Won't You Save Your Neighbor?

Glimmering snowy scenes, the smell of sugar cookies, the warmth from receiving a thoughtful card or gift from a loved one! It’s the most wonderful time of the year, even in 2020!

Iowans are famous for their generosity, and we’re pleased that the gift giving and spirit of community we’re known for has never been stronger. LifeServers aren’t letting the current COVID-19 pandemic keep them from donating blood, and we’re so thankful. Blood donation is a critical part of community healthcare that can’t take a break no matter what’s happening. Not only are we still collecting blood products for hospital patients with any number of illnesses or injuries, but LifeServe is also welcoming in convalescent plasma donors who can immediately provide a boost for local folks battling COVID-19 in our community medical centers.

Convalescent Plasma Donations

Convalescent plasma (CCP) donated by people who have recovered from COVID-19 or who test positive for COVID-19 antibodies can have an amazing impact on patient outcomes. Our medical partners vouch for its effectiveness and have helped us spread our message through many channels. Besides those professional testimonies, the number of orders for CCP coming in from hospitals speak for themselves. So do LifeServers who share their stories while taking their turn in the donor chair! By now we’ve lost count of the people who use their time in the donor chair to share their own powerful stories about their hospitalizations due to COVID-19 and how CCP set them on the right track. Even if a donor doesn’t have firsthand experience, they often know someone who has received CCP.

Take Susan Kasperbauer, one of our CCP donors. Little did she know when she shared her story with our LifeServe team members that she’d end up in the spotlight! Earlier this year she spent over a week at Methodist Medical Center, battling COVID-19 with the help of CCP provided by a LifeServe donor. Now fully recovered, she has not only gone above and beyond her goal of returning the favor by donating enough plasma to positively impact 12 local COVID-19 patients, but has become one of our CCP spokes-recipients! Last month Susan was featured on one of Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds’s press conferences, where she shared her story and inspired hundreds of people to reach out to schedule their own CCP appointments.

Maybe it’s the Iowa Nice or maybe it’s the drive to take back the power from this virus and end the year by packing a punch in the fight, but packed blood drives aren’t something we see often. However, in 2020 blood drive schedules have been filling up immediately as people rush to find out if they have COVID-19 antibodies in order to become a CCP donor. Those who aren’t eligible have been continuing to donate once they realize that it’s not just patients with the coronavirus who need transfusions. Every two seconds, someone in the United States needs a blood transfusion due to illness or injury. If anything positive can be said about it, this pandemic has helped drive home just how lifesaving blood products can be. We’re honored to have so many first-time or lapsed donors booking appointments, and of course, we’re always grateful for our regulars.

Blood donation is truly a lifesaving gift, and there’s no better time of the year to add it to your to-do list. Holiday meal prep? Check. Visit Santa? Check. Buy gifts? Check. Give the gift of life? Well, we can help you get that one accomplished!

We wish you a merry holiday season and a safe and healthy winter. We hope your spirit of giving endures into 2021! Once this pandemic is over, we’ll still need our Greater Des Moines (DSM) community members to keep the spirit of giving going. LifeServe Blood Center provides blood products to more than 120 hospitals for everyday situations that will unfortunately never go away: blood transfusions are a treatment for many every day illnesses and injuries. Whether it’s a premature baby at Iowa Methodist Medical Center, a cancer patient at Blank’s Children Hospital, a burn victim at MercyOne or any number of other local folks in local hospitals, it’s blood donated with LifeServe Blood Center that’s saving DSM lives.

You can count on The Partnership to continue to share accurate and fact-based updates. See more on COVID-19 here.