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Give blood and help trauma patients 

 

POLK COUNTY—The American Red Cross will host two opportunities locally to donate blood this month: Thursday, May 15, at Steps to Hope in the Basement Community Room from 1 to 5:30 p.m. and Tuesday, May 20, at the Congregational Church UCC in Tryon’s Fellowship Hall from 12:30 to 5 p.m.

Donated blood is a lifesaving gift most healthy people can give. The community is encouraged to donate blood to help those who have been seriously injured and need blood products to help them recover. It’s the blood already on the shelves that helps save lives.  

Every day, the American Red Cross must collect about 12,000 blood donations to meet the needs of trauma patients and others with serious medical conditions. While all blood types are needed, type O-negative donors are especially important. Because it is the universal blood type and can be transfused to patients of any blood type, type O negative blood is what emergency personnel reach for when there is no time to determine the blood type of patients in the most serious situations. 

To make an appointment or to learn more, visit redcrossblood.org. Steps to Hope is located at 60 Ward St in Columbus, and the Congregational Church is located at 210 Melrose Ave. in Tryon

 

Submitted by Gail Barksdale