DAVENPORT, IOWA (June 13, 2022) — Facing an urgent need for additional donors, ImpactLife asks all eligible and potential donors to schedule appointments to give blood during the week of World Blood Donor Day (Tuesday, June 14). ImpactLife is responding to a decrease in the rate of blood donation during the first weeks of summer that means our region’s blood supply is now approaching critical levels. To schedule, call ImpactLife at (800) 747-5401, visit www.bloodcenter.org, or download the ImpactLife mobile app at www.bloodcenter.org/app.
“Patients fighting cancer need more blood and blood-products than patients fighting any other terrible disease. A cancer diagnosis can make a person and their families feel scared, and we want to be sure that safe access to blood isn’t adding to their concerns,” says Costas Constantinou, MD, UnityPoint Health — Trinity Medical Oncology and Hematology Clinic. “By giving blood, you’re giving cancer patients and others a fighting chance and an amazing gift of hope and life.”
“Having an adequate supply of blood is essential to providing care to some of our sickest and most vulnerable patients,” said Kurt Andersen MD, Senior Vice President of Physician Operations and Chief Medical Officer, Genesis Health System. “We need every person in our community who can give blood to do so and continue to do so again and again. Donating blood is safe and easy to do. As we add our voices to others asking people to donate, we hope that many available appointment slots will fill.”
World Blood Donor Day is Tuesday, June 14; Opportunities to engage on social media
Observed annually on June 14, World Blood Donor Day serves to raise awareness of the need for safe blood and blood products and to thank volunteer donors for their lifesaving gifts of blood. Those who support the blood center’s mission can help with outreach and engagement by sharing ImpactLife content on social media. Options include graphics for each blood type, the World Blood Donor Day image, and Snapchat filters in place at each of the ImpactLife Donor Centers. Supporters are also invited to share a photo of themselves giving blood, using #WorldBloodDonorDay + #WBDD22 and tagging @impactlifeblood. For more information and links to graphics, see www.bloodcenter.org/WBDD.
The June 14 date commemorates the birth of Dr Karl Landsteiner, born June 14, 1868, in Vienna, Austria. Landsteiner’s research identified the main blood groups: Type A, Type B, Type AB, and Type O, as well as the Rh-factor in blood.
To thank those who schedule appointments at this critical time of year, ImpactLife will provide all presenting donors through July 10 with a voucher redeemable for the donor’s choice of a gift card or 500 bonus points to use in the ImpactLife Donor Rewards Store. (Gift-card options include Amazon, The Home Depot, Lowe’s, Target, Subway, Starbucks, and Walmart.) Learn more at www.bloodcenter.org/promotions.
About ImpactLife
ImpactLife is a not-for-profit community organization providing blood services to 124 hospitals in Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, and Wisconsin, as well as resource sharing partners across the country. Services extend from southcentral Wisconsin to St Louis, Missouri. and from Danville, Illinois to Chariton, Iowa. (See a map of the ImpactLife service region.) ImpactLife operates 22 Donor Centers and holds approximately 5000 mobile blood-drives annually to provide blood components needed for patient transfusions at hospitals throughout our region.
For more information, see www.bloodcenter.org and find us @impactlifeblood on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, Twitter, Snapchat, and YouTube.
