The Putnam Scoop

The American Red Cross is having a blood drive Saturday November 10th from 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM at the Catholic Church of the Ascension in Hurricane.  The church is located at 905 Hickory Mill Road (behind Dominos Pizza) and a Red Cross lunch bag will be given to donors.

Double red donations are being accepted at this blood drive.  Double red donations are needed for Type O-, O+, B- and A-.  All types of whole blood are needed.  

There is no substitute for human blood.  Scientists haven’t come up with anything else that will work; only the blood that we donate will save lives.

Donated blood can be stored for only 45 days.  It is perishable and the supply needs to be replenished continuously.  In a lifetime, nearly each one of us will have a need for donated blood.

We are eligible to give blood if we are over 17 years of age, in reasonably good health and more than 110 pounds.  I’d guess that describes most of us.

You’ll be given a mini-physical before donation.  This is a good health screening for you as well as a protection for the person who will receive your blood.  After donating, you can give blood again in 56 days.  Your body will make nice, fresh blood for you.  Some studies show that regularly giving blood may lower heart attacks and cardiac problems, although more studies are being done.  But blood donation isn’t about YOUR health.  It’s about doing something to save someone you’ll never even know.

Every two seconds, someone in the United States needs blood.  How many is that just since you started reading?

While 60% of us are eligible to give blood, only 5% of us actually do.  The one pint that you donate can save up to three lives.  Three lives.  Isn’t that worth an hour or so of your time?  YES, it is. I hope to see you there!

This entry was posted on Monday, October 29th, 2007 at 7:28 am and is filed under Putnam News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.