May 25, 2025 • 31 mins
In segment 1, Amber Banda interviews Alejandra Valdez, Programs Manager MRC, CRC, for NAMI El Paso. They talk about NAMI's support to help those wanting to better their mental health.
Amber and Alejandra talk about how to start those conversations, "red and yellow flags" to look out for in yourself and in others to know when it may be time to talk to someone, the difference between NAMI vs other MH organizations in El Paso, and some upcoming mental health awareness events free of charge that are open to the public
For more information go to NAMIEP.org
May is Mental Health Awareness month, but it is always a good time to talk to someone when you feel the need.
Crisis hotline: 988
In segment 2, Amber Banda talks with Robert Valenzuela, MHA, Donor Recruitment Manager, and Monique Hilverding, Sr. Account Manager, with Vitalant Blood Donations. They talk about eligibilities to donate, different types of donations, walk you through the process, and they get into their current "Donate for Moms" campaign. Robert even tells a story about a man who went in to donate, and the pre-screening ended up saving his own life! They need your blood!
For more information go to vitalant.org
Amber and Alejandra talk about how to start those conversations, "red and yellow flags" to look out for in yourself and in others to know when it may be time to talk to someone, the difference between NAMI vs other MH organizations in El Paso, and some upcoming mental health awareness events free of charge that are open to the public
For more information go to NAMIEP.org
May is Mental Health Awareness month, but it is always a good time to talk to someone when you feel the need.
Crisis hotline: 988
In segment 2, Amber Banda talks with Robert Valenzuela, MHA, Donor Recruitment Manager, and Monique Hilverding, Sr. Account Manager, with Vitalant Blood Donations. They talk about eligibilities to donate, different types of donations, walk you through the process, and they get into their current "Donate for Moms" campaign. Robert even tells a story about a man who went in to donate, and the pre-screening ended up saving his own life! They need your blood!
For more information go to vitalant.org
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to El Paso Public Forum, a weekly half hour
public affairs presentation of iHeartRadio El Paso for over twenty years,
featuring local news and interviews of interest to our listeners
in West Texas and southern New Mexico. All views and
opinions expressed on this program are those of the host
and guest, and not necessarily those of iHeartRadio Management and
now El Paso Public Forum.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Welcome back to the al Paso Public Forum. I'm your host,
Amber Banda, and today we have Alejandra Valdes. She is
the programs manager MRC CRC for NAMI al Paso. Alejandra,
thank you so much for being here with me today.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Thank you so much for having me. It's a pleasure
to be here.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Of course. Now do you mind if I mentioned where
I originally know you from?
Speaker 4 (00:42):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Absolutely not.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Okay. So she is also in the Guardians of the
Children nonprofit motorcycle organization with me. So if I call
her by a different name, I'm sorry, but I'm going
to try and stick to Alejandra. But again, thank you
so much for being here with me today. Today we
are focusing on NAMI el Paso. Now, first, Alejandre can
you tell us what does NAM mean the acronym specifically,
(01:04):
it's you know, all Passo's voice on mental illness. And
then what does this organization do for our community?
Speaker 3 (01:09):
Absolutely so NOMMY stands for National Lines on Mental Illness.
We are the largest grassroot nonprofit organization in the nation, right,
very proud. Nominal Passle is an affiliate of NOMIN National
And so basically what we do is we are a
psycho educational agency and we provide education, awareness and efficacy.
Our mission is to do all these things so that
(01:30):
people with personal experience and of course their family members
as well, can build better lives, you know.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
And I love this because I got you here just
in time for Mental Health Awareness Month, which is it May.
It's always mental health Awareness month, right, but it May
it's you know, especially predominant. So for no Meal Passal.
What kind of services do they offer the community?
Speaker 3 (01:50):
Okay, Well, in particular for May, we have many events,
right that we do offer for mental health awareness. We
have major events like you know events at at for
ex Passo Shiwa was right where we have mental Health
Night and where we are going to have as a
matter of fact, one coming up this this Thursday as
a matter of fact, right, And so that's in particular
(02:11):
for me. But other than that, where we work on
mental health around you know, around the clock, around the year,
and so we offer services, We offer trainings, classes, presentations,
you name it. I always love to say that we
can train just about anybody under the sun.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
And when you say trainings, who do you offer the
trainings to?
Speaker 3 (02:29):
Okay, well again, right, so we can pretty much change
just about anybody. All of our trainings are pretty much
accommodating to what the audience needs.
Speaker 4 (02:39):
Right.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
So we can work in the school sector where we
do presentations for young adults, and all the way to
working with sheriff's campus, police, judges, attorneys, agencies, nonprofits, you
name it. We can pretty much train just about anybody.
So the difference when we talk about, you know, trainings
or presentations or courses is that classes are built to
create a where is right. We teach you strategies, techniques,
(03:02):
We teach you how to navigate the mental health system.
We teach you know how to advocate for yourself, all
that good stuff. Right. Courses usually take anywhere between six
to ten weeks, right, they have been weekly. We have
presentations where we come in and we just do a
thirty minute hour, two hour, three hour presentation about what
we do and what mental health is. And then we
also have trainings, and you know, we'll talk a little
(03:23):
bit about that when we talk about our volunteers, but
that's basically what trainings are. We train individuals who want
to pay it forward, who want to teach other community
members about mental health.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
And when people think mental health, it's kind of on
a spectrum, and I think what happens a lot is
people don't feel quote unquote sick enough to seek help.
But can you speak to those people where it's you know,
health care and mental health it falls under health care.
The best type is always preventative care, trying to you know,
stop it before it happens. So even if you feel
like you're just a little bit overstressed, especially if you're
(03:56):
a parent, can you speak to those people on why
if you don't feel cool quote sick enough, it's still
important to seek mental health care for themselves.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
Absolutely, yes, thank you. That's a very important question.
Speaker 4 (04:07):
Right.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
It's something that we always talk about. What we say,
let's just have a mental health conversation, right, It's not
you know, teaching you anything or trying to break through
or convince you of anything. Otherwise, we just want to
basically create the awareness, right. So yes, absolutely nobody ever
says I feel fantastic, I'm gonna go see a doctor right.
Speaker 4 (04:26):
Right.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
Usually people say, dang, I feel grummy, I need to
see a doctor, right. And so what happens when we're
there right again, what you just mentioned. Many times, if
people feel well enough and they feel that they can cope,
they feel that they can still produce, they're like, I'm
going to shake this off. I'm fine because you know,
by human nature, and unfortunately, because of mental health stigma,
(04:49):
people either expect you to be well or they expect
you to be not well at all, right, which is
dysfunctional and what people normally seem to think when they
hear and to illness right unfortunately, and so therefore that
makes it very difficult for people to ask for help,
because if you're not completely disregulated, they're like, oh, just
(05:10):
shake it off, Oh you'll be fine, Oh just try
a little harder, right, or and by the time you
already reached the point where you may already be too
sick for us for help. By that time, Unfortunately, it
turns from people wanting to help you to people judging you. Right,
Oh my goodness, look at this person. Oh like well,
you know, they lend their life go oh, you know,
they make those decisions. Oh you know. And unfortunately, the
(05:32):
misconception or what we feel that sometimes society doesn't realize
is that when people make these types of drastic changes,
a lot of times it's a cry for help.
