Sibley, Iowa — A number of things about blood drives have changed in the pandemic, and the need for blood has never been greater.
That’s from Community Blood Bank Executive Director Ken Ver Steeg, who tells us about a blood drive they’ve got coming up on Wednesday — the day before Thanksgiving — in Sibley.
(as said:)”We’re going to be there from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. And then again from 12:30 to 3 p.m. Little different hours this time, primarily due to the fact that because of it being a four-day weekend, we want to make sure that we have all the blood tested and ready for transfusion prior to the weekend. So in order for us to do that, we have to kind of end the drive a little bit earlier, but we’re starting the drive a little earlier as well. So a little different there.“
Ver Steeg tells us why the need is so great.
(as said:) “I cannot emphasize how much COVID has changed the way that we do blood banking right now. We went from being able to take 12 donors an hour to taking seven donors an hour. So we’ve reduced the amount of people that we can actually take in an hour’s time per those social distancing purposes. And then usually around the holidays we see a dip of about 25% in overall donations because people are busy with the holidays. This might not be the case this holiday. It’s hard to say we really don’t know what this is going to look like. But if that’s the case, then we would actually see half of what we typically would get just prior to that four-day weekend. So our hopes are that we don’t see that. That we actually see community members coming out if they haven’t donated in a long period of time… if it’s been a while since you’ve come out to give we ask that you please consider donating at this blood drive event. We really do need a full schedule here to really hit home that four-day weekend and have an adequate supply for the patients at Osceola Regional Health.”
Due to COVID restrictions, they are on an appointment-only schedule, says Ver Steeg. He says you can call the Osceola Regional Health Center to make an appointment at 712-754-5358. Ver Steeg says all donors must be at least 16 years old, weigh at least 110 pounds and be in good health. You can donate blood every 56 days.
