The Fermières de Saint-Eustache blood drive – Hélène Lamouche

Here, read the transcript of the interview with Hélène Lamouche, President of the Cercle de Fermières Saint-Eustache.

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In Saint-Eustache, we had, they had decided to do a, what these days they call a blood clinic. Back then, it was called a “drive” but now they call it a clinic. That’s the, the proper word. [chuckles]. Uh, they decided to do that in 1972. So they all organized it, all together, and it went well, it was fantastic. Great, they called the Red Cross, they gave them, they told them about the project, everything was ready. And they were told, “Oh no, we don’t give that to an organization that’s just women.” What a slap in the face! So then they said, “If there’s an organization that’s managed by men, that kind of thing, we could accept it.” So the women looked around and they, they joined up with the Knights of Columbus. So the Knights of Columbus decided to take charge of it and the Fermières provided support and assistance and so on. So it was the Knights of Columbus who took the credit for what the Fermières had started from the beginning. But after that, I mean, they kept going. They did it for 20 years, the two organizations working together.