As blood supplies drop, the number of drives rises

SIKESTON - Summer is a time when American Red Cross blood supplies are low -- meaning the number of blood drives in the area is high.

Freida Cardwell, blood donor coordinator for the American Red Cross, said the low supply is for two reasons: People are busier in the summer with less time to donate blood, but there are also more accidents where blood is needed. "There is more of a need with less giving," she said.

Cardwell said around 9/11 there was an "enormous" turnout of donors. She said people had an awareness about giving blood and a deep passion to do so. But as the years go by, those numbers have dwindled.

She doesn't think fear or pain are the main reasons people don't give blood; rather, they simply don't make it a priority. "It's easy to put in the back of your mind," she said.

But even as the idea is thrown to the side, its importance is still there.

"There's nothing they could be doing that day more important than keeping someone alive," she said. "They are actually the silent hero in that person's life."

"You have to feel good after doing it," Murray Sullivan, a long time donor, said. "You feel like your God is smiling at you because you've helped someone, somehow, somewhere live because of your contribution."

Blood donors are not only giving the gift of life to those in need, but they're also helping themselves.

Sullivan, a retired biology teacher, noted that giving blood regularly is actually good for you. He said that donors actually help themselves prepare for a situation where they are losing blood and cannot immediately receive more. A donor's body will regenerate the lost blood faster than it ordinarily would because the body recognizes what is happening.

Both Cardwell and Sullivan also noted that giving blood "puts an extra bounce in your step."

To be eligible to give blood, which one may do every 56 days, donors need to be over the age of 17, weigh more than 110 pounds, and be in good health. Cardwell recommended donors to take a daily vitamin and eat healthy foods in the days prior to the blood drive, especially those with low iron levels, because it can be "so discouraging to be turned down" simply because of an iron deficiency.

Sullivan noted the simplicity of such an important deed.

"I would always remind them that it's the easiest thing you do all day. You get to lay down on the job," he said. "...you'll probably never know who received it or under what conditions it was received, but you're helping someone to live."

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UPCOMING?DRIVES

While there were already three blood drives last week in the area, there are still a few coming up:

Monday, July 21: MoDOT in Sikeston, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Sunday, July 27: Shady Acres Church of Christ in Sikeston, 12 to 4 p.m.

Monday, July 28: Lions Club in Essex, 2 to 6 p.m.

Tuesday, July 29: Lions Club in Essex, 1 to 6 p.m.

The entire blood-giving process should take anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour.