(Spirit Lake)– The American Red Cross will be holding several blood drives in the area starting next week. Blood drives will be held Monday and Tuesday of next week, February 17th and 18th, at Lake Okoboji Resort and Conference Center in Okoboji. Hours Monday will be from 12 Noon until 6:00 pm and Tuesday from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm. An additional blood drive is scheduled for Monday, February 24th from 12 Noon until 6:00 pm at the Lakes Area Senior Center in Spirit Lake.
Nikki Hill, Account Manager with American Red Cross Blood Services, says this is a critical time for blood donations…
“I would say that we have had about a 20,000 unit downfall for blood drives across the nation at the moment due to weather-related things and also due to the wildfires that happened out in California with cancellations of blood drives out in that area as well.”
Hill says they’re currently offering an incentive to donate…
“So any donor that comes in to donate blood for either the Okoboji or Spirit Lake locations, they will receive a 15-dollar e gift card for the merchant of their choice.”
Hill says those planning to donate blood are encouraged to make appointments…
“If you go to the RedCrossBlood.org website and then type in the zip code, the blood drives in the area will pull up and it’s easy to just sign up online. You can also just if you see the flyers there are sponsor key words you can type in as well or they can also give me a call at 712-422-2928 and I’m more than happy to get them scheduled.”
Hill adds the experience of donating the gift of life is now a little more comfortable thanks to some new technology…
“Now we do have equipment for reading the hemoglobin levels where there’s no poking involved. So there’s that and then also just taking a simple hour of your time out of the day can help save up to three lives.”
More information can be found at RedCrossBlood.org.
