The American Red Cross will hold the following blood drives in Polk County in March:
Sunday, March 11: Coopers Gap Baptist Church Blood Drive (730 Coopers Gap Road; Mill Spring), 1:30 – 6 p.m. Call 828-894-8059 for further information or to schedule your appointment.
Tuesday, March 13: Saluda Fire Department, 199 Walnut Street; Saluda, 2 – 6:30 p.m. Call 828-749-3231 for further information or to schedule your appointment.
Monday, March 26: Holy Cross Episcopal Church, 150 Melrose Avenue, Tryon, 12:30 – 5 p.m. Call 828-894-5073 for further information or to schedule your appointment.
If you donate blood or platelets through the American Red Cross from Feb. 13 to March 31, you will be entered to win one of three, three-day oceanfront vacation rentals at The Islander Inn and Suites on Emerald Isle. Donors will also receive a discount coupon off a future beach vacation rental with Bluewater.
The Red Cross Carolinas Blood Services Region provides lifesaving blood to 103 hospitals and must have 1,600 people give blood and platelets each weekday to meet hospital demand. Accident victims as well as patients with cancer, sickle cell disease, blood disorders and other illnesses receive transfusions every day. There is no substitute for blood and volunteer donors are the only source.
Blood can be safely donated every 56 days. Platelets can be safely given every two weeks, up to 24 times a year. Most healthy people age 17 and older, 16 with parental consent, who weigh at least 110 pounds, are eligible to donate blood and platelets. Donors who are 18 and younger must also meet specific height and weight requirements.
– article submitted by Carol Calloway