{"id":17159,"date":"2026-01-26T16:12:42","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T21:12:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/?page_id=17159"},"modified":"2026-06-23T16:42:04","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T20:42:04","slug":"17159-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/public-relations-contacts\/2026-regional-news-releases\/17159-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Hampton &#038; Peninsula Health Districts Encourage Community to Give Blood"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>January 26, 2026<\/p>\n<p><strong>Media Contact:<\/strong>\u00a0Tes La Dieu, Population Health Manager and Public Information Officer, taylor.ladieu@vdh.virginia.gov<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>January is National Blood Donor Month<\/em><\/p>\n<p>NEWPORT NEWS, Va. \u2013 Winter is traditionally a time when blood donations decline due to weather conditions, holiday travel, and seasonal illnesses. These factors can put blood supplies at risk.<\/p>\n<p><u><a href=\"https:\/\/static1.squarespace.com\/static\/66e07809a254c7429761bdda\/t\/66e07b59c95b712394116aff\/1725987673509\/NBDM+Proclamation.pdf\">January<\/a><\/u>\u00a0marks the 57th <u><a href=\"http:\/\/www.blooddonormonth.org\">National Blood Donor Month<\/a><\/u>, a time to honor the lifesaving contributions of blood donors and raise awareness about the urgent need for donations. Every blood donor plays a crucial role in helping to sustain the health and wellbeing of the residents within our local communities.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe American Red Cross reports that every two seconds, a person in the United States needs blood. Blood is essential to help patients survive surgeries, cancer treatment, chronic illnesses, and traumatic injuries; however, only 3% of age-eligible adults donate blood each year,\u201d says Population Health Manager, Tes La Dieu. \u201cDonating blood is life-saving for those in need.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A single blood donation can save up to three lives. When you give blood, you don\u2019t just save a life \u2013 you become part of someone\u2019s story of survival. Some of the <u><a href=\"https:\/\/www.redcrossblood.org\/donate-blood\/how-to-donate\/how-blood-donations-help.html\">ways blood donations save lives<\/a><\/u>\u00a0include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Trauma and emergency care<\/li>\n<li>Cancer treatments<\/li>\n<li>Surgeries<\/li>\n<li>Chronic illnesses<\/li>\n<li>Blood disorders<\/li>\n<li>Childbirth complications<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Every two seconds someone in the United States requires a <u><a href=\"https:\/\/www.redcrossblood.org\/donate-blood\/blood-donation-process\/what-happens-to-donated-blood\/blood-transfusions.html\">blood transfusion<\/a><\/u>. More than 42,000 units of red cells, platelets, and plasma are used by patients every day<strong>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In order to donate blood, you must meet the <u><a href=\"https:\/\/www.redcrossblood.org\/donate-blood\/how-to-donate\/eligibility-requirements.html\">following criteria<\/a><\/u>:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Be healthy on the day of donation<\/li>\n<li>Weigh a minimum of 110 pounds<\/li>\n<li>Be a minimum of 17 years old for Virginia residents (16 years old with parent or guardian consent)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Additional screening questions will be asked at the time of your blood donation.<\/p>\n<p>Blood is unable to be manufactured or synthesized like other medical treatments. Blood donors are the sole source of life-saving blood products.<\/p>\n<p>Donors can easily find a nearby blood drive and schedule an appointment by visiting <u><a href=\"http:\/\/www.redcrossblood.org\">redcrossblood.org<\/a><\/u><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"># # #<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>January 26, 2026 Media Contact:\u00a0Tes La Dieu, Population Health Manager and Public Information Officer, taylor.ladieu@vdh.virginia.gov &nbsp; January is National Blood Donor Month NEWPORT NEWS, Va. \u2013 Winter is traditionally a time when blood donations decline due to weather conditions, holiday travel, and seasonal illnesses. These factors can put blood supplies at risk. January\u00a0marks the 57th [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":676,"featured_media":0,"parent":16853,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[1471,1470,1472,1469],"class_list":["post-17159","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","tag-american-red-cross","tag-blood-donation","tag-blood-transfusion","tag-hampton-peninsula-health-districts"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Hampton &amp; Peninsula Health Districts Encourage Community to Give Blood - Newsroom<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/news\/public-relations-contacts\/2026-regional-news-releases\/17159-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hampton &amp; Peninsula Health Districts Encourage Community to Give Blood - Newsroom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"January 26, 2026 Media Contact:\u00a0Tes La Dieu, Population Health Manager and Public Information Officer, taylor.ladieu@vdh.virginia.gov &nbsp; January is National Blood Donor Month NEWPORT NEWS, Va. \u2013 Winter is traditionally a time when blood donations decline due to weather conditions, holiday travel, and seasonal illnesses. These factors can put blood supplies at risk. 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