How do we design, implement, and manage an ongoing program to provide iron supplements to women blood donors?

Here we describe the design and management of Indiana Blood Center's 10-year Iron For Women program, an ongoing community blood center-based program with continual program and donor management providing iron supplements to healthy women blood donors. Donor iron supplementation has typically been limited to research study protocols, for a defined period, with the associated resources and funding. The results of studies have supported the utility of iron supplementation: iron supplementation will enhance dietary iron for increased gastrointestinal absorption triggered as a normal homeostatic response to blood loss, thereby providing a suitable dietary iron source in the event the donor's usual diet lacks sufficient iron. Despite proven results, blood centers have been reluctant to adopt the practice due to barriers such as donor selection, ensuring the appropriateness of iron supplementation relative to the health of the donor, supplement costs, provision logistics, and program management costs. We present here how we designed our program and why it is in the Blood Center's interest to help willing women participate in volunteer blood donation by attempting to mitigate associated iron loss.