• Blood stocks, very insufficient at the start of the school year, led to a general mobilization to relaunch donations slowed by the health crisis.

  • A series of collections will be organized in the Rhône from next week to return to a normal stock of 1,400 bags per day.

  • Donors can make an appointment online on the EFS website, whether or not they are vaccinated: the health pass is not required.

Stocks are red.

Yet it is a color that the EFS (French Blood Establishment) would like to see in quantity, in the form of blood bags, which have become too rare since the start of the school year.

So much so that the EFS called at the end of September for a national mobilization to accelerate blood donations: effective, the campaign has not ended, however, and several regional collections continue to be set up, including one scope in Rhône-Alpes.

A decrease linked to reduced collections

The blood reserves show a critical drop: from 120,000 bags, we have fallen to 78,000.

The stocks depend on frequentation which has never been constant.

Autumn marks a usual shortage, accentuated this year because of collections refused by certain establishments, for paradoxically health reasons.

"The EFS has visited businesses, schools and higher education establishments less often than before the Covid-19", remarks Marie-Aude Baylé, Rhône-Ain territory developer at the EFS.

Teleworking has also played a role in the scarcity of donations: "Out of a hundred people who presented themselves for fundraising in a company, with teleworking we will see perhaps fifty return ..." To this is sometimes added a lack of personnel, which obliges to cancel certain dates.

A regional need of 1,400 donations per day

However, the blood needs are constant: "At the national level, we need 10,000 donations per day, and at the level of the Auvergne Rhône-Alpes region, 1,400 per day", details Marie-Aude Baylé, "This are daily minimums if we want to meet the needs of patients in all hospitals in the region, because blood products are also perishable, they have a lifespan of 42 days for red blood cells, and seven days for red blood cells. platelets, ”she explains.

Several collections are therefore organized in the Rhône department from next week, by appointment to optimize flows and ensure sanitary procedures: in Tassin-la-Demi-Lune on October 3, in Craponne on the 4, in Rillieux -la-Pape on the 5th, in Oullins on the 5th, in Ecully on the 8th and 9th (times, places and making appointments on the EFS website).

To attract even more volunteers, some will take place in exceptional venues, such as the Groupama Stadium on November 12 and the Lyon auditorium on December 13.

The health pass is not required

“No product can substitute for blood,” Marie-Aude Baylé reminds us, “we therefore need all groups.

The universal donor is O-, which corresponds to 36% of the French population, followed by A: these are the groups most in demand and the most used.

The rarer ones, like B- or AB, are less used, but also less in demand.

"

To donate blood, it is not necessary to present a health pass.

It is enough to be of age, to weigh at least 50 kg, to present an identity document and to be in good physical shape.

An eligibility test is prior to any donation.

And if your head turns at the sight of a bag filling with your precious blood, remember that 10,000 donations a day can save a million lives ...

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