Speaker 5 (05:42):
Right.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
So it's extremely extreme switching behavior, absolutely, And so then
this is where we come in. This is where we
educate the community. This is where we create that awareness
right that sometimes you know, because of course they're all
brain disorders, right, They're all going to have very similar symptoms,
but they are particular things that stand out that they
know this person has this particular condition versus rite just
(06:04):
any mental health condition. And so when that happens, it's
very important that the person does get preventative help, like
you mentioned, because the longer the condition is present without
the proper support, the more damage and can create to
the brain.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
And like you said, it's you know, you don't say
I feel fantastics go to the doctor, but there are
check ins, checkups that you go where they screen for
things and try and catch it before it happens, and
you know, if you maybe don't feel like you can
go to a therapist and talk on that level, even
if you feel you're not again quote unquote sick enough.
You had mentioned mental health check ins or mental health talks.
(06:41):
Now I had Emergents on their episode aired the week
before this, and they were talking about initiating those conversations.
It doesn't have to be like, oh, I think my
friend's going to commit suicide, but it's just a text.
How are you doing? No, really, how are you doing
and listening? So, how can you explain to people to
just reach out to their friend or their coworker or
(07:03):
their even their children. How can you initiate those conversations
in a simple, easy way.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
Absolutely, So this is what we call how to be
a friend? Right, Learning to be a friend absolutely like
a support system and so to touch it together or
connected with our previous question, right, of what I would
recommend to those people who may not be feeling so
well but don't feel that they're sick enough to seek help. So,
as I mentioned, right, any damage that's happening to the brain,
it's irreversible. So what we recommend is duration. So if
(07:33):
you haven't been feeling well for maybe everybody were made
of emotions, right, So we're going to process emotions daily, right,
and so one day we're going to have a cremy dae. Right,
that's very typical. We're human, right. But the problem or
the concern is when you can't seem to shake it off.
So if you're still producing and you're still you know,
doing your daily functions, but you're kind of like an autopilot,
(07:53):
or you just feel discouraged or burned out or not
as seeing restoy, you're just like right, right, So those
are all signs. Those signs if if you're starting to
sleep more, sleep less, or eat more eat less, if
your interest is lacking, your hygiene it is lacking, you're
starting to isolate. All these things are mild signs, and
(08:13):
they start mild right most of the time. Sometimes it
can be an immediate crisis, but most of the time
they're gradual. So they're signs. So if you've been feeling
this for a while now in these times right where
we have prevalence of one in five one in five
adults can be feeling a mental health concern at some
point in their life. It's now before people would say
(08:34):
you know, if you have a mental health concern or whatever,
you know, you got to keep it within yourself. You
got to find a way to fix it. But now
we're in a day where it is so common that
we can't It has to be okay to be able
to talk about your mental health. And if you're feeling
this for over two weeks, that's usually the key. You've
been feeling this for over two weeks, three weeks, four weeks,
it's time to ask for help.
Speaker 4 (08:55):
Now.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
I have a follow up question to that, So if
you're just tuning in, we have Alejndra Programs Manager MRC
CRC for Nami L.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
Passos.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
So my question for that is, if someone is thinking, hey,
I do feel that way or I think I need
to seek help, what would the next steps be? And
if they don't want to, if they don't feel ready
to ask someone, what are some things that they can
do on their own apps to help them?
Speaker 3 (09:20):
Thank you so much? She is thank you again?
Speaker 4 (09:21):
Right?
Speaker 3 (09:22):
Those are all very important questions because that's the number
one thing people always ask. How do I get help?
How do I find the right help now in these
times and days? How do we become a better friend
when somebody says, Hey, you know what, for the past
two three weeks, I've been feeling really sad. For the
past two three weeks, I pretty much cry every night
all night. I haven't been able to sleep, I can't focus,
I can concentrate. Back in the day, we would say
(09:43):
things like try hard or find something you enjoy, right, right,
uh huh. Now, the proper advice would be, hey, well,
you know, if you've been feeling this for quite some time,
then maybe it's time that you start looking into some
type of research, some type of help. Oh I'm not
ready to ask for help. I just need to talk
a little bit or Okay, great, fantastic. There's resources now
you can down nine eight where it's candy comput and
(10:04):
show available here in Texas where someone will have a
conversation with you.
Speaker 4 (10:07):
Right.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
You can be careful the resources that you go into online. Right,
but you can always access things like no mep dot org,
which is nominal passle. We have plenty of resources information.
You can start educating yourself on what mental health is
and start talking to people, join a support group, take
a class, and when you're ready and you feel safe enough,
then it's definitely time to seek that professional.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
And just from personal experience. You know, I've battled with
a lot of mental health disorders over the years. A
few things that I'll tell the listening audience that has
helped me are affirmations that you can find for free
on YouTube. They can range from five minutes to thirty minutes.
People think when you do some kind of meditation it
has to be like No, I listen to them first
thing in the morning, and most of the times I
don't believe them, but you force your subconscious to take
(10:50):
those take those in and just you know, every day
there's on YouTube on Spotify five minute affirmations. You can
journal And the thing that I do with journaling is
even if it's just one sentence, just right, one thing
in the morning and evening that you're grateful for. It
could be my morning coffee. Sometimes that's the most you
can muster upright. And number three is try to move
your body, especially when you don't try to get some sun.
(11:11):
But you know, those three things helped me. And right
now we're gonna get into some events that Nami is
presenting that can help you. So Alejandra, can you tell
us more about these events coming up?
Speaker 3 (11:23):
Absolutely? Yes, So we have other than this event that's
just happening this startstay right. Unfortunately that's a little too
soon to discuss. We're gonna go with our next one,
which is actually happening in July twenty fifth, which is
the last Friday of July, and it's from nine to
twelve pm and or actually nine two to one pm.
And this is for mental health. It is for our
(11:45):
twelfth annual Mental Health Forum, right, Minority Mental Health Forum,
and so this is free to the public. You can
always go into no MEP dot org to visit our
calendar and register for it. And this training is basically
exactly for that, right, It's a presentation, it's forum. We're
gonna have key speakers, keynote speakers, We're gonna have a panel.
We're going to talk about social media how it impacts
(12:06):
mental health. We're going to talk about you know, standing together,
resiliency and empowering the community if we work together. So
this event is going to be coming up July twenty fifth, again,
as I mentioned, absolutely free of charge from nine to
one and you can go into our website to to register.
Is going to be at It's going to be at
El Paso Community College, on Viscount. Yes, and then after
that our next event that will be Forthcommunists our walk.
(12:29):
This is our major, major annual event, right, and we'll
be having this walk this October eighteenth this year, and
the start time is at eight am. And that what
happens at a scott at the park. This one usually happens,
It's been happening frequently or lately right at a Scott
at the park, and so we're hoping that's where it's
going to continue to happen annually. But yes, please come
join us. You know, you can build your own group,
(12:50):
you can support, you can build money, you can donate,
collect all this good stuff, right and all in support
for a wonderful cost which is creating awareness and all
living in healthy mental health right.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
And ways to fight the stigma against mental health is
also to attend these events, have people come over and hey,
let's go to this you know, this forum or this walk.
And you also have some Zoom events happening every Saturday
from now until June twenty eighth, nine thirty to twelve.
It's a virtual Zoom. It's a free mental health class.
