Héma-Québec using virtual reality to recruit new donors

Héma-Québec is turning to virtual reality to alleviate fears about donating blood and encourage potential donors to make an appointment.

The organization is launching an immersive pilot project on Wednesday where participants will be able to familiarize themselves with the donation process through a virtual reality headset and controller.

The first phase of the initiative will be deployed during recruitment activities across Quebec, as well as at the Saint-Bruno donor centre in Montérégie, and at the Globule de Sainte-Foy in Quebec City, for a few hours a week.

Designed in collaboration with the Quebec firm OVA, the experience will allow users to immerse themselves “in an animated universe realistically reproducing a donation center,” said Héma-Québec.

“The experience lasts around 10-15 minutes,” explains Patrice Lavoie, director of public relations and outreach at Héma-Québec. “We go through all the stages of a donor’s journey. It goes from being welcomed to filling out a questionnaire, the appointment with the nurse, the donation in itself and the rest period with the snack.”

Throughout the virtual journey, participants will be accompanied by avatars representing staff.

Héma-Québec believes that lack of knowledge of the process is one of the main obstacles to donating, recalling that only three per cent of adults in Quebec donate blood.

The organization hopes the initiative will also help to defuse fears among those who are hesitant or who have never thought of donating.

“It’s an additional tool,” said Lavoie. “It’s certain that it doesn’t replace our good staff members who can answer questions, who know the processes well and who are very reassuring.”

However, “it’s a way of getting closer to people who are not donors” and giving them the idea of becoming one.

Depending on the success of the first phase of the pilot project, the virtual reality experience could be offered in other centres and for longer periods of time.

Héma-Québec says it has not ruled out the possibility of using this approach to demystify plasma and platelet donations.

—This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French and translated by CityNews.