Olmsted County law enforcement wins 2023 Battle of the Badges Blood Donor Challenge

(ABC 6 News) – The Mayo Clinic Blood Donor Program announced on Thursday that Olmsted County law enforcement are the winners of the 6th annual Battle of the Badges Blood Donor Challenge.

The Rochester Police Department and the Olmsted County Sheriff’s Office won the competition with a total of 152 points; in second place was the local ambulance service team totaling 149 points, and in third place the local fire department teams totaling 79 points.

Collectively Olmsted County first responders provided 372 blood donations during the challenge, meaning up to 1,116 lives will be saved.

The challenge ran from June 1 through August 31.

Olmsted County’s first responders go head-to-head in the challenge with the goal to save lives through blood donation and to build community relationships and awareness about donating blood and blood products.

Justin Juskewitch, MD., Associate Medical Director of the Mayo Clinic Blood Donor Program says, “Every year, The Battle of the Badges campaign is a huge win for the Mayo Clinic Blood Donor Program as our community first responders compete against each other and compete for our patients at the clinic. This year, we collected a total of 372 blood donations during this campaign which will help so many people in need of blood in our community. As always, the success of this campaign is due to the tremendous support of our law enforcement, fire fighters, and emergency medical personnel who perform lifesaving work every day for our community.”

Each year, the community uses nearly 50,000 donated blood products.

Every six minutes, a patient at Mayo Clinic needs a transfusion of blood or blood products. A simple blood donation can save the life of a child with leukemia, restore the strength of a cancer patient, or provide a critical transfusion to an accident victim. 

If interested in donating blood, schedule an appointment by calling 507-284-4475.

To learn more about the Mayo Clinic Blood Donor Program, CLICK HERE.