(13:23):
It says when I read it online, it said for caregivers,
and parents of youth ages twenty two and younger who
are experiencing mental health problems. My question is it the
youth are experienced mental health problems or if you're the
caregiver experiencing mental health problems and.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
This course that you're referring to is are not me
basics course? Okay? And this is a caregiver parent course
and it's for caregivers and parents of youth experiencing mental
health concerns. The youth have mental health and so the
child does not need to be formally diagnosed, They just
need to be already expressing concerns. Terrible, too, spright, so typical, typical,
(13:58):
And so the the information and the classes we offer
tend to be more for youth, young adults and adults. Right,
We don't really do the child sector right and so
so but yes, absolutely so, Yes, that's one class that's
happening now, and it's to educate parents on understanding what
mental illness is, how it impacts their child, right, what
they can do about it, communication resources. I mean, it's
(14:20):
just an abundance of information. We truly, truly feel that
NOMIC courses, presentations, trainings are life changing. Right. We have
classes after almost every course our parent course, parents are like,
why doesn't every single person, every single parent, every single teacher,
every single administrator take this course. Everybody needs to know
about how mentalness impacts children? And right, absolutely, And so
(14:41):
we have others started starting. We have a Family and Family,
which is for family members of adults, and this one's
going to be starting July fifteenth through September second, right,
And then we have another Basics one like the one
that you just mentioned that is happening right now. That
one is happening May twenty fourth three June twenty eighth,
that's the one that you just mentioned, right. And so
these classes you need to attend them by class one
(15:03):
or by class two, so in order for you to
get full benefits. So the way our programs work is
anybody who qualifies under the qualifier, right, because you do
need to attend the class where you belong, and it's
absolutely free of charge. But we do ask that you
do register and show up by class one the latest
class two, right, because we don't admit any new people
after that because you've already missed a lot of vital information.
The basis uh huh, And it's a commitment it's a
(15:25):
life changing commitment because you leave with a book about
two to three inches stick with nothing but resources and
information and what mental health conditions are and how to
make it better, how to make that journey right.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
But like you said, it's a life changing event. And
so if you want more information on these events on Instagram,
it's no me L Paso. That's n A m I
L Paso. On Facebook, No me n A m I
L Passo as well, or go to no me ep
dot org that's nami ep dot org. Alejandra, I could
(15:56):
talk with you all day about this, of course, the
we're out of time, but I just want to thank
you so much for being here with me today.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
Absolutely, thank you so much. And I just want to
remember everybody that you are interested in volunteering with us,
because we are a volunteer organization as well. Please also
visit our website, please fill out our form and we
will definitely get back to you so that you can
go ahead and volunteer in any capacity with Nomio Passo.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 6 (16:22):
Welcome back to the al Paso Public Forum. I am
your host, Amberbanda, and today we have two people from
VI Talent. We have Robert Valenzuela, MHA donor recruitment manager.
Speaker 7 (16:35):
Robert, thank you for being here with me today.
Speaker 5 (16:36):
Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 8 (16:37):
I'm excited to share our how are donating saves lives
in the community.
Speaker 7 (16:41):
Of course me too.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
And then we also have Monique Hilriding, senior account manager
with VI Talent. Monique, thank you for being here with
me today.
Speaker 4 (16:50):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 7 (16:51):
Amber.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
So Monique, tell me VI Talent, you don't just cover
Ol Paso.
Speaker 7 (16:57):
In fact, what areas does this VITE covered?
Speaker 2 (17:00):
Correct?
Speaker 4 (17:01):
So we cover all of southern New Mexico and into
the El Paso area. We are the only blood bank
in the area that covers the eighteen hospitals and we
have about five three to five blood drives going every
single day to maintain the blood usage at our local hospitals.
Speaker 7 (17:21):
Oh wow.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
And so with the blood drives that you have, I mean,
can I ask you what? So you have blood drives
every weekend and I know that you have them at
the schools, but you know, with summer coming up, what
is a piece of critical information for the community to
know as far as going to locations to donate.
Speaker 4 (17:41):
So summer tends to be one of the more critical times,
the usage tends to go up and the donations tend
to go down. People are out on vacation doing lots
of fun things. They're just it's not top of mind
for people. So we have actually a lot of really
wonderful things going on now and running all the way
(18:01):
into the end of the summer. So I know that
we're going to talk a little bit more about the
Donate for Mothers that's still going on in May, where
we're raising awareness for the one in eighty three moms
that needs blood during childbirth, but we also have awareness
events around Pride. The donation requirements have changed over the years.
(18:21):
We have a be the backup blood drive where we're
working with our law enforcement and first responders that are
typically of course the first on the scene and see
what the blood usage need is. And then it's almost
time for our Barnett Harley Davidson Blood Drive. So a
lot of really exciting campaigns going on through the summer
to keep people engaged and interested and saving lives.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
Perfect and that's what you are doing when you're donating blood,
you're saving a life because you know, if people don't
have that blood donation when they need a transfusion or
for whatever they're going to use it for.
Speaker 7 (18:55):
Then you know what are you going to do?
Speaker 2 (18:57):
And Robert, let me ask you, what are the requirements
If someone wants to donate, maybe they think they're too young,
or maybe they feel like, oh, I have this ailment?
Speaker 7 (19:07):
What are the requirements for someone to donate blood?
Speaker 8 (19:10):
Absolutely, I mean every two seconds somebody needs blood in
the US, So whether you're trauma patient, cancer patient, somebody
undergoing surgery, blood donations are essential. And the beautiful thing
is like one donation can save up to three lives. So,
like you mentioned, whether you're too young now, I mean
most healthy people over the age of sixteen with a
parent consent can donate, and the limit after that is unlimited.
(19:32):
The recent changes with tattoos and all of these things
have changed the screening process for a donor to give
as well. And there's four main types of blood donations.
So you have your whole blood, which you can donate
every eight weeks. You're giving a pint of blood which
is used from everything from surgeries to emergencies. Then you
(19:55):
have your platelet donation, which is a little bit longer.
It takes about two hours, but that helps for any
cancer patients or blood clot patients, and that's up to
every seven days. You can do a platelet donation. Then
you have your plasma donation, which can help fight infections
burn victims.
Speaker 5 (20:14):
You can do that every twenty eight days.
Speaker 8 (20:16):
And then we have what are called our double red
cell donations, which is every sixteen weeks. So it's taking
two units of red blood cells so to basically whole bloods,
and that's for it's great for trauma and surgery patients
as well.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
And so when people go into donate and they get
an explanation of all of these types of blood donations,
I'm assuming that there's going to be and for any
of you that don't know because I have donated blood
in the past, there's going to be a screening to
make sure you're eligible to donate blood. You know you're
feeling okay, and then you can choose if you are
eligible to donate.
Speaker 7 (20:54):
In one of the few ways that you just explained.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
So can Robert, can you tell me a little bit
about that process.
Speaker 7 (21:01):
Okay, I go in, I have my I D. I'm
at one of these donation sites. I've never donated before,
but I want to start donating. Can you walk me
through the process.
Speaker 8 (21:08):
Absolutely, So, the tech will take your information, your ID,
make sure that you're eligible, ask you several questions. You'll
either fill out our fast track, which is the same
questionnaire that they'll ask you, which is many different medical
questions they'll ask you. I think it's about forty three questions.
It sounds like a lot, but they're just ensuring that
(21:29):
you are eligible, you have no other infections, other diseases
that you could spread onto somebody else.
Speaker 5 (21:35):
Once you go through that process and you are.
Speaker 8 (21:37):
Eligible, they will offer you one of the two types
of donations out in the community, either the whole blood
or the double red cell, depending on the need that
we need, which is always very critical in a sense
because we always need to have the hospitals.
