WILMINGTON – Donors had an easy time finding their way to CMH Regional Health System on June 13 for the first Community Blood Center blood drive in the new monthly Wilmington-Clinton County Blood Drive schedule.
The new schedule combines the CMH blood drives with the blood drives formerly held at the Fraternal Order of Eagles Wilmington Aerie. It maintains the traditional schedule of every second Wednesday of the month from noon to 6:30 p.m. It also continues to include apheresis machines for platelet and plasma donations.
The blood drive totaled 75 whole blood donors including 62 donations for 113 percent of collection goal, plus five apheresis donations and four first-time donors.
Moving the Wilmington-Clinton County Blood Drive to CMH provides donors with a home base for monthly blood drives and it affirms CMH’s role as a regional center for community wellness. The location is central for many donors and especially convenient for hospital staff.
“Absolutely,” said CMH staff member Jennifer Jackson. “Since it’s on site, it’s convenient and it helps the community.”
Jennifer was part of a team of staff members from the Financial Services department who donated Wednesday.
“People ask us when they come to pay their bills, ‘Do you know when the next blood drive is going to be?’” said donor Maritza Munez.
Dave Bowman and Jim Runk were regular platelet donors at the Eagles blood drive and had no difficulty shifting their schedules to the CMH blood drives.
“I’ve done it at Eagles ever since it started,” said Dave, who has 87 donations with CBC.
“I’ve been doing this since I was 16,” said Jim, who has 138 donations with CBC and has been a platelet donor since 2009. “I’m kind of happy it’s back to every month. I try to donate each time.”
Janice Sheets was a regular whole blood donor at the Eagles blood drive and recently became an apheresis donor. Wednesday marked her second platelet donation, and it was her first time donating at CMH.
“I’ve been here before, but for radiology,” she said. “I’m a third-generation blood donor. I’ve been donating since I was 17. This will be every month, so at least I can give more.”
The CMH Wilmington-Clinton County blood drives are always the second Wednesday of the month (with the exception of the Dec. 26 blood drive) from noon to 6:30 p.m. in the conference room, located near the cafeteria on the first floor.
Learn more at www.GivingBlood.org.
