FCMC, Methodist Church schedule blood drives to help American Red Cross
Forrest City Medical Center will be partnering with the American Red Cross later this month for a blood drive in the hospital's inservice classroom.
The drive will be held from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., on Thursday, July 28. Donors should use the donor app and enter ForrestCityMedicalCenter in the search field to find the drive.
"Donors will be able to enter through the main doors of the facility and masks must be worn," said Caitlyn Sweet, FCMC Marketing Director. "We really encourage people to sign up."
Sweet said currently, there are 15 time slots from which donors may choose.
"But, those are filling up quickly," cautioned Sweet. "Our numbers in this area have always been strong and we hope to keep things that way."
According to Sweet, donors were always in demand due to the short shelf life of blood.
"Just because you donated in the past few months doesn't mean it isn't still needed," said Sweet. "If you happen to miss it with us, however, the First United Methodist Church will also be holding a blood drive."
According to Corinne Eldridge, the FUMC will hold its blood drive on Thursday, Aug. 11, from 1:30 to 5:30 p.m.
"We need folks to sign up," said Eldridge. "This time we aren't honoring anybody but I am still hoping for a good turnout."
Eldridge said the church would also be utilizing the rapid pass through the Red Cross and residents could sign up through the Red Cross website as well.
"If anybody has any trouble they can message me on Facebook, but usually it is pretty easy," said Eldridge.
There are 35 time slots available for the FUMC blood drive, according to Eldridge, but if those are filled before the date of the drive the group could get more.
"The more people who sign up, the more people we can help,” added Eldridge. "I am hoping we can get 40 to 42 people signed up. That would make for a really good drive. If there are any new donors who'd like to sign up, we'd love to have you.”
Donors may make an appointment ahead of time either through the Red Cross Blood Donor app, by visiting www.redcrossblood.org, or by phone.
On the day of the blood drive, donors can use the Red Cross RapidPass® function to answer most of the questions before arriving at the site.
They can also save up to 15 minutes at the blood drive by completing the questionnaire. With the pass, donors complete the pre-donation reading and health history questionnaire online, on the day of donation, from a mobile device or computer. To complete a RapidPass®, follow the instructions at RedCrossBlood.org/RapidPass or use the Red Cross Blood Donor App.
The Red Cross will continue to implement measures to ensure blood drives and donation center safety, including checking the temperature of staff and donors before entering a drive to make sure they are healthy, providing hand sanitizer for use before the drive, as well as throughout the donation process, spacing beds to follow social distancing practices
(Continued from Page 1) between blood donors and increasing enhanced disinfecting of surfaces and equipment.
Red Cross employees will also continue to wear and change gloves with each donor, wipe down donor-touched areas, use sterile collection sets for every donation and prepare donor arms for donation with an aseptic scrub.
As always, to donate blood, individuals need to bring a blood donor card or driver’s license or two other forms of identification that are required at check-in. Individuals may schedule an appointment to give blood with the Red Cross by visiting RedCrossBlood.org, using the Red Cross Blood Donor App, calling 1-800-REDCROSS or enabling the Blood Donor Skill on any Alexa Echo device.