Speaker 5 (21:52):
Filled with blatter.
Speaker 8 (21:54):
Though, if you are eligible for a double red, whether
you're positive or ow negative a positive, we'll let you
know what need we need at that moment, or we'll
just offer you the whole depending on your weight and
everything like that. So going through the screen process, the
tech will you know what you are.
Speaker 5 (22:13):
Okay?
Speaker 7 (22:14):
And Monique, does this blood stay local? Where does the
blood go?
Speaker 4 (22:18):
The wonderful question. So we are the provider for our
community blood drives, so a very high percentage. I'm going
to take a guess at this and say over ninety percent.
It's not a statistic that my talent is given. I'm
just going to say that a lot of our blood
stays local, and part of the reason for that is
that we're always right on the verge of a shortage.
(22:40):
Our goal is to have a five day supply of
every blood type. Oftentimes we live in a two day supply,
so by the time you donate blood it's typed and
tested and ready to go to the hospitals. It can
be transfused in as soon as five days pretty often.
So the idea is always that the community Blood Center
(23:02):
provides for the local need. Now, there are definitely times
where Albuquerque might not have what they need or Lubbick
may not have what they need, and in those critical situations,
my talent will make sure that all of our operations
in all of the hospitals that we service, have the
blood components that they need. However, the local hospitals are
(23:23):
always going to be looked at first.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
Of course, and do just so that in case anyone
because I know when you donate Plasma you get paid,
but you do not get paid when you do blood.
Speaker 7 (23:34):
Donations, not in money anyway.
Speaker 2 (23:36):
Right, you get paid back like with the fact that
you're actually helping to save the life.
Speaker 4 (23:41):
Yes, I love the way that you said that because
that's so true and so many people that have donated,
and I've really seen that a lot through this donate
for others. Is it's like it's a therapeutic experience to
be able to give back and say I myself, I am okay,
I'm going to help someone else that's in a bad situation.
And so you're right, it's actually illegal to pay to
(24:04):
pay donors to give because it is a volunteer blood
donor and that helps us to keep the blood supply safe.
What the Plasma Center does is very different than what
we do. So while they say that they save lives,
there's truth to that because they're doing things like calibrating machinery,
research products, medications. That's true, but none of the components
(24:26):
that they collect are going directly to a hospital patient
and need to save their lives.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
This liquid gold that we're talking about now is more
like boots on the ground, Like okay, you know as
soon as well, actually when someone donates, I believe, I
don't know if you'd already mentioned it, but it takes
a little bit of time before the blood is actually
able to be usable.
Speaker 4 (24:46):
Correct, Correct, We're going to make sure that it is safe.
We want to make sure for our donors and then
of course for our local patients. We are putting that
blood through every bloodborn disease test that we know about
to make sure or that it is absolutely as safe
as it possibly can be, and knowing that it's safe
(25:07):
to be transfused exactly.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
And if you're just joining us, we have here Robert Valenzuela,
MHA donor recruitment donor recruitment manager for Vitalent, as well
as Monique Hilberding, senior account manager for Vitalent here in
this area.
Speaker 7 (25:23):
So what I want to talk about.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
More, Monique, is what you were mentioning about the donating
for moms. Can you explain to the audience. I mean
it seems pretty obvious, but still, why is it so
important to focus on mothers specifically and their need for blood.
Speaker 4 (25:40):
I am just absolutely loving this campaign so much. It
started six years ago with doctor Rossi in Colorado and
it started becoming a lot bigger over there, and we
heard about it and said, hey, we want to be
part of this. This is a big deal. So the
national statistic is that one in eighty three moms needs
(26:01):
a blood transfusion, So that comes to over two hundred
and five thousand units of blood that are needed in
the nation for OBGYN patients, which is unbelievable something that
I've been working for VI Talent for eighteen years and
didn't realize that the need for obgyn and pregnant mothers
were needing this much support. So things like licenta, acreta, anemia,
(26:27):
postpartum hemorrhaging, and throughout this campaign, I've seen tons of
moms coming in to donate, lots of moms that received
blood themselves and they start to share their story. Are
coworkers that have told us I received blood, my mom
received blood. We did a blood drive at Sillavistamol and
(26:49):
Messilla Valley Mall where I had a mom come in
to donate because her daughter received blood and she wanted
to do this in honor of her daughter. And then
her daughter saw the campaign and she came to donate
as well, and they met up with each other there
at the blood drive. And I just thought, how cool
is this that they just kind of privately wanted to
take this on to heal themselves from what they went through.
(27:14):
And the thing that I hear rings so true and
so pure from the moms and their families is the
thank you, thank you to the donors, thank you to
the staff, thank you to the people that support the
blood drives. It really is beautiful.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
So with this Blood for Mom's campaign, do they have
to be going to locations like if you're set up
at a mall or if you're set up at some venue,
or can they just go into any donor site.
Speaker 4 (27:44):
So this specific campaign, if they wanted to donate, they
could go to buy talent dot org slash donate for
Mothers and that's where they could be part of that.
And really all of the blood drives are needing the support,
So just come on and donate, whether it's in the
center at the blood drive that happens to be at
your office when you see us out in the community exactly.
Speaker 7 (28:08):
And Robert, there's something that I asked you. We talked
about this in our first and you're going I like
for you to tell.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
The audience about a man that went in to donate
blood and it ended up actually saving his life.
Speaker 5 (28:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 8 (28:21):
Absolutely, I can't recall his name, however, that he went
in for a blood donation at his company, and like
I mentioned before, you go through a test, I mean,
you go through some questionnaires and a mini physical that
they say that they're checking your pulse, your weight, your
(28:43):
blood pressure. And it so happened that his pulse was
pretty high and he was telling the tech that his
regular pulse isn't that high. So the tech had mentioned, well, unfortunately,
you don't qualify at the moment, but maybe you need
a follow up with your primary doctor to see what's
going on with you. That way you can just make
(29:03):
sure that you're all well and everything like that. So
he decided to book an appointment with his primary care physician.
The physician had to send himTo the hospital for immediate
surgery as his or his arteries were clogged. So he
went in for immediate surgery, recovered quickly, and after that
thanked my talent for finding out this this this piece
(29:26):
in his life that could have probably killed him.
Speaker 4 (29:27):
Right.
Speaker 5 (29:27):
Yeah, and after that he became a regular donor.
Speaker 8 (29:31):
So he pretty much he wrote to my talent, wrote
to the CEO of thanking them for every little thing
that they have done, and that he's going to give
back to by talent by donating blood now that he's
healthy and recovered from his surgery.
Speaker 7 (29:46):
Yeah, he wouldn't have otherwise known.
Speaker 2 (29:48):
And it's a lot of what I'm hearing is it's
a lot of people like to donate because they're just
giving back or saying thank you. They needed it, or
a loved one needed it and Heaven forbid you, or
a loved one ever needs it.
Speaker 7 (29:59):
But it it's always a good idea to go donate.
Speaker 4 (30:01):
You know.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
Again, it's liquid gold and there's so many places that
you can go to either Vitalent dot org and by
the way, there's snacks or the bombs, so you can
go and you know, have a little snack afterward. On
their Instagram it's Vitalent EPLC. On Facebook, Vitalent Texas And
like they were saying, they have events for law enforcement
coming up, they have an event here and I'll pass
(30:24):
so with Barnette Harley Davidson coming up, that's the one
that I always love to go to because they even
I don't know about this year, but they also like
to raffle off some really great prizes, So if you
need more information, you can go to those websites or
on Power one oh two point one, Sunday, ninety nine
point nine and ninety six point three k Hay Country,
on our Instagram and our Facebook. I'll have pictures, flyers,
(30:45):
all the information you need if you have questions and
you want to go donate. So Robert and Monique, thank
you so much for being here with me today.
