Lafayette Journal & Courier

Giving blood has new rewards

April 8, 2008

(College of Liberal Arts) -- Carol Sikler already has all the motivation she needs to donate blood.

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When her late husband, Chuck, got sick in 2000, he was given 68 units of blood in just one hospital stay. The whole family was grateful for the donated blood available to him.

Sikler of Lafayette first signed up as a blood donor in high school and now visits the Indiana Blood Center every other week to donate platelets. But with fewer than 10 percent of the population doing so on a regular basis, blood centers need an extra push to keep up the supply.

That is one reason the Indiana Blood Center just launched DonorPoint, a rewards program for frequent donors.

"We hope this will show there's a constant need," said Penny Schroeder, manager of the blood center's Lafayette and Kokomo substations. "And we can let (our donors) know we appreciate them year-round."

Len Wilson of Lafayette recently signed up for DonorPoint. He's been a regular donor for years, in gratitude for blood he received after an injury he suffered in Vietnam.

But Wilson likes DonorPoint because, in addition to earning points toward electronics or other rewards, he can use the Web site to keep track of his cholesterol.

"It helps me quite a bit," Wilson said. "I take the report to my doctor and let him see my progress. I'm impressed to see that kind of thing."

Gina Kornafel, field representative with the Indiana Blood Center, said the DonorPoint site also gives donors tools to track when they're eligible to give blood again and where drives are being held. They can even schedule an appointment online, she said.

Schroeder said the incentives program is not unique to Hoosier blood banks; it's being used in other parts of the country.

Marifran Mattson, an associate professor of health communication at Purdue, said incentive programs can be very effective if done correctly, by offering rewards people really want.

"The fact that people are seeing more and more of these types of incentive programs ... like credit card points, insurance companies, it makes sense the blood center would try it as well," she said.

Donors cannot be paid for their blood under the U.S. Food and Drug Administration guidelines. Studies have shown volunteer donors provide a safer blood supply, according to the nonprofit network America's Blood Centers.

Staff with the Indiana Blood Center say most donors come in to help save lives -- not for the stuff.

Still, they've been grateful for local businesses who contribute gift cards, food, coupons or other tokens to give donors in the past, especially during times of year when the blood supply is typically low.

The summer months are usually lean for the Indiana Blood Center, but Kornafel is encouraged by the 1,729 people who signed up for DonorPoint last week when it began.

She pointed to statistics that show if just 1 percent more of the eligible blood-donor population gave regularly, "blood shortages would disappear."

Sikler hopes that will happen soon.

"My experience has a whole lot to do with it," she said. "I think until a person is forced to watch someone they love with a red tube in their arm, it doesn't mean as much to them.

"But there's no good excuse not to do it."