Touchmark at Mt Bachelor Village will host a blood drive with the Central and Eastern Oregon Chapter of the American Red Cross Wednesday, September 16 from 11am to 4pm at 19800 SW Touchmark Way.
People may sign up in advance by calling Touchmark at 541-848-4159, or they may show up during the donation hours. Please bring identification.
The Red Cross reports that every two seconds someone in the U.S. needs blood. This means that each day, more than 41,000 donations are needed to meet the lifesaving demand.
In a study reported in JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association), the authors stated, “It is both clinically feasible and efficient to recruit healthy prior donors older than the age of 66 years for blood donations. As a group, this population is potentially able to donate large volumes of blood …”
Touchmark resident Bettie MacDonald, age 87, has been a Red Cross volunteer for over eight years, and this will be her third annual blood drive after giving over five gallons of blood. “It is something I can do to really help people, and I’m healthy. What else is free and only takes an hour every time you do it?”
Nearly everyone can donate blood, although there are some restrictions. Those apply to people who:
• have had a heart attack in the last six to 12 months
• have had malaria in the last three years or have visited areas where malaria is found in the last year
• have received blood, plasma or other types of components in the last year
• have had cardiac surgery in the last year or have not completely recuperated from the surgery and are taking cardiovascular medicine
• have been exposed to someone with hepatitis within the last year
• have taken antibiotics within the last 24 to 72 hours
Also, those not feeling well on the day of the blood donation should wait until they feel well. If people have a question about eligibility, they can call the Red Cross at 866-236-3276.
