Lucy to take over PNRC blood program

Philippine National Red Cross governor Rosa Rosal turned over her stewardship of the PNRC’s Blood Services Program (BSP) during Operation Damayan’s annual blood donation drive Thursday.

As some 90 employees of The STAR donated a total of 23,600 cc. of blood to the PNRC, Rosal said she would pass on her responsibilities to STAR lifestyle columnist and dance show host Lucy Torres-Gomez this year.

"I am training her (Gomez) to take over my position. I will still join the Red Cross for the next four years before I retire but I want Lucy to continue what I’ve started,’’ Rosal said.

Rosal, 74, has been actively involved in the PNRC-BSP’s projects for the past 56 years. She said the decision to have Gomez replace her was a personal choice: "From the very first time I met her, I knew she’ll do well in leading our team of volunteers."

While Gomez said she is willing to continue the legacy left by Rosal, she appealed to people not to compare them as she has just started serving the PNRC.

"I don’t think we should be compared because I still have a lot to learn and accomplish and Tita Rosa has proven herself already," Gomez told The STAR.

Thursday’s blood donation drive was one of the first projects of the PNRC-BSP under Gomez’s leadership.

"I hope this partnership of The Philippine STAR and Red Cross will continue," Gomez said.

STAR employees have been donating blood to the PNRC for the past seven years. STAR president and chief executive officer Miguel Belmonte has also been donating P100,000 every year to the PNRC-BSP.

The blood donation drive is just one of the many projects of Operation Damayan, a legacy of The STAR’s late founding chairwoman, Betty Go-Belmonte. Damayan, the socio-humanitarian arm of the STAR Group of Publications, is carried on by the younger Belmonte.

Dahlia Saguid, an accounting officer of The STAR, has been donating blood every year. "I committed myself to this because I want to help needy people - I know there are a lot of them."

Asked if she could give the same commitment to the PNRC given by Rosal, Gomez said: "I will be there as long as Red Cross needs me."

Rosal revealed that Gomez should have taken over her post some six years ago, "but she got pregnant so I told her to raise her child first."

Gomez said her commitment to the PNRC has the approval of her husband, actor Richard Gomez, who even called Rosal to confirm his support for his wife’s additional job.

As for her advice to Gomez, Rosal said success could be achieved by "taking things slowly" and "remaining focused and committed to your noble task."

Rosal is the only Filipina and non-doctor who was given an international fellowship in hematology in Australia.

Last year alone, she was able to raise over P4 million in cash donations and purchased a refrigerated centrifuge worth P2.2 million, a plasma freezer, and other new equipment for the PNRC-BSP.

Under Rosal’s leadership, the PNRC-BSP has put up 66 blood centers all over the country.

"The only legacy I want to leave behind is for me to guarantee that the blood they get from Red Cross is always safe. I believe that the best charity is giving a part of yourself to others," Rosal said.

She remembers skipping the 18th birthday party of her daughter, television host Tony Rose Gayda, because she had to attend to an emergency to which the PNRC had to respond.

Beth De Guzman, a veteran PNRC volunteer, described Rosal as "the woman who shaped Blood Services to what it is now."