time. Undoubtedly, every student and staff in TCSH have gained benefits from this event and became more aware of their own health. Most importantly, we have successfully donated blood into the blood bank for those in need. Therefore, DOT Club would like to thank everyone who has registered to donate but did not get the chance to do so and those who actually donated their blood, for all your care and concern to save the lives of others. :)

DOT Club Committee Members with Miss Koh & Dr Aung at the end of the event.