Héma-Québec Launches Operation 650 in Trois-Rivières

650 New Plasma Donors Needed in the Region

Trois-Rivières, April 9, 2015 – This year, the budget for plasma-based drugs will increase by almost 12%. To meet this need, Héma-Québec must adjust its strategy to collect more plasma. Today, Héma-Québec is launching Operation 650, a campaign to recruit 650 new donors for the PLASMAVIE Plasma Donor Lounge in Trois-Rivières.

Between now and March 31, 2016, Héma-Québec hopes to collect more than 13,500 plasma donations. This can be done if every donor recruited attains PLASMAVIE’s current average of eight donations per donor/year.

The target is an ambitious one, given that attendance at regular blood donor clinics in Trois-Rivières, Bécancour, Nicolet, Shawinigan and Grand-Mère has declined by almost 15% in the past year: 10,744 donations in 2014 compared with 12,404 the previous year.

To date, a total of 1,056 donors have come to give at this first, one-of-a-kind Donor Centre devoted entirely to collecting plasma for use in the manufacture of pharmaceuticals. Héma-Québec sees Operation 650 as a unique opportunity to help increase Québec’s self-sufficiency in plasma fractionation. The ultimate goal is to increase the current rate of 14.8% to 30% between now and 2020.

“Accessing Québec plasma is strategic for the thousands of patients who depend on drugs for which plasma is vital. The Trois-Rivières area contributes in a decisive way to Héma-Québec’s supply. The challenge being issued today to the area’s donors is ambitious, but the people of the Mauricie region have always responded in exemplary fashion and we hope that they will continue to do so now,” says Marco Décelles, interim CEO, Vice-President and COO of Héma-Québec.

In the wake of the success of the PLASMAVIE Plasma Donor Lounge in Trois-Rivières, Héma-Québec will be opening new Donor Centres in the Saguenay, Sherbrooke and Gatineau regions in the coming year.

For more information about the PLASMAVIE Plasma Donor Lounge: www.plasmavie.ca or 1-888-666-HEMA (4362), extension 5408.

About Héma-Québec

Héma-Québec’s mission is to efficiently meet the needs of the Québec population for safe, optimal-quality blood and blood products, human tissues, cord blood, mother’s milk and cellular products; and to develop and provide expertise and specialized, innovative services in the field of human biological products. Héma-Québec encompasses 1,300 employees, over 300,000 donor visits to blood drives per 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