The need for blood donations continues to rise in St. Louis, and around the country this winter. Area hospitals, like Mercy St. Louis, are seeing an increased demand for blood, especially in maternity services.
Mercy St. Louis is the only hospital in the state that has its own Blood Donor Services program. We host mobile blood drives throughout the community (including at all our hospitals in the region) but also schedule donations in the blood donor room at Mercy St. Louis.
The Mercy St. Louis Labor & Birth group is teaming up with Blood Donor Services to host a drive (Dec. 26-30) to raise awareness about the need for blood in maternity services.
Someone who knows the benefit of this program is Mercy nurse, Abby Foppe, who was in dire need of a blood donation minutes after she gave birth to her daughter, Francesca.
“I had a scheduled c-section, went great,” Foppe shared. “[My daughter] did wonderfully. I got back to recovering and things going well. I bled a bit extra. My nurse was a good friend trying to keep me calm saying it was no big deal but I could tell it was.”
Foppe started having a postpartum hemorrhage during her immediate recovery. It took eight hours for Foppe to stabilize and then she hemorrhaged again.
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