Blood Shortages Continue to Impact Local Area

Larchwood, IA – Avera Medical Group Larchwood, Larchwood, IA, Grand Falls Casino, and Community Blood Bank join up boost the community’s blood supply and impact local patients’ lives by hosting a community blood drive on Monday, December 6 between 7:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. at Avera Medical Group Larchwood and Grand Falls Casino & Golf Resort between 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Donors can schedule an appointment at Avera Medical Group Larchwood by calling 712-477-2185. Donors can schedule an appointment at Grand Falls Casino by logging onto www.cbblifeblood.org, select December 6 and Grand Falls Casino or 1-877-877-3070. All those donating will receive a McDonald’s gift card.

“The holiday season is upon us and we continue to see record blood usage in our area at local hospitals. The demand continues to out pass blood collections. Declaring a critical blood shortage is determined by evaluating the potential collections in the short term and the anticipated usage through the next 48 to 72 hours. Community Blood Bank has declared a critical blood shortage several times throughout 2021 with severe shortages in the area and no relief from the amount of blood that is being transfused short term,” states Ken Versteeg, Executive Director, Community Blood Bank. “It has been hard to catch-up and build a stable supply of blood for our community hospitals when we are experiencing some of the worst blood usage in the blood bank’s history. Just as we see some improvement, we have several unexpected calls for blood that places us in a critical state once again. Please donate blood when the bloodmobile is at either Avera Medical Group Larchwood or Grand Falls Casino on December 6.”

Donors must be at least 17 years old (16 years old with a signed parent consent form), weigh 110 lbs or more and be in good general health. It is recommended that a person eat and drink plenty of fluids prior to donating blood. Please bring an ID with you at the time of donation. For more information log onto www.cbblifeblood.org.

Community Blood Bank is not affiliated with other blood bank organizations and takes pride in being a self-sufficient organization thanks to the generosity of our local blood donors.

This entry was posted on Friday, November 26th, 2021 at 11:49 am and is filed under Community Calendar. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.