Red Cross marks 100 years
By Becky Barclay
Published in News on April 12, 2017 10:03 AM
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
A display at the Wayne County Public Library tells some of the highlights of the Wayne County Chapter of the American Red Cross. The chapter will celebrate its 100th birthday with a 100-pint blood drive May 16 at St. Paul United Methodist Church.
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
A display at the Wayne County Public Library helps celebrate the 100th birthday of the Wayne County chapter of the American Red Cross.
The Wayne County Chapter of the American Red Cross is celebrating its 100th birthday this year.
It will include a 100-pint blood drive May 16 from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. at St. Paul United Methodist Church.
"We picked St. Paul to partner with because they actually sponsored our first blood drive 50 years ago, when our board of directors officially adopted a blood program in Wayne County," said Kimberly Berrier, business operations specialist for the Red Cross region, who also takes care of community partnerships for Wayne County.
The goal for a regular blood drive is between 32 and 35 units, Mrs. Berrier said.
The drive will also be special because there will be a prize wheel where donors can try to win prizes from local businesses. And there will be goody bags for donors with coupons for hamburgers, yogurt/ice cream and other items.
Walk-ins will be taken for the blood drive, but to get in and out faster, Mrs. Berrier recommends you make an appointment. You can do that by going to redcrossblood.org and entering the zip code. The schedule will come up.
"We also have a blood donor app, which is a little more user-friendly," Mrs. Berrier said. "You go to the Google playstore and search for Red Cross apps. It will show you all of the 11 apps the Red Cross has. And they're all free. Our blood donor app just hit a milestone. We've have one million downloads since we started it four years ago this October."
The blood donor app allows people to make an appointment, as well as manage their appointment.
To make your donation time go faster, there's even a rapid pass. It allows you to go online and answer your health history questions the day of the blood drive to save yourself about 10 or 15 minutes at the drive, Mrs. Berrier said.
"So say a donor wants to give at our May 16 blood drive, they download the app, make their appointment for say 10 a.m.," she said. "They give us their email address and/or their mobile phone number. We will send them a confirmation email. We'll send them a reminder about a week to 10 days out.
"The day of the blood drive, they'll get another reminder to do their rapid pass. That reminder will actually have the link in it so all they have to do is click on it, read over the materials and answer the questions."
The rapid pass to be done on a laptop or desktop computer; it can't be done on a mobile device. But you can then print it out or email it to your phone to take the day of the blood drive.
Donors will need to take their driver's license or Red Cross blood donor card with them that day.
To give blood, you must weigh at least 110 pounds, be at least 16 with parental consent or 17 without parental consent and be in general good health.
In addition to regular blood donations, there will also be Power Red donations that day.
"A Power Red donation is when O negative and O positive blood type donors give into a centrifuge and the red blood cells are separated from the other parts of the blood," Mrs. Berrier said. "The donor gets back their own blood and some saline. We keep the red cells."
Mrs. Berrier said it's for O blood types because that's the universal blood type. During a Power Red donation, the donor gives two pints of blood, instead of the one pint that whole blood donor gives.
No matter which type of blood donation you give, there are certain things you can do before you give blood to help the process.
Mrs. Berrier said to eat a really good meal prior to giving blood; never donate on an empty stomach. Make sure you are well hydrated; water is best. Cut down on your caffeine intake that day. And get a good night's sleep the night before.
'We want to thank our donors," she said. "Some of these donors have been giving many years. They're the backbone of our blood program.
"It's important to give blood. There's no substitute for blood. We don't manufacture it."
For more information on the 100th birthday blood drive, call the Red Cross at 919-735-7201.