This holiday season, Share a unique gift

Give blood. Give life.

Montreal, December 1st 2008 – Héma-Québec invites all Quebecers to give blood during its holiday season campaign, Share a unique gift. Give blood. Give life., which will be ongoing from December 1st 2008 to January 11th 2009. A simple gift of blood can help save up to four lives.

Donating blood is in effect the best gift one can give to patients who require one or more blood transfusions to recover health. Even during the holiday season, the need for blood is a daily concern. It is therefore important to keep this sharing network going, so that blood products remain available to patients. Héma-Québec must collect 1,000 blood donations per day to meet the needs of the province’s hospitals. These donations are necessary to treat haemorrhages due to road accidents, premature babies, cancer patients and serious burn victims. This precious gift of blood touches the lives of 80,000 Quebecers every year.

To give blood
In order to allow large numbers of people to give blood and to contribute to the province’s blood supply, Héma-Québec and its partners will be present in several regions of Québec, including many shopping centres. To find out where blood drives will be taking place, donors may consult the Blood Drives section on Héma-Québec’s website at www.hema-quebec.qc.ca or may call 1-800-343-SANG (7264). They can also make an appointment at one of the three GLOBULE Blood Donor Centres.

Any healthy person, aged 18 years or older who meets Héma-Québec’s eligibility criteria can give blood every 56 days, up to six times a year. To see if they are eligible to give blood, potential donors may call 1-800-847-2525 or visit the Blood Donation section on Héma-Québec’s website.

About Héma-Québec