July 20, 2018 at 3:58 p.m.
Hodag MASH Blood Drive draws crowd to armory
Hodag MASH Blood Drive draws crowd to armory
By Kayla Thomason-
"The turnout has been excellent so far," said Tyler Sjostrom, marketing specialist with The Community Blood Center. "We've been really almost on a wait the entire morning, so far,"
Sjostrom noted they were seeing a lot of walk-ins, which dissipated concerns that potential donors wouldn't find their way to the new location, which is less visible than Pioneer Park.
The Community Blood Center calls donors who are O negative, which are known as universal donors, to let them know a blood drive is being held in their area and several with that coveted blood type registered for this event, Sjostrom said.
"The summers are really hard for us as far as collecting blood, there's a lot of reasons for that, schools are out of session, people are busier, there's more traumatic injuries that take up more blood," he said.
Sharon Cutler hit the 3 gallon mark for donations at this year's event.
"My late husband always donated blood and gave me a hard time for not doing it so he got me started," she said.
While she liked the Pioneer Park location, Cutler said she was grateful to be inside as the tree pollen in the park aggravates her allergies.
Cutler said donating blood is "vital, absolutely important."
"It's easy, there's nothing to it, just do it," she said.
Nancy Funk has been to every MASH Blood Drive event and has donated many other times.
"My mom died of cancer about 30 years ago and when I saw her hooked up to tubes I thought it was important that if she can get poked with needles and have tubes coming out of her I can get one poke with giving blood," she said. "If we can spend this little bit of time to give back it's the easiest thing, the easiest way to give back is to donate blood."
Donating blood is easy, takes very little of her time and doesn't keep her from going about her day afterward, she added.
"I think it's important to take a little bit of time out like this to be able to give back," she said.
Kayla Thomason may be reached at [email protected].
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