Blood center officials are hoping an upcoming area blood drive will pump a little life into area blood supply levels as some have reached a critical level.
ImpactLife officials are responding to an immediate need for additional donors to support this region’s blood supply.
They say during the weeks between the Fourth of July and Labor Day, projections for blood collection show 600 to 800 fewer donors per week than in the Spring and Fall, representing an approximately 20% decrease in the rate of blood donation.
Public Relations Manager for ImpactLife, Kirby Winn says, the decrease in people donating blood means some blood types have fallen to critical levels in the area.
“We’re looking at about one day to one and a half days on our Type-O positive and O negative red blood cells. The B positive and B negative are in about the same place, but truly all blood types are needed because we’ve had a run of several weeks here in this mid-summer period with low donations and that’s just not sustainable over the long term.”
Winn says ImpactLife’s goal is to collect enough blood to have a five to seven-day supply at any time of each type. ImpactLife is hosting a blood drive on Monday at Jacksonville Memorial Hospital from 11:00 am to 6:00 pm.
Winn says they are encouraged that the drive has a strong schedule of donors who have registered, but there is plenty of room for more who would like to give. “We’ll be there at the hospital for a good chunk of the day and then there’s other events and local blood drives. Folks who go to Springfield can visit our donation center there if that’s convenient.
But what we want to do is be out in the field, in the community we serve, and certainly, right there at the hospital is a good example. Because you could have somebody giving blood in one room and under the same roof here’s somebody else receiving a blood transfusion, possibly in surgery or the emergency room.
So it really does bring it home, that connection between blood donors and the recipient right there in the community.”
Winn says it is preferred that donors register for an appointment to donate ahead of time, but if you happen to find yourself with unexpected free time Monday, walk-ins are always welcome.
If you can’t make it on Monday, the Prairieland United Way is holding a blood drive during their 2023 week of giving on Tuesday, August 22nd, from 10:00 am to 5;00 pm at CNB Bank & Trust.
To help increase the rate of blood donation through September 10th, all donors who give blood at ImpactLife donor centers or mobile blood drives will receive a voucher to redeem for the donor’s choice of an electronic gift card or an equivalent value contribution to AdoptAClassroom.org.
The value of the gift card or contribution ranges from $10 to $50. To find out more information, or to register go to bloodcenter.org, or via the ImpactLife mobile app.
You can also find out more information by searching ImpactLife on your favorite social media platform.