Gatineau and surrounding area – We need arms

Gatineau, June 15, 2016—Héma-Québec must reach 500 donations per week at its Gatineau PLASMAVIE-GLOBULE Plasma and Blood Donor Lounge by March 31, 2017. But with only 30% of the objective reached two and a half months after the donation centre opened, it is clear that Héma-Québec is in need of arms if the Bellehumeur Street centre is to meet its target.

As of the beginning of June, about 125 plasma donations and 25 blood donations are collected each week whereas the centre can accommodate up to 500 donors per week. We are therefore looking at a deficit of close to 350 donations per week, which can only be made up if a significant number of new donors show up to donate.

Héma-Québec is therefore launching a call specifically to the donors in the area. With the PLASMAVIE-GLOBULE Donor Lounge located near the Promenades Gatineau shopping centre and Costco, Héma-Québec invites area donors to follow the example of local plasma donor Yan Michaud, who takes an hour to make a plasma donation whenever he is in the Gatineau area. “I make a donation every two weeks in the morning before I go to work. It’s simple, it’s fun to meet people and, most importantly, it saves lives,” Michaud says.

The yearly objective of 20,000 plasma donations in Gatineau is very important to enable patients to obtain preparations made using proteins from the plasma collected. The needs are substantial. Héma-Québec will have to collect more than 200,000 litres of plasma per year by 2020 to meet these needs. Currently, 72,000 litres are collected by Héma-Québec. By meeting its objective, the Gatineau PLASMAVIE-GLOBULE would provide some 15,000 litres of this precious blood component.

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