Vitalant Honors Veterans: Donate Blood in Honor of a Veteran

LAFAYETTE, LA (11/6/2020) — This Veterans Day, Vitalant encourages the public to donate blood

in honor of veterans who have served the country. Veterans were willing to give their blood to keep

America safe, and one way to honor their service is by donating blood.

Donors who visit the Lafayette donation center at 1503 Bertrand Drive between Saturday, 11/7 and

Wednesday, 11/11 will be provided a card on which to write the name of a loved one who is a

veteran. These names will be on display within the center through Veterans Day. We encourage

donors to make an appointment by visiting vitalant.org or by calling 877-25-VITAL.

Urgent Needs

Blood and platelet donations often drop during the holiday months as fewer donors are available

because of seasonal activities and illnesses, but this year the outlook is particularly worrisome. With

many schools transitioned to virtual learning and businesses in work-from-home situations, about

1,600 Vitalant blood drives have already been canceled for November and December.

Currently there is an urgent need for O-negative blood, the universal blood type that all patients can

receive. O-negative donors can maximize their impact by giving a Power Red donation.

All Blood Donations are Tested for COVID-19 Antibodies

Vitalant continues to test blood and platelet donations for COVID-19 antibodies to find potential

donors who could give convalescent plasma in the future. Donors whose blood tests positive for

antibodies can help a COVID-19 patient with their plasma while their other blood components could

help a cancer patient, trauma victim or someone with another serious medical condition. Testing

positive for antibodies also puts donors on a unique track to donate convalescent plasma regularly –

and join others as part of the COVID Rescue Team – to help even more COVID-19 patients.

About Vitalant

Vitalant ("Vye-TAL-ent") is a national community blood service provider, supplying comprehensive

transfusion medicine services for nearly 1,000 hospitals and health care partners for patients in need

across 40 states. Vitalant inspires local communities to serve the needs of others and transform lives

through the selfless act of donating blood. Every day, almost 5,000 blood donations are needed to

meet the needs of people throughout the country, and Vitalant's 800,000 donors supply 1.8 million

donations a year. In addition to blood products, Vitalant offers customers transfusion services,

medical consulting, quality guidance, ongoing education, research and more. For more information

and to schedule a donation, visit vitalant.org or call 877-25-VITAL (877-258-4825). Join the

conversation about impacting the lives of others on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. To learn more

about Vitalant's COVID-19 efforts, visit vitalant.org/COVIDfree

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