the essential
For 36 years, Monique Larroque has dedicated her life to blood donation in the Lot. A former donor, now a dedicated president, she continues to tirelessly mobilize for this vital cause despite the growing challenges.
36 years old. Monique Larroque has been involved in blood donation in the Lot for 36 years. She gave until the age of 71 and continues to give her time in this community life. Today, she is president of the Departmental Union of Volunteer Blood Donors of Lot. She manages the 26 associations in the Lot, helps with collections, looks for new donors, manages training, etc. She is also running for her second term at Figeac town hall. In short, a full life, and above all in the service of others.
Monique has spent her entire career at EDF. At the age of 50, she heard many messages on the radio: “There were a lot of calls for donations. I went for it. I gave a little late, but I realized that we needed blood for the sick. 10,000 donations are needed per day to meet the needs. By comparison, it is the equivalent of a year of donations in the Lot. And once she started, Monique didn't stop. “I gave until I was 71! When we can no longer give, we complain because we still feel in good health and we would like to continue. It takes a toll, it's difficult to say that we can no longer. Especially since, when we are a donor, we have the feeling of saving lives”, says the Lotoise, now aged 76. Fortunately, the latter can still get involved, but in another way.
“If something happens to me, it must not all go to waste”
“In 1997, I became a volunteer at the Figeac association. We really revived this association in 1999, before it was a little dormant. There, I became secretary then assistant,” remembers Monique Larroque. Then, in 2000, she joined the regional committee and became secretary of the Departmental Union of Volunteer Blood Donors of Lot. She became president in 2009 and ran for the position of president of the Figeac association in 2015. Enough to get lost. “I made the choice to leave my role as secretary of the regional committee last year, I had too many things to do. It’s difficult because we couldn’t find anyone,” breathes the Lotoise.
And there you have it, one of the problems with blood donation: the lack of volunteers. “I would like to stop being president of the Union, but there is no one who is as involved as me. The volunteers want to lend a hand, but no one wants responsibilities. That worries me. It makes several times I talk about replacing myself. If something happens to me, it must not fall apart. I try to take volunteers with me during the meetings to try to motivate them. says Monique. However, without this voluntary commitment, it is difficult to organize collections and therefore to collect donations.
Another element that gets stuck: the donors. “There has been a big drop since Covid. Before, the friendships made reasonable figures. Now, we don’t really know what’s happening,” regrets the volunteer. She continues: “Elders who stop giving are not replaced.” So, Figeacoise is pulling out all the stops to try to recruit donors. “We have a lot of promotion and awareness work going on. We go to markets or different events to talk about blood donation. We go to schools, we give flyers on rugby matches…”, describes Monique. Building the loyalty of a new donor is always a source of pride for the volunteers, who feel like they are adding their stone to the building. Last week, during a collection at the IUT of Figeac, more than 80 young people came to donate blood. Enough to soothe the heart for those who are involved body and soul.
“We have fairly encouraging stocks”
In the middle of November, Déborah Iragne, responsible for promoting donations for the Quercy basin (Tarn-et-Garonne and Lot), is rather positive: “We have quite encouraging stocks. For two weeks, they have been doing well. Well, we're 14 days away, it's only the second time this year that this has happened to us.” Good news. We must, however, remain on the alert: “During the holidays, donations are a little shy. We see people coming with their families because they are all together during this period. There are also public holidays, and there , they are really our number 1 enemies”, slips Déborah. Because who says public holiday, says collection impossible. To approach the year 2025 calmly, the French Blood Establishment is organizing the Trophées de la Vie: an inter-structural challenge where they compete to see who will be able to mobilize the most donors possible in one month.
