“Make an appointment and go donate your blood” in the Var, temperatures have never been lower

Another victim of the health crisis: blood donation. The French Blood Establishment (EFS) is sounding the alarm: the reserve level is the lowest for twenty years. The cause: the virus, the loss of the habit, but also more difficult collections to carry out.

For Alexander Talamoni, Var and Alpes-Maritimes development manager for the EFS, there is a “vital emergency” for donors to get involved again, and in the long term.

What is the situation?

A vital emergency. Stocks have never been lower in twenty years. Our national reserves are under 70,000 bags of blood, we will need 30,000 in three weeks, otherwise we may not be able to meet the needs of the sick.

How did we get to this point?

In the Alpes-Maritimes and the Var as everywhere, we had a drop in donations. Donors are moving less to our collections and we ourselves have been impacted in our organization: Covid-positive collaborators, canceled collections, difficulties in finding municipal rooms, now transformed into vaccination centers…

Donors are less available: either directly because of the Omicron contamination, or indirectly: a nursery or a closed classroom, telecommuting with children at home…

All this makes it possible to collect fewer pockets of blood.

People have also lost the habit…

That’s why we are launching an appeal: the population must mobilize. Many people are in favor of donating blood, but do not take action, postpone the deadline.

There, we want to tell them: make an appointment, and go for it! We don’t have to wait, otherwise we never do. Take action!

Why donate blood?

This makes it possible to meet the needs of patients in health facilities. There is no artificial blood, which makes this cause irreplaceable. Every day, health facilities need it for children, adults, the elderly. Everyone can need it. After an accident, surgery, during cancer treatment, sometimes during childbirth…

Every day, 10,000 pockets are used. It would be necessary to have a volume of 100,000 pockets to anticipate. And the blood keeps no more than 42 days. So we can’t do like the Telethon: launch a call to stock up for the year. It takes regular donations and from all blood groups, to have the right products at the right time.

Who can give?

It is necessary to be between 18 and 71 years old, weigh at least 50 kg, come with an identity document and especially not to be on an empty stomach. It is necessary to drink well and eat right before.

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