While winter slows blood donors, need lasts all year for patients
SOUTH BEND — The blood donation chaises were mostly idle Wednesday while Raymond Melichar took his familiar spot to donate platelets at the South Bend Medical Foundation's Blood Center
The 86-year-old former 8th grade math teacher from South Bend thought he's donated 400 or 450 times over the decades, a feat he says was brought to home for him one day when he heard the story of a mother and her 4-year-old son.
Many platelet donors were honored with a luncheon a while back, and Melichar heard a mother's tale of her son who battled cancer at a year old. She told the donor group that if it was not for the donations like his, her son would not be alive.
More: Hurricanes, back-to-school woes slow blood donations in South Bend area. Here's how to donate.
"When I sit here, I think of this little boy," Melichar said. That boy has graduated high school, Melichar said, a fact that he says stays with him as he donates.
January is a particularly tough month for donation centers like the Medical Foundation and the drives planned by the American Red Cross.
"According to the American Red Cross, winter is one of the most difficult times of year to collect enough blood products to meet patient needs," a press release from the Children's Organ Transplant Association says. "That is because, among other things, busy holiday schedules and harsh weather often result in canceled blood drives. Furthermore, seasonal illnesses such as the flu force potential donors to forgo their blood donations."
The donor recruitment and community awareness manager at the Medical Foundation, Colleen Hahn said that even though January is National Volunteer Blood Donor Month for those reasons, every month is critical in getting blood donations for local hospitals.
The numbers back her up. According to COTA, "Each day, the Red Cross must collect 13,000 pints of blood across the country to meet the needs of patients."
Hahn contends there's many personal distractions year round when it comes to the decision to donate blood. And although blood centers have traditionally offered perks such as gift cards, T-shirts and other enticements, Hahn feels the "gimme" mentality has obscured the true reasons to give blood.
"The thing with those (promotions) are that those are not donated," Hahn said. "We purchase those, and there's already quite an expense for processing. So I am trying to get away from that and really get back to the importance of why donating blood is so important."
"Donating blood saves lives, and we say that a lot and it kind of just rolls off the tongue," she said. "But it's the truth. There are people who are walking among us because there was blood when they needed it."
And Hahn also dispels the myth that people should only donate blood and blood products when a crisis happens.
"If something happens, it's, 'What can I do? I'll go down and donate,'" Hahn said. "But it's almost too late for that person. For if nobody had done that (blood donation) up front for that person, there would be no blood on hand when they needed it. You don't know when those things are going to happen."
A new emphasis
The Medical Foundation still wants to honor donors with incentives, such as drawings for fewer but larger gift cards, and other measures, Hahn said. Officials hope to schedule more off-site blood drives to augment the blood centers set up in Goshen, the south side of South Bend and at the center on Douglas Road. The blood collected by the Medical Foundation goes to Memorial Hospital, St. Joseph Regional Medical Center and Elkhart General Hospital.
In addition, Hahn suggested prospective donors who may have been deferred from donating in the past should check again, because advancements in screening have changed the safety rules for those who give.
"The things that people were deferred for 5, 10 years ago are not deferrals for some of them," she said. "Things are changing. Travel is less of a deferral. Tattoos are not a year (deferral) anymore. So those things change."
Want to donate?
Medical Foundation will hold the following drives. Register at givebloodnow.com:
Hardware Plus, 611 Lincoln Way W., Osceola, 2 to 6 p.m. Jan. 5.
Walkerton/Lincoln Twp. Public Library, 406 Adams Road, Walkerton, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Jan. 5.
Lakeville Community, Palmer Community Complex, 601 N. Michigan St., Lakeville, 2:30 to 6:30 p.m. Jan. 9.
Martell Services Group, 4601 Cleveland Road, South Bend, 1 to 5 p.m. Jan. 11.
The American Red Cross will hold the following drives. Register at redcrossblood.org:
First Church of God, 2020 E. Lincolnway, LaPorte, noon to 6 p.m. CST Jan. 8.
Innovation Park at Notre Dame, 1400 E. Angela Blvd., South Bend, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Jan. 9.
Northside Baptist Church, 53198 County Road 9, Elkhart, 1:30 to 6 p.m. Jan. 9.
Purdue University Northwest–Westville Campus, Library Student Faculty Building, Room 144, 1401 S. U.S. 421, Westville, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. CST Jan. 9.
Fireman’s Building, 1013 E. Arthur St., Warsaw, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Jan. 9.
Oak Creek Community Church, 833 Lincoln Way E., Mishawaka, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Jan. 10.
The Acorn, 107 Generations Drive, Three Oaks, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Jan. 10.
Silver Beach Center, 333 Broad St., St. Joseph, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Jan. 10.
Seventh-Day Adventist Church, 3115 Niles Buchanan Road, Buchanan, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Jan. 11.
Plymouth Fire Department, 111 N. Center St., Plymouth, 1 to 6 p.m. Jan. 11.
Peace Lutheran Church, 3590 Lincoln Ave., St. Joseph, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Jan. 11.
Email Tribune staff writer Greg Swiercz at gswiercz@sbtinfo.com.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: South Bend area blood donations slow in January
