SIDNEY – Peerless Food Equipment in Sidney will host a community blood drive Friday, Sept. 2 from 8 to 11 a.m. The Community Blood Center Bloodmobile will be at 500 S. Vandemark Road. The blood drive comes during the final week of the “Wild About Alaska Summer Blood Drive” with a last chance to win an Alaska vacation for two. Donors are encouraged to schedule an appointment online at www.DonorTime.com or call 800-388-GIVE.
Everyone who registers to donate will receive the “Blood Donors Don’t Moose Around” t-shirt, the final Alaska t-shirt in the summer blood drive campaign. The shirt is green and the design features an Alaska moose under a full moon in the snow-covered wilderness.
Everyone age 18 and older will be entered in the CBC “Wild About Alaska Adventure for Two Summer Blood Drive” drawing to win a custom-designed Alaska vacation for two. The summer blood drive campaign ends Sept. 3 and the winner of the Alaska vacation for two will be announced in mid-September.
The grand prize includes air travel to Alaska, deluxe accommodations during your week-long stay, and options for a cruise or land travel. The vacation is for the winning donor and a travel companion.
Donors can double their chances of winning by entering the drawing a second time when they register for a second donation before the summer blood drive ends on Sept. 3. Official rules are available at www.givingblood.org.
Community Blood Center is taking additional precautions against the Zika virus by asking anyone who has traveled to Florida’s Miami-Dade County in the last four weeks to refrain from donating blood.
Several residents of a Miami neighborhood have contracted the Zika virus and health experts believe it was transmitted locally by mosquito bites.
CBC is currently deferring potential donors for 28 days who have traveled to Zika endemic areas in the Caribbean, Mexico and Central or South America.
CBC has expanded the 28-day deferral to include potential donors who have traveled to Florida’s Miami-Dade County.
Adding new travel restrictions has the potential to impact the available blood supply by further limiting the number of people able to donate. Zika travel deferments already in place, and stricter FDA requirements for hemoglobin level and pulse screening that went into effect May 23, already represent a two percent potential impact on the donor deferral rate.
Learn more at www.GivingBlood.org.
