Honouring Black History Month by saving lives: Round Table & Héma-Québec partner again for 16th blood drive

This Black History Month isn’t only about celebration, it’s also about action. That’s why Montreal’s Round Table has chosen to collaborate once again with Héma-Québec for its 16th annual blood drive.

This year, they’ve hosted it in Montreal’s Plaza Côtes-des-Neiges to help boost community participation in the area – bringing diverse blood donations that organizers say are critical to saving the lives of all the patients they serve.

“I’m glad that we’re at Cote-des-Neiges. I mean, it’s a central place in Montreal, a known place, and also a diversified environment. So, I think it was a great strategic decision to be there at Cote-des-Neiges this year,” said Michaelle Bélice, a member of the Round Table on Black History Month, who also donated blood at this year’s event.

Naderge Ceneston, cultural communities development counsellor Héma-Quebec, said, “We’re really happy for having them on collaboration for organizing the blood drive, because you guys know how important it is to give blood — especially for the black communities that would usually not be used to giving blood.”

Many members of the community came together on Saturday, with organizers saying they had already received 20 blood donations before noon, many of which were first-time donors.

“This is my first time, and the reason it’s my first time is because I’ve tried in the past a couple of times, but my hemoglobin was not high enough. So I was able to receive iron and regulate the situation. And now I’m able to give blood. So I would like to encourage people and tell them, you know, come back, try to come back, get your iron up and come back,” said Bélice.

Clayton Girodier, another first-time donor said, “I heard from a family friend, and they asked me for help to set up everything, and I decided to donate as well.”

“With a single donation we can help three people,” he added when asked by CityNews why he felt it was important to start donating blood.

But experts say there’s another vital component to the blood drive – getting diverse blood donations from genetically compatible donors to help treat sickle cell anemia, a rare hereditary blood disorder that mainly affects black communities. It causes chronic pain, extreme fatigue, and frequent hospitalizations, where blood transfusions are necessary to alleviate pain for patients.

“It’s really a person that has the genome of a black person that can give blood for another person that has sickle cell. Because it’s because you’re black that you can give blood to another person that is black. So, it’s really interesting that it’s a gift that you’re giving. Today it’s Valentine’s Day. It’s a gift of love. We’re giving through giving blood,” said Nadia Rousseau, the executive director of the Round Table on Black History Month.

As it stands, more than 1,500 Quebecers currently live with the disorder – and more than 200 of them depend on regular blood donations to survive – which for a single patient requires, on average, the blood of 130 different donors per year.

“There’s still a great deficit in giving blood for black communities. Now we are at 10,000 donors. We would like to have annually more than 20,000. So, we are halfway to the objective,” declared Rousseau.

Ceneston said, “I just want to let everybody to, you know, if they want to see if there are eligible to give blood or they want to do something, they might go on a website at hemaquebec.ca and watch out for the criteria and how they can help to give blood and save lives”