Abbott Vietnam's employees donate blood in Hà Nội to celebrate World Blood Donor Day (June 14). — VNS Photo Thanh Hải

HÀ NỘI — Abbott healthcare company and Blood Centers of America, the largest blood supplier network in the United States, have launched a first-of-its-kind mixed reality blood donation experience in Việt Nam.

The experience is already available at some blood donation centres in New York, Chicago, Columbus, Houston and Dallas, and will continue to roll out to blood donation centres across the US in 2024.

For the first time, this mixed reality experience is being introduced to Abbott employees in Việt Nam to help enhance their blood donation experience during the company's internal blood donation events. The organiser collected more than 200 units of blood at two blood donation events in HCM City on June 12 and in Hà Nội on June 14.

The events are being held to celebrate World Blood Donor Day, June 14. It is one of many efforts from the company to provide employees with opportunities to help change people’s lives for the better.

Abbott Vietnam's employees experience mixed reality technology while donating blood. — VNS Photo Thanh Hải

The mixed reality experience is designed to make donation more fun and relaxing, providing a distraction to donors who might be apprehensive about donating or who have never donated.

Mixed reality is similar to virtual reality, but allows users to see the real world around them. Participants wear lightweight mixed reality headsets to enter a digital world with colourful plants and soothing music but remain fully aware of their surroundings, ensuring a safe donation.

The mixed reality experience is scientifically proven to help ease feelings of anxiety, based on results from a recent study published in the medical journal Transfusion. The most common fears reported in the study were a fear of pain, needles, fainting and how one may feel after donation.

The results show Abbott and BCA’s mixed reality experience helped relieve reported anxiety for most people who tried it while donating blood. In donors with pre-donation anxiety, the use of mixed reality decreased anxiety in 68.4 per cent of donors. 89.2 per cent of donors reported they were very or extremely likely to donate again.

The mixed reality experience allows blood donation professionals to conduct the donation and interact with donors at every step of the process. Donors’ eyes are always visible during donation to ensure constant monitoring and evaluation.

Being a leader in transfusion medicine, Abbott works with blood and plasma centres to screen more than 60 per cent of the world’s blood supply, helping to keep the global blood supply safe.

Abbott is a diversified healthcare company. Their portfolio of life-changing technologies spans the wide spectrum of healthcare, with leading businesses and products in diagnostics, medical devices, nutritionals and medicines.

Being in Việt Nam for nearly three decades, Abbott and the Abbott Fund have invested nearly VNĐ280 billion (over US$12 million) to help address critical health issues, with a focus on improving nutrition, preventing and treating chronic diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular problems, training medical professionals and raising public awareness on healthcare. — VNS