Speaker 5 (30:53):
Thank you Amber, just Bem, thank you Amber.
Speaker 1 (30:55):
You've been listening to our Passo Public Forum, a weekly
public affairs presentation of iHeartRadio L Passo. If you, your
organization or event would like to be featured on an
upcoming program, please email to epforum at iHeartMedia dot com
or call us at nine one five three five one
five four zero zero. Tune in again next week for
(31:16):
another additional of El Paso Public Forum. The preceding program
was recorded at the studios of iheartradiol Passo
Welcome to El Paso Public Forum, a weekly half hour
public affairs presentation of iHeartRadio El Paso for over twenty years,
featuring local news and interviews of interest to our listeners
in West Texas and southern New Mexico. All views and
opinions expressed on this program are those of the host
and guest, and not necessarily those of iHeartRadio Management and
now El Paso Public Forum.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Welcome back to the al Paso Public Forum. I'm your host,
Amber Banda, and today we have Alejandra Valdes. She is
the programs manager MRC CRC for NAMI al Paso. Alejandra,
thank you so much for being here with me today.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Thank you so much for having me. It's a pleasure
to be here.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Of course. Now do you mind if I mentioned where
I originally know you from?
Speaker 4 (00:42):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Absolutely not.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Okay. So she is also in the Guardians of the
Children nonprofit motorcycle organization with me. So if I call
her by a different name, I'm sorry, but I'm going
to try and stick to Alejandra. But again, thank you
so much for being here with me today. Today we
are focusing on NAMI el Paso. Now, first, Alejandre can
you tell us what does NAM mean the acronym specifically,
(01:04):
it's you know, all Passo's voice on mental illness. And
then what does this organization do for our community?
Speaker 3 (01:09):
Absolutely so NOMMY stands for National Lines on Mental Illness.
We are the largest grassroot nonprofit organization in the nation, right,
very proud. Nominal Passle is an affiliate of NOMIN National
And so basically what we do is we are a
psycho educational agency and we provide education, awareness and efficacy.
Our mission is to do all these things so that
(01:30):
people with personal experience and of course their family members
as well, can build better lives, you know.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
And I love this because I got you here just
in time for Mental Health Awareness Month, which is it May.
It's always mental health Awareness month, right, but it May
it's you know, especially predominant. So for no Meal Passal.
What kind of services do they offer the community?
Speaker 3 (01:50):
Okay, Well, in particular for May, we have many events,
right that we do offer for mental health awareness. We
have major events like you know events at at for
ex Passo Shiwa was right where we have mental Health
Night and where we are going to have as a
matter of fact, one coming up this this Thursday as
a matter of fact, right, And so that's in particular
(02:11):
for me. But other than that, where we work on
mental health around you know, around the clock, around the year,
and so we offer services, We offer trainings, classes, presentations,
you name it. I always love to say that we
can train just about anybody under the sun.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
And when you say trainings, who do you offer the
trainings to?
Speaker 3 (02:29):
Okay, well again, right, so we can pretty much change
just about anybody. All of our trainings are pretty much
accommodating to what the audience needs.
Speaker 4 (02:39):
Right.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
So we can work in the school sector where we
do presentations for young adults, and all the way to
working with sheriff's campus, police, judges, attorneys, agencies, nonprofits, you
name it. We can pretty much train just about anybody.
So the difference when we talk about, you know, trainings
or presentations or courses is that classes are built to
create a where is right. We teach you strategies, techniques,
(03:02):
We teach you how to navigate the mental health system.
We teach you know how to advocate for yourself, all
that good stuff. Right. Courses usually take anywhere between six
to ten weeks, right, they have been weekly. We have
presentations where we come in and we just do a
thirty minute hour, two hour, three hour presentation about what
we do and what mental health is. And then we
also have trainings, and you know, we'll talk a little
(03:23):
bit about that when we talk about our volunteers, but
that's basically what trainings are. We train individuals who want
to pay it forward, who want to teach other community
members about mental health.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
And when people think mental health, it's kind of on
a spectrum, and I think what happens a lot is
people don't feel quote unquote sick enough to seek help.
But can you speak to those people where it's you know,
health care and mental health it falls under health care.
The best type is always preventative care, trying to you know,
stop it before it happens. So even if you feel
like you're just a little bit overstressed, especially if you're
(03:56):
a parent, can you speak to those people on why
if you don't feel cool quote sick enough, it's still
important to seek mental health care for themselves.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
Absolutely, yes, thank you. That's a very important question.
Speaker 4 (04:07):
Right.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
It's something that we always talk about. What we say,
let's just have a mental health conversation, right, It's not
you know, teaching you anything or trying to break through
or convince you of anything. Otherwise, we just want to
basically create the awareness, right. So yes, absolutely nobody ever
says I feel fantastic, I'm gonna go see a doctor right.
Speaker 4 (04:26):
Right.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
Usually people say, dang, I feel grummy, I need to
see a doctor, right. And so what happens when we're
there right again, what you just mentioned. Many times, if
people feel well enough and they feel that they can cope,
they feel that they can still produce, they're like, I'm
going to shake this off. I'm fine because you know,
by human nature, and unfortunately, because of mental health stigma,
(04:49):
people either expect you to be well or they expect
you to be not well at all, right, which is
dysfunctional and what people normally seem to think when they
hear and to illness right unfortunately, and so therefore that
makes it very difficult for people to ask for help,
because if you're not completely disregulated, they're like, oh, just
(05:10):
shake it off, Oh you'll be fine, Oh just try
a little harder, right, or and by the time you
already reached the point where you may already be too
sick for us for help. By that time, Unfortunately, it
turns from people wanting to help you to people judging you. Right,
Oh my goodness, look at this person. Oh like well,
you know, they lend their life go oh, you know,
they make those decisions. Oh you know. And unfortunately, the
(05:32):
misconception or what we feel that sometimes society doesn't realize
is that when people make these types of drastic changes,
a lot of times it's a cry for help.
Speaker 5 (05:42):
Right.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
So it's extremely extreme switching behavior, absolutely, And so then
this is where we come in. This is where we
educate the community. This is where we create that awareness
right that sometimes you know, because of course they're all
brain disorders, right, They're all going to have very similar symptoms,
but they are particular things that stand out that they
know this person has this particular condition versus rite just
(06:04):
any mental health condition. And so when that happens, it's
very important that the person does get preventative help, like
you mentioned, because the longer the condition is present without
the proper support, the more damage and can create to
the brain.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
And like you said, it's you know, you don't say
I feel fantastics go to the doctor, but there are
check ins, checkups that you go where they screen for
things and try and catch it before it happens, and
you know, if you maybe don't feel like you can
go to a therapist and talk on that level, even
if you feel you're not again quote unquote sick enough.
You had mentioned mental health check ins or mental health talks.
(06:41):
Now I had Emergents on their episode aired the week
before this, and they were talking about initiating those conversations.
It doesn't have to be like, oh, I think my
friend's going to commit suicide, but it's just a text.
