While Arkansas Blood Institute is in "dire need" of blood donors, it offers the incentive of a COVID-19 antibody test -- a perk that led U.S. Rep. Bruce Westerman, R-District 4, to be able to donate convalescent plasma to help victims of the virus.
While donating at ABI's Bloodmobile on June 12, Westerman requested the free antibody test and received a phone call a few weeks later informing him his blood did in fact have COVID-19 antibodies. For verification, he got his blood tested by his personal doctor, and that test came back negative for the COVID-19 antibodies.
"So now we didn't know if I had the antibodies or not, but I actually did a test in D.C., and that one came back and they were quite certain I had the antibodies," he said.
With this information, Westerman scheduled an appointment to donate plasma at the local Arkansas Blood Institute on Friday.
"There's so much work being done on therapeutic treatments and they need the plasma to do that," he said. "Hopefully my plasma will be able to help somebody who has got COVID, or will get COVID, who has a lot more negative reaction to it than I have; hopefully it will help them to get better."
While Westerman said he has donated blood consistently in the past, he decided to donate in June because he knew the pandemic created a greater need for donations. However, he said he was not expecting his antibody test to come back positive.
"I never felt ill," Westerman said. "Once I got the positive test, I kept thinking back: 'Was there sometime I was ill this spring? Or even all year, going back to January or February?' You know with the pandemic, you pay pretty close attention if you've got even what you think's a head cold or something, and I don't remember having anything like that. ... Actually I've had COVID tests, too, that came back negative, but I wasn't feeling ill then, either, I was just trying to encourage people to do testing and went through one of the drive-thru testing sites and got tested."
The schedule for local August blood drives conducted by ABI is as follows:
• From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Aug. 14 at Walmart, 4019 Central Ave.
• From 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Aug. 16 at First Lutheran Church.
• From 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Aug. 19 and 20 at CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs.
• From noon to 6 p.m. on Aug. 28 at the Hot Springs Mall inside in front of Dillard's.
Blood donors will have the option of receiving a free COVID-19 antibody test as well as a free "Gone fishin'" T-shirt.
ABI Director Vince Maniace said although they have had a "surprisingly" great June and July, blood is "going out as fast as it's coming in."
"Demand is always high in the summer," Maniace said. "It's just business as usual during the summer, people are out, accidents are occurring in the summer. It is urgently needed. I would not say that we're in an appeal-type situation, we are just struggling to maintain the status quo."
While the summer months always demand more blood in hospitals, he said the fear of COVID-19 is keeping donors from coming out. However, Maniace said the blood drives are safe and there have been no outbreaks among staff.
"At blood drives, we're taking temperatures before we allow you to sign in, we are providing hand sanitizer for every donor, we're practicing social distancing inside and outside; whether we're inside our Bloodmobile or inside a building we're set up for social distancing enforcement," he said. "After each use in the screening process we are cleaning everything that has been touched."
As for masking, Maniace said employees and donors are required to wear them.