Central Illinois blood bank wants to ease donor anxiety using mixed reality

A central Illinois blood bank is providing a new experience to blood donors to help take their mind off the donation process by focusing on planting a garden — with just their eyes.

ImpactLife is a nonprofit community blood center and the sole provider of blood for OSF St. Joseph and Carle BroMenn medical centers, and more than 120 hospitals in Illinois and neighboring states.

Donors at select blood drives can use the Microsoft HoloLens 2 to play Paragon, a game created by Abbott and Blood Centers of America.

“You get to put on the headset, and then there is a blue wisp named Willow that talks to the donor,” said Chad Sabin, ImpactLife’s community development advocate. “They introduce a sack of seeds that the donor will get to then look at the sack of seeds and plant seeds all across the room, so as they’re donating, they’re going to see these seeds start to grow.”

Sabin said many students who have utilized the technology so far said they felt calm and would donate blood again in the future.

Manager of Donor and Government Relations Jim Watts said ImpactLife is in the trial phase of using the Microsoft HoloLens 2 to see how donors feel and decide if they want to buy more devices in the future.

“The donors can still see everything going on, our phlebotomist can still see the donors, but it allows them to escape just a little bit and distract them from the donation process,” Watts said. “We hear a lot of times that people don’t like to donate blood because they have a fear of needles or they’re just anxious about the process, so our goal here is to distract them from the process so they feel more at ease to donate blood.”

Illinois State University senior Nicodemus Laroche tested the technology during a recent blood drive at Watterson Towers. He said donors who get motion sickness or wear glasses might find the eye-tracking technology difficult to use.

ImpactLife reported it collected 10 units of blood during that drive.

Sabin said ImpactLife plans to bring the technology to upcoming blood drives at high schools and other colleges, targeting a younger donor base. The next one is planned for 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday at OSF Medical Group, 1701 E. College Ave., Bloomington.

“Even now, you have a 4-year-old who can navigate an iPad by themselves, so I think with our younger donors, sometimes the technology [makes it] easier,” Watts said.