How are you doing? No, really, how are you doing
and listening? So, how can you explain to people to
just reach out to their friend or their coworker or
(07:03):
their even their children. How can you initiate those conversations
in a simple, easy way.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
Absolutely, So this is what we call how to be
a friend? Right, Learning to be a friend absolutely like
a support system and so to touch it together or
connected with our previous question, right, of what I would
recommend to those people who may not be feeling so
well but don't feel that they're sick enough to seek help. So,
as I mentioned, right, any damage that's happening to the brain,
it's irreversible. So what we recommend is duration. So if
(07:33):
you haven't been feeling well for maybe everybody were made
of emotions, right, So we're going to process emotions daily, right,
and so one day we're going to have a cremy dae. Right,
that's very typical. We're human, right. But the problem or
the concern is when you can't seem to shake it off.
So if you're still producing and you're still you know,
doing your daily functions, but you're kind of like an autopilot,
(07:53):
or you just feel discouraged or burned out or not
as seeing restoy, you're just like right, right, So those
are all signs. Those signs if if you're starting to
sleep more, sleep less, or eat more eat less, if
your interest is lacking, your hygiene it is lacking, you're
starting to isolate. All these things are mild signs, and
(08:13):
they start mild right most of the time. Sometimes it
can be an immediate crisis, but most of the time
they're gradual. So they're signs. So if you've been feeling
this for a while now in these times right where
we have prevalence of one in five one in five
adults can be feeling a mental health concern at some
point in their life. It's now before people would say
(08:34):
you know, if you have a mental health concern or whatever,
you know, you got to keep it within yourself. You
got to find a way to fix it. But now
we're in a day where it is so common that
we can't It has to be okay to be able
to talk about your mental health. And if you're feeling
this for over two weeks, that's usually the key. You've
been feeling this for over two weeks, three weeks, four weeks,
it's time to ask for help.
Speaker 4 (08:55):
Now.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
I have a follow up question to that, So if
you're just tuning in, we have Alejndra Programs Manager MRC
CRC for Nami L.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
Passos.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
So my question for that is, if someone is thinking, hey,
I do feel that way or I think I need
to seek help, what would the next steps be? And
if they don't want to, if they don't feel ready
to ask someone, what are some things that they can
do on their own apps to help them?
Speaker 3 (09:20):
Thank you so much? She is thank you again?
Speaker 4 (09:21):
Right?
Speaker 3 (09:22):
Those are all very important questions because that's the number
one thing people always ask. How do I get help?
How do I find the right help now in these
times and days? How do we become a better friend
when somebody says, Hey, you know what, for the past
two three weeks, I've been feeling really sad. For the
past two three weeks, I pretty much cry every night
all night. I haven't been able to sleep, I can't focus,
I can concentrate. Back in the day, we would say
(09:43):
things like try hard or find something you enjoy, right, right,
uh huh. Now, the proper advice would be, hey, well,
you know, if you've been feeling this for quite some time,
then maybe it's time that you start looking into some
type of research, some type of help. Oh I'm not
ready to ask for help. I just need to talk
a little bit or Okay, great, fantastic. There's resources now
you can down nine eight where it's candy comput and
(10:04):
show available here in Texas where someone will have a
conversation with you.
Speaker 4 (10:07):
Right.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
You can be careful the resources that you go into online. Right,
but you can always access things like no mep dot org,
which is nominal passle. We have plenty of resources information.
You can start educating yourself on what mental health is
and start talking to people, join a support group, take
a class, and when you're ready and you feel safe enough,
then it's definitely time to seek that professional.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
And just from personal experience. You know, I've battled with
a lot of mental health disorders over the years. A
few things that I'll tell the listening audience that has
helped me are affirmations that you can find for free
on YouTube. They can range from five minutes to thirty minutes.
People think when you do some kind of meditation it
has to be like No, I listen to them first
thing in the morning, and most of the times I
don't believe them, but you force your subconscious to take
(10:50):
those take those in and just you know, every day
there's on YouTube on Spotify five minute affirmations. You can
journal And the thing that I do with journaling is
even if it's just one sentence, just right, one thing
in the morning and evening that you're grateful for. It
could be my morning coffee. Sometimes that's the most you
can muster upright. And number three is try to move
your body, especially when you don't try to get some sun.
(11:11):
But you know, those three things helped me. And right
now we're gonna get into some events that Nami is
presenting that can help you. So Alejandra, can you tell
us more about these events coming up?
Speaker 3 (11:23):
Absolutely? Yes, So we have other than this event that's
just happening this startstay right. Unfortunately that's a little too
soon to discuss. We're gonna go with our next one,
which is actually happening in July twenty fifth, which is
the last Friday of July, and it's from nine to
twelve pm and or actually nine two to one pm.
And this is for mental health. It is for our
(11:45):
twelfth annual Mental Health Forum, right, Minority Mental Health Forum,
and so this is free to the public. You can
always go into no MEP dot org to visit our
calendar and register for it. And this training is basically
exactly for that, right, It's a presentation, it's forum. We're
gonna have key speakers, keynote speakers, We're gonna have a panel.
We're going to talk about social media how it impacts
(12:06):
mental health. We're going to talk about you know, standing together,
resiliency and empowering the community if we work together. So
this event is going to be coming up July twenty fifth, again,
as I mentioned, absolutely free of charge from nine to
one and you can go into our website to to register.
Is going to be at It's going to be at
El Paso Community College, on Viscount. Yes, and then after
that our next event that will be Forthcommunists our walk.
(12:29):
This is our major, major annual event, right, and we'll
be having this walk this October eighteenth this year, and
the start time is at eight am. And that what
happens at a scott at the park. This one usually happens,
It's been happening frequently or lately right at a Scott
at the park, and so we're hoping that's where it's
going to continue to happen annually. But yes, please come
join us. You know, you can build your own group,
(12:50):
you can support, you can build money, you can donate,
collect all this good stuff, right and all in support
for a wonderful cost which is creating awareness and all
living in healthy mental health right.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
And ways to fight the stigma against mental health is
also to attend these events, have people come over and hey,
let's go to this you know, this forum or this walk.
And you also have some Zoom events happening every Saturday
from now until June twenty eighth, nine thirty to twelve.
It's a virtual Zoom. It's a free mental health class.
(13:23):
It says when I read it online, it said for caregivers,
and parents of youth ages twenty two and younger who
are experiencing mental health problems. My question is it the
youth are experienced mental health problems or if you're the
caregiver experiencing mental health problems and.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
This course that you're referring to is are not me
basics course? Okay? And this is a caregiver parent course
and it's for caregivers and parents of youth experiencing mental
health concerns. The youth have mental health and so the
child does not need to be formally diagnosed, They just
need to be already expressing concerns. Terrible, too, spright, so typical, typical,
(13:58):
And so the the information and the classes we offer
tend to be more for youth, young adults and adults. Right,
We don't really do the child sector right and so
so but yes, absolutely so, Yes, that's one class that's
happening now, and it's to educate parents on understanding what
mental illness is, how it impacts their child, right, what
they can do about it, communication resources. I mean, it's
(14:20):
just an abundance of information. We truly, truly feel that
NOMIC courses, presentations, trainings are life changing. Right. We have
classes after almost every course our parent course, parents are like,
why doesn't every single person, every single parent, every single teacher,
every single administrator take this course. Everybody needs to know
about how mentalness impacts children? And right, absolutely, And so
(14:41):
we have others started starting. We have a Family and Family,
which is for family members of adults, and this one's
going to be starting July fifteenth through September second, right,
And then we have another Basics one like the one
that you just mentioned that is happening right now. That
one is happening May twenty fourth three June twenty eighth,
that's the one that you just mentioned, right. And so
these classes you need to attend them by class one
(15:03):
or by class two, so in order for you to
get full benefits. So the way our programs work is
anybody who qualifies under the qualifier, right, because you do
need to attend the class where you belong, and it's
absolutely free of charge. But we do ask that you
do register and show up by class one the latest
class two, right, because we don't admit any new people
after that because you've already missed a lot of vital information.
