Blood Connection Mobile Blood Drive At Lavonia Police Dept. Thursday

The Blood Connection will be holding a blood drive Thursday at the Lavonia Police Department from 3p to 7p.

The nation’s blood centers have faced widespread blood shortages in recent months, creating a severely strained national safety net for mass traumas and other high casualty disasters.

As the blood provider for more than 80 hospitals across the Carolinas and Georgia, The Blood Connection is participating in The Blood Emergency Readiness Corps, a first-in-the-nation partnership to prepare The Carolinas and Georgia for emergency situations where blood needs are high.

BERC is composed of blood centers from across the nation that have committed to collecting extra blood units on a rotating, “on-call” schedule.  The extra blood products will be held in reserve for any critical-need scenario, like a mass shooting or natural disaster.

The BERC was activated on Nov. 30, in response to a school shooting in Oxford Township, Michigan.

“The ugly reality that COVID brought to blood collectors is a disturbing uncertainty and scarcity in the blood supply,” said Delisa English, CEO of The Blood Connection. “When disaster strikes, BERC will give us more confidence that the immediate transfusion needs can be met. Unfortunately, we must adapt, because we are not seeing donor awareness or response following recent high-injury events like the summer shootings in Austin, Texas (14 victims) and Queens, New York (10 victims). BERC provides the areas we serve, and our partner states, a ready-to-go supply of blood to fill the holes appearing in our disaster response fabric.”

Anyone who wishes to donate blood Thursday will receive a $20 eGift card. They will also automatically do free COVID anti-body testing.

If you miss today’s blood drive, another will be taking place at the Royston Police Department on the 28th from 9:30a to 11:30a and in Lavonia at the Lavona Community Center on the 28th from 1:30 to 5:30p.

You can make an appointment to donate blood and blood plasma Thursday by going online to the Blood Connection website at bloodconnection.org and clicking on Donate.

Walk-ins are also welcome.