When should you donate blood? NOW

BATON ROUGE, LA (WAFB) - If you are in good health, you can donate blood. So what are you waiting for?

A healthy person that’s 17 or older can donate blood every eight weeks, up to six times a year.

Each unit of blood can help save up to three lives. That means if you donate six times a year, you could potentially be saving 18 lives. Make that even more lives saved if you’re also donating platelets. That’s superhero status.

The point Our Lady of the Lake (OLOL) wants to drive home is that there is a constant need for donations. That’s why WAFB is proud to partner with Our Lady of the Lake (OLOL) for the Beat Bama Blood Drive.

According to Jay Thomas with OLOL Blood Donor Services, there’s a natural ebb and flow to people’s giving spirit, but he says no matter what time of year, there’s always a need for more blood, and for all blood types.

“You’ll see better collections leading up to the holidays, but collections fall off during the holidays,” he said.

While holidays are considered the most giving time of year, Thomas says that giving blood often drops off quite a bit from November through January.

“In the days approaching Thanksgiving and in between Christmas and New Years, those are often very lonely days for us here in the donor center,” he said.

“We don’t see many donors but it is a real important time, so if everyone can just make one donation between that week it would be huge.”

For more information about blood donation, or to speak to a blood donor recruiter at OLOL, call(225) 765-8843.

Please consider donating blood today or during the Beat Bama Blood Drive. CLICK HERE for times and locations to find WAFB and the OLOL mobile units during the drive.

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