LifeShare Blood Center is calling on blood donors to help our neighbors in South Louisiana who've been affected by historic flooding.
"With the flood-related problems, it's resulted in blood drive cancellations and blood center closures in South Louisiana," said Karen Siefert, donor recruiter at the local LifeShare. "LifeShare Blood Centers are asking for more blood donors where road conditions are safe to help support more patients in the areas impacted by the flood."
"Blood donations made in days prior to the flooding have been vital in supporting patient needs, but the supply is being quickly depleted," Siefert said. "I need people to come in here and donate blood because they've lost hundreds of anticipated blood donations. In the current conditions in South Louisiana, there's no way they can supply blood to their area, and they're calling and begging us for help daily. They can't do anything for their hospitals, so we're sending blood to them."
Baton Rouge may repay the favor to Texarkana at some point.
"We have a blood center there that's part of LifeShare, so if something ever happened in Texarkana, they would help us," Siefert said.
Response to the crisis in this community has been good so far.
"We have seen an increase in donors and I know people get tired of hearing us say, 'We need, we need, we need,' but it's an ongoing need every day," Siefert said.
Donating blood takes 30 to 45 minutes. Donors will get snacks, a T-shirt and be entered into a drawing to win Super Bowl tickets.
"You can't beat that," Siefert said.
LifeShare is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday and from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday. Walk-ins are welcome. To make an appointment, call 903-794-3173.