Blood donors needed as numbers decrease

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - Blood donations are down since the pandemic but your donations could save patients with life-threatening conditions.

Andrew Kimball is a regular blood donor.

“My family pretty much is all O-negative and so, anyone can take her blood and it’s so a good thing to do,” said Kimball.

He said donating his blood is a way he pays it forward in his community.

“Well, I’ve had family members who have had to have heart surgery before, who needed blood, and if people hadn’t donated blood, well, you know, we would have been in a pretty bad situation,” explained Kimball.

According to medical officials, blood donations are down 15 percent since the start of the pandemic.

“We’ve had probably a 15-to-20 percent decrease in the number of donations just for various reasons,” said Kevin Ford, a blood donor recruiter for the Our Lady of the Lake Blood Center. “People were scared to come to the hospital. Since the pandemic has kind of not been as severe, we’re still seeing a lack of donors. They’re not coming out.”

Ford said one person’s blood donation can save up to three lives.

“Whole blood donations are used for people that are in accidents or people that are sick with different blood-borne illnesses. Platelets are used for trauma victims, cancer treatments, and people that are transported with like severe life-threatening conditions,” explained Ford.

The need in our community gives people like Andrew enough reason to make plans to donate.

“It’s needed. And, I mean, it doesn’t cost anything. It’s a service to the community,” added Kimball.

RELATED: Join us in the Beat Bama blood drive

The OLOL Blood Center mobile donor bus will be at different locations each day this week.

Click here to report a typo.

Copyright 2022 WAFB. All rights reserved.