KY Blood Center’s annual Big Blue Crush event is underway

2023 marks the Kentucky Blood Center’s 36^th annual Big Blue Crush. The week-long, collaborative event will run from November 13 to 17. Officials said the goal is to receive around 400 donations each day during the event to aid the center in keeping a healthy supply.

Eric Lindsey, Director of Media and Branding for the Kentucky Blood Center, said the event is a friendly rivalry between Kentucky and Tennessee football fans.

“Big Blue Crush is one of our hallmark events here at Kentucky Blood Center,” said Lindsey. “This is going to be the 36th edition of it. It is a competition between Kentucky and Tennessee, specifically Kentucky Blood Center versus MEDIC Regional Blood Center in Tennessee and it’s a week-long competition to see who can collect the most blood.”

Kentucky has won three of the last four blood battles versus Tennessee and 11 of the last 13, including last year. The KBC has won 20 overall while Tennessee has won 14, with one battle ending in a tie.

Officials said donations are greatly appreciated due to the Kentucky Blood Center still battling to get their supply numbers up after the COVID-19 Pandemic.

According to the KBC official website, they are in critical need of B- and AB- blood donations. Officials with the center stressed that a healthy blood supply is critical to treating illnesses, supporting surgeries, and aiding trauma patients.

Lindsey said that while it would be nice to beat Tennessee’s MEDIC Regional Blood Center, the main goal is to save lives in Kentucky.

“This is a competition that’s a proactive effort to make sure that we get plenty of blood in ahead of time to make sure that we have enough to continue to serve our seventy plus hospitals during Thanksgiving week because you know even though it’s going to be a holiday and a vacation for a lot of folks, the need for blood doesn’t take a vacation, it never stops,” said Lindsey.

Appointments are highly preferred during Big Blue Crush, but walk-ins will be accepted as space allows. For those in Rowan County wishing to donate blood, the nearest mobile center will be at Morgan County High School on Friday, November 18 from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.

More information on the donation process can be found at kybloodcenter.org.