The basis uh huh, And it's a commitment it's a
(15:25):
life changing commitment because you leave with a book about
two to three inches stick with nothing but resources and
information and what mental health conditions are and how to
make it better, how to make that journey right.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
But like you said, it's a life changing event. And
so if you want more information on these events on Instagram,
it's no me L Paso. That's n A m I
L Paso. On Facebook, No me n A m I
L Passo as well, or go to no me ep
dot org that's nami ep dot org. Alejandra, I could
(15:56):
talk with you all day about this, of course, the
we're out of time, but I just want to thank
you so much for being here with me today.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
Absolutely, thank you so much. And I just want to
remember everybody that you are interested in volunteering with us,
because we are a volunteer organization as well. Please also
visit our website, please fill out our form and we
will definitely get back to you so that you can
go ahead and volunteer in any capacity with Nomio Passo.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 6 (16:22):
Welcome back to the al Paso Public Forum. I am
your host, Amberbanda, and today we have two people from
VI Talent. We have Robert Valenzuela, MHA donor recruitment manager.
Speaker 7 (16:35):
Robert, thank you for being here with me today.
Speaker 5 (16:36):
Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 8 (16:37):
I'm excited to share our how are donating saves lives
in the community.
Speaker 7 (16:41):
Of course me too.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
And then we also have Monique Hilriding, senior account manager
with VI Talent. Monique, thank you for being here with
me today.
Speaker 4 (16:50):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 7 (16:51):
Amber.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
So Monique, tell me VI Talent, you don't just cover
Ol Paso.
Speaker 7 (16:57):
In fact, what areas does this VITE covered?
Speaker 2 (17:00):
Correct?
Speaker 4 (17:01):
So we cover all of southern New Mexico and into
the El Paso area. We are the only blood bank
in the area that covers the eighteen hospitals and we
have about five three to five blood drives going every
single day to maintain the blood usage at our local hospitals.
Speaker 7 (17:21):
Oh wow.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
And so with the blood drives that you have, I mean,
can I ask you what? So you have blood drives
every weekend and I know that you have them at
the schools, but you know, with summer coming up, what
is a piece of critical information for the community to
know as far as going to locations to donate.
Speaker 4 (17:41):
So summer tends to be one of the more critical times,
the usage tends to go up and the donations tend
to go down. People are out on vacation doing lots
of fun things. They're just it's not top of mind
for people. So we have actually a lot of really
wonderful things going on now and running all the way
(18:01):
into the end of the summer. So I know that
we're going to talk a little bit more about the
Donate for Mothers that's still going on in May, where
we're raising awareness for the one in eighty three moms
that needs blood during childbirth, but we also have awareness
events around Pride. The donation requirements have changed over the years.
(18:21):
We have a be the backup blood drive where we're
working with our law enforcement and first responders that are
typically of course the first on the scene and see
what the blood usage need is. And then it's almost
time for our Barnett Harley Davidson Blood Drive. So a
lot of really exciting campaigns going on through the summer
to keep people engaged and interested and saving lives.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
Perfect and that's what you are doing when you're donating blood,
you're saving a life because you know, if people don't
have that blood donation when they need a transfusion or
for whatever they're going to use it for.
Speaker 7 (18:55):
Then you know what are you going to do?
Speaker 2 (18:57):
And Robert, let me ask you, what are the requirements
If someone wants to donate, maybe they think they're too young,
or maybe they feel like, oh, I have this ailment?
Speaker 7 (19:07):
What are the requirements for someone to donate blood?
Speaker 8 (19:10):
Absolutely, I mean every two seconds somebody needs blood in
the US, So whether you're trauma patient, cancer patient, somebody
undergoing surgery, blood donations are essential. And the beautiful thing
is like one donation can save up to three lives. So,
like you mentioned, whether you're too young now, I mean
most healthy people over the age of sixteen with a
parent consent can donate, and the limit after that is unlimited.
(19:32):
The recent changes with tattoos and all of these things
have changed the screening process for a donor to give
as well. And there's four main types of blood donations.
So you have your whole blood, which you can donate
every eight weeks. You're giving a pint of blood which
is used from everything from surgeries to emergencies. Then you
(19:55):
have your platelet donation, which is a little bit longer.
It takes about two hours, but that helps for any
cancer patients or blood clot patients, and that's up to
every seven days. You can do a platelet donation. Then
you have your plasma donation, which can help fight infections
burn victims.
Speaker 5 (20:14):
You can do that every twenty eight days.
Speaker 8 (20:16):
And then we have what are called our double red
cell donations, which is every sixteen weeks. So it's taking
two units of red blood cells so to basically whole bloods,
and that's for it's great for trauma and surgery patients
as well.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
And so when people go into donate and they get
an explanation of all of these types of blood donations,
I'm assuming that there's going to be and for any
of you that don't know because I have donated blood
in the past, there's going to be a screening to
make sure you're eligible to donate blood. You know you're
feeling okay, and then you can choose if you are
eligible to donate.
Speaker 7 (20:54):
In one of the few ways that you just explained.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
So can Robert, can you tell me a little bit
about that process.
Speaker 7 (21:01):
Okay, I go in, I have my I D. I'm
at one of these donation sites. I've never donated before,
but I want to start donating. Can you walk me
through the process.
Speaker 8 (21:08):
Absolutely, So, the tech will take your information, your ID,
make sure that you're eligible, ask you several questions. You'll
either fill out our fast track, which is the same
questionnaire that they'll ask you, which is many different medical
questions they'll ask you. I think it's about forty three questions.
It sounds like a lot, but they're just ensuring that
(21:29):
you are eligible, you have no other infections, other diseases
that you could spread onto somebody else.
Speaker 5 (21:35):
Once you go through that process and you are.
Speaker 8 (21:37):
Eligible, they will offer you one of the two types
of donations out in the community, either the whole blood
or the double red cell, depending on the need that
we need, which is always very critical in a sense
because we always need to have the hospitals.
Speaker 5 (21:52):
Filled with blatter.
Speaker 8 (21:54):
Though, if you are eligible for a double red, whether
you're positive or ow negative a positive, we'll let you
know what need we need at that moment, or we'll
just offer you the whole depending on your weight and
everything like that. So going through the screen process, the
tech will you know what you are.
Speaker 5 (22:13):
Okay?
Speaker 7 (22:14):
And Monique, does this blood stay local? Where does the
blood go?
Speaker 4 (22:18):
The wonderful question. So we are the provider for our
community blood drives, so a very high percentage. I'm going
to take a guess at this and say over ninety percent.
It's not a statistic that my talent is given. I'm
just going to say that a lot of our blood
stays local, and part of the reason for that is
that we're always right on the verge of a shortage.
