American Red Cross - Southeast Minnesota Chapter

Sixty percent of all blood donations are through company, church, community, and school sponsored blood drives. In order to maintain an adequate supply of blood to meet the needs of area patients, the Red Cross needs your participation. By following a few steps, as outlined below, you can take an active role in supplying the "gift of life" to patients throughout Minnesota.

• Choose a date and time goal
• Select a site
• Publicity
• Recruitment
• Provide Recognition

If you are interested in organizing a Bloodmobile in your area please contact the North Central Blood Services in St. Paul, MN at (651) 291-4600 or 1-800-426-2164 or www.redcrossblood.org.

The Red Cross ensures donating blood is a safe opportunity to give the "gift of life." Each needle is sterile, disposable and used only once - just for you - and then destroyed after use. Red Cross technicians are specially trained to make your donation experience comfortable and rewarding. Our personnel will ask you confidential questions and conduct a quick health screening to determine if it is safe for you to donate. They will also be glad to answer your questions and talk about the process.

Receiving Blood
The blood supply is safer than it has ever been in our nation's history, and no organization is more committed to ensuring blood safety than the Red Cross. The Red Cross fiercely protects the blood supply

• by recruiting only volunteer blood donors
• by providing information about high-risk behaviors associated with transmissible diseases
• by conducting confidential and rigorous behavioral and health history screening interviews of all donors prior to donation.

After donation, each unit of blood goes through up to 12 tests at a National Testing Lab (NTL). Every unit of blood is screened for infectious diseases such as HIV, Syphilis and Hepatitis B and C, as well as for unexpected antibodies that might cause complications in some patients. While blood transfusions are not risk free, the blood supply is extremely safe. The risk of contracting HIV from a transfusion is currently extremely low - less than .0001%. In almost every case, the lifesaving benefits of receiving a blood transfusion outweigh the very small risk of contracting an infectious disease.

Bloodmobiles from the North Central Blood Region of St. Paul, MN, service Dodge, Fillmore, and Wabasha counties several times each year. For more information on becoming a blood donor or an upcoming bloodmobile in your area please contact 1-800-GIVELIFE (1-800-448-3543) or visit www.givebloodgivelife.org.

For Olmsted county residents please contact the Mayo Clinic Blood Bank at (507) 284-4475 or www.mayoclinic.org/donateblood.