181 Blood Donations Later, No Plans To Stop Giving for Cedar Falls Woman

It takes eight blood donations to give one gallon of blood, and most donors give only once or twice a year.

LuAnn Andreessen, 55, is working on her 23rd gallon. She's given 181 times.

"I don't think this is anything heroic that I do," she said. "You just do what you can, in whatever way you can, to give back. To some people that's being on the city council, to other people it's giving speeches. You know, I'm the kind of person that just gives blood."

Bobbi Snethen, a communications program manager for the Badger-Hawkeye region of the American Red Cross, said the amount of blood Andreessen has given is remarkable.

"She's definitely one of our most loyal donors," Snethen said. "She's at the top of the list in Cedar Falls."

The Badger-Hawkeye Red Cross region covers Eastern Iowa, Wisconsin and parts of Michigan and Illinois.

Though Snethen said the region is currently meeting it's local blood needs, January is one of the lowest months for blood donations. People give a lot during the holidays, she said, and tend to not realize the benefits of that surge of giving only last so long.

“The need is constant," Snethen said. "Blood only lasts for 42 days. The need can range from cancer patients to trauma patients to people with blood disorders."

She said only 38 percent of the population is eligible to give, and only about three percent of those who are eligible actually give.

Reasons someone might be ineligible include low iron levels, being on certain medications or having traveled to some international areas. Reasons people who are eligible don't give blood are most often that they have never been asked, Snethen said, or because of a fear of needles.

"People shouldn't be afraid," Andreessen said. "To make people aware of how easy it is to give, I just go on my lunch hour. In fact I get an email from my friend Barry - he says, 'See you at noon?' and I'll email back and say, 'Sure. Going to have some good cookies."

Andreessen moved to Cedar Falls around 1980, from the Dike-Parkersburg area where she grew up. She and her long-time partner live together in Cedar Falls, where Andreessen works in the business operations office at the . Hobbies include gardening and antiquing.

"We like to go to antique shows and flea markets and gather all kind of treasures that we don't need," she said.

She said she'll keep giving as long as she can. She started donating in the mid-1980s, when her father, Harlan Andreessen, was sick.

"He used a lot of medical resources," she said. "It seemed like something we could do to give back."

Her father died after hip replacement surgery in the '80s.

"That's about the time I started thinking, what can I do to give back?" she said.

Upcoming local Red Cross blood drives:

Jan. 31, 8 a.m. to 12 p.m., Covenant Medical Center, 3421 W Ninth St, Waterloo

Feb. 2, 2 p.m. to 6 p.m., Cedar Valley Community Church, 3520 Ansborough Ave, Waterloo

Feb. 14, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., , 1224 W 23rd St, Cedar Falls

Donors can also give at the Waterloo Red Cross Donation Center, 2530 University Ave., Waterloo. The Center takes blood donations Monday, Wednesday and Thursday from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m., on Saturday from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. and on on the second and fourth Fridays of the month from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m.

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