By LAUREL BEAGER
Editor
Judy Thompson says she’s heard that International Falls is one of the most generous communities when it comes to donating blood.
“And I think we could be a lot more generous,” she said.
Thompson has been organizing the blood drive for the Elks Lodge 1599 in International Falls for about 10 years.
Last week, people willing to donate blood entered the Memorial Blood Center’s “bloodmobile” collection bus just out side the Elks Lodge. The next day, the bloodmobile was parked at Rainy Lake Medical Center’s clinic campus. The bloodmobile visited Nett Lake, Orr and the Elks Lodge in the Falls Wednesday when more than 200 people donated blood.
While 30 percent of the nation’s citizens can donate blood, only seven percent do, according to Memorial Blood Center staff.
People who have never needed blood themselves, or for family members, may not realize how important it is to donate, said Thompson.
“If people needed blood or their family needed it, they would give from the get go,” she said. “We really need blood because of the amount of blood that goes out from car accidents, or what ever the need.”
Thompson said she’s unable to donate blood now, but did for 24 years.
“At one time I needed a lot of blood, so it’s one of those things that I know there is a great need for it,” she said. “If we do not give, where will it come from? If there’s no blood available and it’s your child that needs that blood, it’s a whole different story and people just don’t see that until it hits them personally.”
Thompson said it’s more difficult now to organize drives, possibly because of the advent of cell phones. She said people switch cell phone numbers regularly, making it difficult to contact donors.
The Memorial Blood Center provides call lists of potential donors to the drive organizers.
“We need to get (donors) on the records, so we can call them,” she said, encouraging people to keep their contact information up-to-date with the Memorial Blood Center.
“We need lots of names,” she said. “You need about 75 people, because out the 75 about 60 will give blood that day,” she said. “It’s especially important in the summertime with people on vacation and in the summer is when it’s needed the most.”
Blood drives are now brought to the local schools, which Thompson said may rejuvenate the blood donor lists.
“Going into the schools — that’s a good thing, and they’ve lowered the age that they can give and that’s a good thing, too.”
Thompson said donating blood is often a family tradition, passed down to generations. “My kids saw me do it and now they do it,” she said.
Living in rural areas like International Falls, located a far distance from other medical facilities, may make giving blood feel more valuable, said a center staff member. Places like Ely and Grand Marais are known, like Borderland, for being generous in donating blood.
Thompson said many people give blood because they know first-hand the need, but others just do it because “it’s a good thing. It always feels good to do it. And it doesn’t hurt.”
She called blood a renewable resource, noting that the body manufactures new blood quickly. “You don’t even notice it’s gone,” she said.
For more information about giving blood, or to update contact information, contact the Memorial Blood Center in Duluth at www.mbc.org/Home; 1-888-GIVE-BLD or 888-448-3253.
