Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

By JOYANNA LOVE/ Managing Editor

Chilton County residents will have the opportunity to help keep blood donations at needed levels without leaving the county on June 12.

A blood drive in coordination with the American Red Cross will be held at St. Vincent’s Chilton, 2030 Lay Dam Road, from 7:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

The Red Cross has a need for all blood types.

“A blood donor card or driver’s license or two other forms of identification are required at check-in,” according to a press release from the American Red Cross.

The organization said there is an “urgent need for blood donations to prevent another blood shortage as hospitals resume surgical procedures and patient treatments that were temporarily paused earlier this spring in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Blood donors at the event will receive a $5 Amazon gift card via email through an Amazon sponsorship. (Restrictions apply. See RedCrossBlood.org/Together for details.)

Another local opportunity to donate will be held at Senior Connection, 304 Park Plaza, on June 24 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Those who are healthy and able to donate can make an appointment to donate at another location before the local drive by visiting redcrossblood.org. Those who donate before May 31 will have a Red Cross T-shirt mailed to them.

“In recent weeks, hospital demand for blood products has grown by 30% after sharply declining in early April amid this rapidly changing and complex public health crisis,” the Red Cross stated in a release. “At the same time, blood drives continue to be canceled as many businesses and community organizations remain closed. Donors are needed to make and keep scheduled appointments to help meet the current need.”

In light of the coronavirus pandemic, blood donation sites are taking steps to follow social distancing guidelines and taking the temperature of potential donors.

“Blood donors have played a vital role in the lives of patients who have needed lifesaving transfusions during this pandemic, and patients continue to depend on donors each and every day,” said Paul Sullivan, Red Cross Blood Services senior vice president, in the release. “The Red Cross appreciates the support of those who rolled up a sleeve to give in recent months, but the need doesn’t stop. We need the public’s help to avoid another blood shortage this summer.”

More information about what to. Expect when donating blood is available at redcrossblood.org.