Discover Lafayette welcomes Amanda Landers, Regional Director of Vitalant.

Vitalant, formed in 1943, was formally known as United Blood Services and is one of the nation's largest non-profit blood transfusion organizations. Vitalant has served as our area’s community blood provider since 1954, serving the blood needs of patients in over 27 parishes and 31 hospitals in Louisiana.  

Landers has worked at Vitalant since her college intern days when she was studying public relations at UL - Lafayette. Originally from Victoria, British Columbia, Landers came to Lafayette in 1998 to play tennis on a four-year scholarship. She fell in love with the people and culture and has made this her permanent home along with her husband and three children.

Amanda Landers and family. A native of Victoria, British Columbia, Landers came to Lafayette in 1998 to play tennis on a four-year scholarship at UL - Lafayette. She fell in love with the people and culture and has made this her permanent home along with her husband and three children.

Most people don't think about donating blood until they have a family member or friend in need. Yet, as Landers puts it, "The blood on the shelf is what saves lives at the time of need." By the time you can donate blood, your loved one has already been supplied with what they need from existing donor blood on the shelf.

Blood and its components have a very limited shelf life. Red blood cells have a refrigerated shelf life of 42 days. Platelets last five days, and plasma can be frozen for up to one year. Anyone over the age of 16 can donate blood, with the average donor being between the ages of 36 to 55 years old; some healthy people give blood well into their 90s, knowing that their contribution is saving lives.

Jennifer LeMeunier, a local resident, giving blood at Vitalant. It takes about seven minutes to give blood, and 45 minutes of your time from start to finish to be screened and complete the donor process. Visit Vitalant to sign up and enlist your family and friends to join you!

Vitalant is encouraging youth to build the habit of giving with the hope of building the next generation of loyal donors. Donors can give red blood cells every eight weeks and platelets can be donated every seven days.

Donor blood is screened and processed for infectious diseases. As of June 1, 2020, all blood is tested for COVID antibodies. After your donation, you can visit Vitalant's donor profile to determine if you have antibodies to COVID which means you have recovered from the disease. Many people have not even known they've had the disease. If you are identified as one who has had COVID, you will be encouraged to donate convalescent plasma to help others who are struggling with COVID. This plasma has been found particularly helpful in treating patients with early-stage coronavirus.

The COVID shutdown and resulting behavioral changes and school shutdowns have drastically affected the blood donations being collected nationwide. Most hospitals don't "self-collect" blood, plasma, and platelets, and are dependent on the supply kept on hand by blood banks around the U. S.

Most of the nation's blood supply, 60% on average, is collected at mobile sites, with 40% of those donations coming from drives held at educational institutions such as elementary, middle school, high school, and college campuses. With most campuses shut down due to COVID, this avenue of collecting donations has dwindled dramatically.

This trend in reduced blood donations has been alarming apparent here in South Louisiana where it is expected that there will be 12,000 to 14,000 fewer red cell pints collected in 2020 than in a typical year pre-COVID.