(22:40):
Our goal is to have a five day supply of
every blood type. Oftentimes we live in a two day supply,
so by the time you donate blood it's typed and
tested and ready to go to the hospitals. It can
be transfused in as soon as five days pretty often.
So the idea is always that the community Blood Center
(23:02):
provides for the local need. Now, there are definitely times
where Albuquerque might not have what they need or Lubbick
may not have what they need, and in those critical situations,
my talent will make sure that all of our operations
in all of the hospitals that we service, have the
blood components that they need. However, the local hospitals are
(23:23):
always going to be looked at first.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
Of course, and do just so that in case anyone
because I know when you donate Plasma you get paid,
but you do not get paid when you do blood.
Speaker 7 (23:34):
Donations, not in money anyway.
Speaker 2 (23:36):
Right, you get paid back like with the fact that
you're actually helping to save the life.
Speaker 4 (23:41):
Yes, I love the way that you said that because
that's so true and so many people that have donated,
and I've really seen that a lot through this donate
for others. Is it's like it's a therapeutic experience to
be able to give back and say I myself, I am okay,
I'm going to help someone else that's in a bad situation.
And so you're right, it's actually illegal to pay to
(24:04):
pay donors to give because it is a volunteer blood
donor and that helps us to keep the blood supply safe.
What the Plasma Center does is very different than what
we do. So while they say that they save lives,
there's truth to that because they're doing things like calibrating machinery,
research products, medications. That's true, but none of the components
(24:26):
that they collect are going directly to a hospital patient
and need to save their lives.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
This liquid gold that we're talking about now is more
like boots on the ground, Like okay, you know as
soon as well, actually when someone donates, I believe, I
don't know if you'd already mentioned it, but it takes
a little bit of time before the blood is actually
able to be usable.
Speaker 4 (24:46):
Correct, Correct, We're going to make sure that it is safe.
We want to make sure for our donors and then
of course for our local patients. We are putting that
blood through every bloodborn disease test that we know about
to make sure or that it is absolutely as safe
as it possibly can be, and knowing that it's safe
(25:07):
to be transfused exactly.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
And if you're just joining us, we have here Robert Valenzuela,
MHA donor recruitment donor recruitment manager for Vitalent, as well
as Monique Hilberding, senior account manager for Vitalent here in
this area.
Speaker 7 (25:23):
So what I want to talk about.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
More, Monique, is what you were mentioning about the donating
for moms. Can you explain to the audience. I mean
it seems pretty obvious, but still, why is it so
important to focus on mothers specifically and their need for blood.
Speaker 4 (25:40):
I am just absolutely loving this campaign so much. It
started six years ago with doctor Rossi in Colorado and
it started becoming a lot bigger over there, and we
heard about it and said, hey, we want to be
part of this. This is a big deal. So the
national statistic is that one in eighty three moms needs
(26:01):
a blood transfusion, So that comes to over two hundred
and five thousand units of blood that are needed in
the nation for OBGYN patients, which is unbelievable something that
I've been working for VI Talent for eighteen years and
didn't realize that the need for obgyn and pregnant mothers
were needing this much support. So things like licenta, acreta, anemia,
(26:27):
postpartum hemorrhaging, and throughout this campaign, I've seen tons of
moms coming in to donate, lots of moms that received
blood themselves and they start to share their story. Are
coworkers that have told us I received blood, my mom
received blood. We did a blood drive at Sillavistamol and
(26:49):
Messilla Valley Mall where I had a mom come in
to donate because her daughter received blood and she wanted
to do this in honor of her daughter. And then
her daughter saw the campaign and she came to donate
as well, and they met up with each other there
at the blood drive. And I just thought, how cool
is this that they just kind of privately wanted to
take this on to heal themselves from what they went through.
(27:14):
And the thing that I hear rings so true and
so pure from the moms and their families is the
thank you, thank you to the donors, thank you to
the staff, thank you to the people that support the
blood drives. It really is beautiful.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
So with this Blood for Mom's campaign, do they have
to be going to locations like if you're set up
at a mall or if you're set up at some venue,
or can they just go into any donor site.
Speaker 4 (27:44):
So this specific campaign, if they wanted to donate, they
could go to buy talent dot org slash donate for
Mothers and that's where they could be part of that.
And really all of the blood drives are needing the support,
So just come on and donate, whether it's in the
center at the blood drive that happens to be at
your office when you see us out in the community exactly.
Speaker 7 (28:08):
And Robert, there's something that I asked you. We talked
about this in our first and you're going I like
for you to tell.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
The audience about a man that went in to donate
blood and it ended up actually saving his life.
Speaker 5 (28:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 8 (28:21):
Absolutely, I can't recall his name, however, that he went
in for a blood donation at his company, and like
I mentioned before, you go through a test, I mean,
you go through some questionnaires and a mini physical that
they say that they're checking your pulse, your weight, your
(28:43):
blood pressure. And it so happened that his pulse was
pretty high and he was telling the tech that his
regular pulse isn't that high. So the tech had mentioned, well, unfortunately,
you don't qualify at the moment, but maybe you need
a follow up with your primary doctor to see what's
going on with you. That way you can just make
(29:03):
sure that you're all well and everything like that. So
he decided to book an appointment with his primary care physician.
The physician had to send himTo the hospital for immediate
surgery as his or his arteries were clogged. So he
went in for immediate surgery, recovered quickly, and after that
thanked my talent for finding out this this this piece
(29:26):
in his life that could have probably killed him.
Speaker 4 (29:27):
Right.
Speaker 5 (29:27):
Yeah, and after that he became a regular donor.
Speaker 8 (29:31):
So he pretty much he wrote to my talent, wrote
to the CEO of thanking them for every little thing
that they have done, and that he's going to give
back to by talent by donating blood now that he's
healthy and recovered from his surgery.
Speaker 7 (29:46):
Yeah, he wouldn't have otherwise known.
Speaker 2 (29:48):
And it's a lot of what I'm hearing is it's
a lot of people like to donate because they're just
giving back or saying thank you. They needed it, or
a loved one needed it and Heaven forbid you, or
a loved one ever needs it.
Speaker 7 (29:59):
But it it's always a good idea to go donate.
Speaker 4 (30:01):
You know.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
Again, it's liquid gold and there's so many places that
you can go to either Vitalent dot org and by
the way, there's snacks or the bombs, so you can
go and you know, have a little snack afterward. On
their Instagram it's Vitalent EPLC. On Facebook, Vitalent Texas And
like they were saying, they have events for law enforcement
coming up, they have an event here and I'll pass
(30:24):
so with Barnette Harley Davidson coming up, that's the one
that I always love to go to because they even
I don't know about this year, but they also like
to raffle off some really great prizes, So if you
need more information, you can go to those websites or
on Power one oh two point one, Sunday, ninety nine
point nine and ninety six point three k Hay Country,
on our Instagram and our Facebook. I'll have pictures, flyers,
(30:45):
all the information you need if you have questions and
you want to go donate. So Robert and Monique, thank
you so much for being here with me today.
Speaker 5 (30:53):
Thank you Amber, just Bem, thank you Amber.
Speaker 1 (30:55):
You've been listening to our Passo Public Forum, a weekly
public affairs presentation of iHeartRadio L Passo. If you, your
organization or event would like to be featured on an
upcoming program, please email to epforum at iHeartMedia dot com
or call us at nine one five three five one
five four zero zero. Tune in again next week for
(31:16):
another additional of El Paso Public Forum. The preceding program
was recorded at the studios of iheartradiol Passo
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