When you give blood you give another birthday, another anniversary, another day at the beach, another night under the stars, another talk with a friend, another laugh, another hug, another chance.
-- American Red Cross
Those of you who read this column regularly know that I have a heart for blood donation. It's a charitable act that really only requires about an hour or so every 56 days -- only an hour to possibly save a life or two.
Unlike the donations made at for-profit plasma donation centers, it's not something you do for money. It's for the common good -- plain and simple. And I do get a good feeling afterward, while I'm eating pretzels or having a cookie at the recovery table.
Late last fall I had scheduled a platelet donation, which had to be done at the Red Cross building by the Little Rock Zoo off of Fair Park Boulevard. I drove over after work, went through all the pre-donation rigmarole only to find out my iron level was too low.
I will admit I get disappointed when I can't donate. I raided the snack room and headed home to Sherwood. The afternoon traffic was horrible, which didn't help my mood any.
But I am still a staunch supporter of blood donation.
Since then, the American Red Cross Greater Ozarks transferred the Arkansas Blood Region to Arkansas Blood Institute. And, just like the Red Cross, the institute needs those who can to pitch in and help in Arkansas.
The donated blood is provided to more than 40 medical facilities across the state, including CHI St. Vincent, UAMS Medical Center, Baptist, Arkansas Heart Hospital and others in the Little Rock area.
Arkansas Blood Institute's mission is "to be the donor-to-patient lifeline; providing our communities and medical partners security by meeting transfusion and health care needs."
According to a letter I received in late February, donor information from Red Cross files was entered into the Blood Institute's database to make this transition as smooth as possible for those who want to continue being donors. I haven't donated since last year, but I plan to.
I always gave blood at the North Little Rock location, but the Red Cross reduced the hours of operation and it got harder and harder for me to get there. I will hit a blood drive if I run across one.
There are institute donation centers in several cities. They include:
• 101 S. Shackleford Road, Suite 2, Little Rock
• 4548 John F. Kennedy Blvd., Suite 6, North Little Rock
• 149 Section Line Road, Suite G, Keystone Crossing Plaza, Hot Springs
• 1003 W. Main St., Russellville
• 5300 S. U St., Fort Smith
I found information on the website arkbi.org about what they call donor benefit plans, which cover donors for a year after every blood donation. If the donor has a health problem that requires a transfusion and insurance won't cover the blood-processing fees, the plan does.
The Individual Benefit Plan begins with the first donation. It covers certain processing fees for an individual donor and/or the donor's tax dependents.
There is a Donor Group Benefit Plan for groups. To qualify, a donor group must have annual blood donations equal to or greater than 25 percent of its member or employee count.
The Credit to Patient Plan is for people who don't qualify for the aforementioned plans. In this, the donor specifies a patient to receive credit for possible reimbursement of blood-processing fees.
Once hospital or doctor bills start rolling in, the plan reimburses for uncovered portions of blood processing fees.
There is a lot of information on the website, and the institute has representatives available at (877) 340-8777 to answer questions.
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ActiveStyle on 04/09/2018