No matter what time of year it is, blood donations are vital to the health of Quad City residents. Lori Arguello, Director of Marketing and PR at ImpactLife, spoke with Our Quad City News via Zoom to discuss the importance of donations and why they’re looking for more donors.
“The need for blood is constant,” said Arguello. “I think that one thing that people don’t realize is that the biggest users of blood are cancer patients. A lot of people require blood transfusions as part of their treatment to help them tolerate chemotherapy. The need is always there (but) what we’re seeing is that we don’t have the appointments on our schedules to meet that need.” Donors go on vacation or have hectic holiday schedules, which affects the units of blood available.
The group works to keep a continuous supply available to hospitals and clinics by offering rewards for donating. “What we try to do is offer incentives and fundraisers for people to come in to try blood donation,” said Arguello. “There’s never been a better time to give blood this month. We have a special promotion where first-time donors get a $25 gift card and that’s in addition to our March promotion. That is our most popular t-shirt, our Saint Patrick’s Day t-shirt.” Donors may choose another gift card instead or donate to a program called Good Giving, where they can use the points that they earn in the group’s store or donate it to the National Forest Foundation, which plants trees on their behalf. “We’re always looking for different ways to reach new donors and inspire people to try blood donation.”
“I think people may not realize that we have a reward store,” she said. “Every time you donate blood, you are earning points in our store. We have all sorts of things on there; we have different t-shirts, we have jackets, all sorts of merchandise there. This is just a nice way to really motivate different donors.”
While donations of any blood type are welcome, there are some types that are in higher need than others. “O negative and O positive, those are our universal blood types and those are what are stacked on hospital emergency room shelves,” said Arguello. “The need for those two types is constant. We can never have enough type O blood, so if you are an O blood donor and haven’t tried blood donation, this is your opportunity to try that.”
There are a few tips that will make donating easier. Donors should have a full stomach, be properly hydrated and get a good night’s sleep the evening before they donate.
Click here to find a nearby donation site. The process takes less time than people may think. “It takes under an hour; the actual blood donation is less than 10 minutes,” said Arguello. “Most of it is your mini physical, you have a health questionnaire and then it’s post donation snacks. The donation is actually the shortest part of the entire process.”
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