Vitalant community blood drive brings in 53 volunteers

BEMIDJI — The Bemidji community hosted a blood drive with Vitalant on Sept. 28-29 at Bemidji State University which helped collect a total of 56 units of blood products for patients in need.

A total of 53 individuals volunteered to donate blood and 48 individuals were able to successfully donate. A total of eight donors also came forward to donate Power Red Cells, which collects two units of red blood cells while returning platelets, plasma and a saline solution back to the donor. There were ten people who volunteered for the first time, a release said.

In the release, Vitalant thanked Chelsea Stoltenberg and Madisanne Dahl, who coordinated the drive, the Student-Athlete Advisory Council who sponsored the drive, and Bemidji State University, which provided the location, as well as others who assisted with the drive: Ridge Flatness, Stella Dolan, Morgan Benedict, Mariah Stevenson, Ashley Crowl, Lauren Sitter, Alayna Suprenand, Erin Bamette, Brice Peters, Sammie Buss, Kendra Syverson, Sage Ganyo, Tieryn Plasch, Hallie Mertz and Lauren Justison.

Donors can make appointments to give blood at

donors.vitalant.org

or by calling (877) 25-VITAL. With each donation, donors receive a free total cholesterol test and earn reward points.

Blood donation takes about an hour from check-in to refreshments, while the blood draw typically takes less than 10 minutes. Donors can save about 20 minutes by completing their health history questionnaire the day they donate on

www.vitalant.org/health.