BLOOD DRIVE - January is Blood Donor Awareness Month. You’ll be seeing the LifeShare Mobile Blood Units out at Shopping Centers, businesses and other public locations. There’s always a need for human blood but this time of year it’s more critical than usual. Benjamin Prijatel is Senior Director of Blood Operations for LifeShare Blood Center in Shreveport, he explains why.
"Most of the blood we collect comes from when we go to businesses, high schools, colleges, places like that,"explained Prijatel. "People have gotten off from school or from work, so we haven't been able to get those blood donors in."
Each day area hospitals order several units of blood to meet daily medical needs ranging from cancer patients undergoing treatment, to elective surgeries and emergency trauma needs. But if blood supplies are low, non-emergency treatments may be postponed.
"There is no replacement for human blood,"said Prijatel. "We just rely on the sacrifice of time from individuals in our community who say I can get past my fear of needles, I can give 45 minutes because I know this is going to really make an impact in someone's life."
To find the nearest Blood donor site near you, go to the website: www.lifeshare.org, you can enter your zip code and see where the nearest location or mobile unit is for you to give blood. It should take about 45 minutes or so and ask a friend to come along.
