LAFAYETTE PARISH — January is National Blood Donor Month, and officials with Our Lady of Lourdes Regional Medical Center are encouraging Acadiana residents to make blood donation part of their New Year’s resolutions as winter demand continues to strain supplies.
Every January, Lourdes hosts a winter employee blood drive across its facilities, with staff donating to help maintain stable blood levels during what officials describe as one of the most challenging seasons of the year.
“Every holiday season, it’s our winter employee blood drive,” said Suzy Picard, blood donation supervisor with Lourdes. “The employees of Lourdes facilities participate facility-wide to give back and help keep those blood needs where they need to be during these hard seasons.”
While hospital employees play a key role, Picard said the community is essential to meeting long-term needs, especially as longtime donors age out of eligibility.
“We want to encourage the public to give, because we do need new donors,” Picard said. “There are donors who have donated their whole life and now they can’t, and others who donated for a little while and can’t anymore. We need people to fill those shoes continually.”
Picard said donating is a simple process open to most healthy adults. Donors must be at least 17 years old, weigh 115 pounds, and pass a brief health screening.
“The actual collection process is about 15 minutes,” she said. “The interview is about 10 to 15 minutes, depending on questions, but generally within a 30-minute window, you’re done.”
Residents can donate at the Lourdes Blood Center or at one of the system’s mobile blood buses, which regularly travel throughout Acadiana. Just look for the blue and white bus!
Picard said many first-time donors are surprised by how easy the experience is.
“In just about every case, people say, ‘That’s it? I can’t believe I waited this long,’” she said. “It’s not as bad as everyone thinks, and they usually want to do it again.”
Beyond helping save lives, Lourdes donors can also apply their donation toward defraying medical costs for patients receiving care at Lourdes, Ochsner, or Lake hospitals.
“You can apply your blood donation to help with medical expenses,” Picard said. “It was designed for catastrophic medical costs, but it can be applied more broadly. Just ask when you donate.”
Donors also receive incentives, including exclusive T-shirts and reward points that can be redeemed through an online donor store/app available for download.
“We do have the best T-shirts,” Picard said. “You can’t buy them — you have to give blood.”
