Last week, Chattanooga Valley Elementary School hosted a blood drive. The coordinator, Mary Cope, sent out this email to participants. Read how this group makes giving blood a fun event for all. We hope it will encourage you and serve as an example of the giving nature our blood donors experience each time they roll up their sleeves.
Friday – - 12/11/2009
What a wonderful turnout for yesterday’s blood drive with our friends from Blood Assurance! Your support and encouragement ALWAYS amaze me! When we host a blood drive – - whew, Katie bar the door!
In a time when people say they only see each other at weddings or at the funeral home, we “use our time wisely” – - we socialize and have a good time at our blood drives.
We talk, laugh, catch up, joke, drink cokes, eat Little Debbies (and sometimes my mama’s almost-world-famous sausage and biscuits!) – - and help save lives at the same time! It’s a win-win situation.
A five-hour drive has 40 slots / appointment times for donors. Blood Assurance employees interviewed 59 people, and of those folks interviewed, drew 46 complete units of whole blood! (Some reasons for deferral are: iron too low, blood pressure too high, having a cold sore, being on antibiotics, recent piercing or tattooing.)
THANK YOU to everyone who donated blood, attempted to donate blood or encouraged someone else to donate. Donors are heroes! They provide whole blood, red blood cells and platelets to: burn victims, chemotherapy patients, accident victims, and people with bleeding disorders. They make surgery – - both elective and essential – - possible.
Hopefully, we’ll have another drive in the spring, either in April or May. Please join us if you can. Never donated before? We’ll sit with you, pat your leg and talk you through it. Just ask Barry; he donated blood for the 1st time ever last night! From this day forth, he shall forever be known as Barry the Brave!
Sincerely,
Mary Cope
