Jamestown Regional Medical Center is hosting a blood drive on Tuesday, Apr. 9 to help save lives.
The blood drive is open to the community from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Vitalant’s bloodmobile. It will also be located near the Emergency Department parking lot at JRMC.
JRMC Clinical Service Assistant Katie Mittleider says the blood drive is certainly a great event for the community and staff.
“As professionals in the healthcare industry, we see how important it is to have donor blood readily available,” Mittleider said. “That is why we host blood drives each year.”
To clarify, people can donate blood up to three times each year.
JRMC’s blood drive collects whole blood. During a whole blood donation, nearly 500 ml of blood is collected from the donor. Blood is then separated later into components like red cells, plasma and platelets. These components are used for patient transfusions.
“This will be the 14th time JRMC has held a drive since 2011,” Mittleider said. “We welcome Vitalant into our facility to help us hold the blood drive. They provide our facility with red cells, platelets and plasma for transfusions.”
JRMC’s blood drive has collected 892 pints of blood, to date, for Vitalant.
And, while most adults can donate blood, some individuals are ineligible. Certain diseases, like AIDS and hepatitis, prevent people from donating blood.
Others who are ineligible include people who have:
- used needles to take nonprescription drugs
- had syphilis or gonorrhea in the past 12 months
- had the Ebola virus disease or infection
Finally, schedule an appointment and donate. Call (701) 952-4814. Or, go to www.bloodhero.com and use “JRMC” as the code to register.