Sheldon, Iowa — Today (Monday, February 15th) is the day for the ninth annual Heroes Behind the Badges Blood Drive in Sheldon.
Ken Ver Steeg, spokesman for the Community Blood Bank says that it’s a friendly competition between two teams of Sheldon emergency responders.
He says they would like to encourage you to give, even if it’s your first time — not only because they really need the blood right now but also so that you can show your support for our local heroes, as well as those receiving treatment in the hospital. Community Blood Bank is the sole provider of blood and blood products to Sanford Sheldon and 33 other local hospitals.
He says it only takes about 35 minutes, and every donor gets a special t-shirt.
Ver Steeg says this time of year, they could really use the donations, as donations are down 20 to 30 percent.
He says that due to the busy bloodmobile schedule, they really aren’t able to reschedule blood drives, and they just have to hope for more donations when they do have blood drives.
Ver Steeg also encourages people to support their own blood type. He says right now the biggest need is for the most common types of blood, O positive and A positive. He says, however if you have a rarer type, those are always needed as well. Plus, O negative blood is always especially needed because it can be given to anyone, regardless of blood type, and is carried in medical helicopters for emergency transfusions.
Again, the public is encouraged to designate their blood donation in honor of the departments of their choice. The drive is today, (Monday, February 15th), and blood can be donated between the hours of 10:00am to 1:30pm and 3:00pm to 6:00pm
