Back in 1960, in September, eleven ironworkers, good and humane people, were gathered by the Nikšić, ironworker and folk doctor, Svetozar Čiko Bulatović, and formed the first club of voluntary blood donors in Montenegro, and perhaps in the Balkans. Those wonderful people rolled up their sleeves and selflessly gave blood voluntarily, wrote Miodrag Dragan Nikolić in the "Monograph of Sixty Years of Humanity of Voluntary Blood Donors of Željezara Nikišić".
That September, ironworkers began to write the history of voluntary blood donation in Montenegro, and Dragan Nikolić, a man who has long since become a synonym for humanity through his volunteer work in the Red Cross and liters of red liquid (donated blood 125 times), decided to "rebuke" six decade of humanity of metallurgists from Nikšić and saved from oblivion, as he said, the army of those who are the creators of the saying - man is man to man.
He started collecting the material in the early nineties of the last century, and at the end of 2019 he started working on its shaping.
Due to covid 19, the work was prolonged, because Dragan, although he is 68 years old, was in the field with Red Cross volunteers every day, so the monograph, instead of last, was published this year.
"I wanted the veil of oblivion not to cover the army of unreservedly humane people. It is a kind of epic of humanity, philanthropy, solidarity and empathy towards man. The Association of Voluntary Blood Donors of Željezara was a benchmark in Montenegro, and it turned out to be in the Balkans as well. We 'infected' others in Nikšić with our humanity, so about fifteen more clubs were founded, and Nikšić has been the most humane environment in Montenegro for 25 years when it comes to voluntary blood donation," said Nikolić at the promotion of the book.
Mileta Božović, the only remaining living member of the first set of humanists of the ironworks, said that he gave the precious liquid for the first time in 1956 and that he donated blood 61-62 times in the town under Trebjes. There are also about twenty donations outside the hometown.
"I knew that in two and a half months I would donate blood twice. I hear that blood is needed in Brezovik, and in Nikšić they won't let me give blood, because I already gave, so I go to Podgorica, give blood and bring it to Brezovik in a refrigerator. Doctor Nada Janičić found out about it, so they took care of it later. I gave blood in other cities of Yugoslavia," said Božović, a marathon runner who ran around the globe five times.
"Dragan Nikolić's monograph, feathers among voluntary blood donors, is a kind of monument to this most humane human activity, a monument to the arduous sixty-year existence of numerous casters, smelters, electricians, crane operators and other masters of red-hot iron, where the head was more often lost than preserved. This is a monograph about people who saved thousands of lives, asking for nothing in return. That is why it is a monograph of life and man", said Ana Macanović, secretary of the municipal organization (OO) of the Nikšić Red Cross.
The editor and reviewer of the book, Dragan Mitov Đurović, said that there are two types of voluntary blood donors - those who donate other people's blood, politicians, and those who donate their own blood, people with a big heart.
"We applaud many who 'drink' our blood in different ways, but we cannot say thank you to those who save our lives and who give us blood. And especially to those who invest everything to preserve those pictures, that memory", said Đurović.
Mitar Vučković, president of the Committee for Voluntary Blood Donation Nikšić, pointed out that the monograph published by the Nikšić OO Red Cross is a reminder, but also a kind of memorial for six decades of humanity and philanthropy of the employees of the former giant and mainstay of the Montenegrin economy and society.
Željezara's Association of Voluntary Blood Donors, according to transfusionist Veselin Gezović, is one of the most organized in Montenegro.
"Its members, with their charity, have literally been ensuring the normal and high-quality functioning of the General Hospital in Nikšić, the hospital in Brezovik and other health institutions in Montenegro for six decades. It is the mother of voluntary blood donation in Nikšić. It worked in the most difficult times, and for almost 30 years it was the only association of its kind in the city," said Gezović and added that for many years, the only hope for sick Nikšić residents was the public address system in Željezara, through which voluntary blood donors were sought.
The leader of the program was Miro Nikolić, who also read fragments from the monograph, and the students of the Music School "Dara Čokorilo" Dimitrije Knežević, Ivan Burić, Ksenija Perišić and professor Ivana Pešić participated.
The people of Nikšić hold the primacy
I can't escape the impression that this book is at the same time a chronicle of voluntary blood donation in Nikšić, in which the awareness of the need to roll up one's sleeves and help a man when it is most difficult has long since matured so much that it is one of the synonyms when this city is mentioned. and its inhabitants, said Mitar Vučković.
"Proof of this is the fact that today in Nikšić, 14 clubs and associations of voluntary blood donors are active, permanently or occasionally, gathered in the Committee for Voluntary Blood Donation of the Municipal Red Cross Organization of Nikšić, and that in the framework of organized actions annually, more are collected of 1.500 units of vital fluid".
Vučković reminded that the people of Nikšić "seriously approached" the percentage of voluntary blood donors in the total population of four percent, as recommended by the World Health Organization, and that they are especially proud of the fact that they managed to make the number of voluntary blood donations exceed the number of family donations.
He praised the responsibility, professionalism and dedication of the doctors and medical staff of the Nikšić Blood Transfusion Department, who, like the OO of the Red Cross, deserve great credit for the results that voluntary donors have been continuously achieving for years.
Veselin Gezović pointed out that bearing in mind the fact that every third person needs blood at least once during their life, it follows that the correct definition is that blood is a national resource of a country.
He said that since January 1, 3.300 people have applied to donate blood voluntarily in the town under Trebjes, and more than 60 percent of them gave the precious liquid unintentionally.
Bonus video:
