Trois-Rivières and surrounding areas – More arms are needed

Montréal, November 17, 2015 — Héma-Québec must reach 13,500 donations at its Trois-Rivières PLASMAVIE Plasma Donor Lounge by March 31, 2016. However, with the deadline four and a half months away and only a little over a third of the objective reached, it is clear that Héma-Québec needs more arms in order for the Kruger street centre to achieve its target.

On October 31, 4,995 donations had been made, compared to the 7,875 donations planned. This represents a deficit of close to 3,000 donations, a number that will only keep growing unless a significant number of new donors decide to donate.

Last April, our supply planning team estimated that 650 new plasma donors would have to be recruited in a one-year span. Opération 650 was therefore launched to recruit such a number of donors.

In November 2015, there are 350 new donors. It’s a good start, but we also have to take into account the departure of some donors, whether due to exclusion or other circumstances. Héma-Québec is therefore appealing to donors from Trois-Rivières, Bécancour, Shawinigan, Grand-Mère and Louiseville. With the PLASMAVIE Plasma Donor Lounge located near the Carrefour Trois-Rivières Ouest shopping centre and Costco, Héma-Québec invites donors in the area to follow the example of a plasma donor from Bécancour, Gilles Carpentier, and take an hour out of their shopping trips or visits to Trois-Rivières to make a plasma donation. “Since you can donate once a week, I make a donation each time I go shopping in Trois-Rivières. It’s simple, nice to meet people and most importantly, it saves lives,” Mr. Carpentier says.

The annual objective of 13,500 donations at the Trois-Rivières centre is very important to provide patients with the medications made with the collected plasma. The needs are considerable. Héma-Québec will have to collect more than 200,000 litres of plasma per year by 2020 to meet these needs. Currently, 55,000 litres are collected by Héma-Québec. By reaching its objective of 13,500 donations, the Trois-Rivières PLASMAVIE would make it possible to supply approximately 10,000 litres of this precious blood component.  

Fact Sheet (PDF in French, 1.3 MB)

About Héma-Québec

Héma-Québec’s mission is to efficiently meet the needs of Québec population for safe, optimal-quality blood and blood products, human tissues, cord blood, mother’s milk and cellular products; to develop and provide expertise and specialized, innovative services in the field of human biological products. Héma-Québec encompasses 1,300 employees, some 3,000 blood drives and more than 160,000 blood donors every year, 16,000 volunteers and more than 500,000 blood products delivered annually to Québec hospitals to meet the needs of patients.

Give blood. Give life.

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Source and information:

Héma-Québec
Media line | 514 832-0871
www.hema-quebec.qc.ca