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Mississippi Valley Regional Blood Center Seeks Donors

By Tessa Jones
Mississippi Vallley Regional  Blood Center

Mississippi Valley Regional Blood Center (MVRBC), exclusive provider of blood and blood components to Quad Cities Area hospitals urges blood donors to help ensure the blood supply remains stable during the summer months. To thank those who give blood this summer, MVRBC has developed a “Save Our Summer” campaign featuring several incentives, detailed below. To schedule an appointment to donate at an MVRBC Donor Center or mobile blood drive, call (563) 359-5401 or find blood drive information online at www.bloodcenterimpact.org.

Blood components are in constant use year-round, but the rate of blood donation decreases during the summer months. In addition, several recent trauma cases at hospitals served by MVRBC have led to a rise of blood and blood component usage. “With the increased use we saw earlier this summer, every donation is greatly needed to make sure blood supply keeps ahead of patient needs,” says Amanda Hess, Director, Donor Relations.

“SAVE OUR SUMMER” DONOR PROMOTIONS

•  May 29 – Sept. 10, ALL DONORS (CENTERS AND MOBILES): automatically registered in a monthly drawing for a travel-themed prize basket, including a $2500 gift card funding a trip to the winner’s destination choice (details at www.bloodcenter.org/win).

•  May 29 – August 20, DONOR CENTERS: Vouchers for $10 gift cards at Donor Centers. Vouchers are redeemable for donor’s choice of $10 gift cards from Amazon (eGift Card), Starbucks, Steak & Shake, Subway, Target, Darden Restaurants (Olive Garden, Red Lobster, Longhorn Steakhouse, Seasons52, and Bahama Breeze), Home Depot, iTunes (eGift Card), Panera or Buffalo Wild Wings.

•  July 1 – August 13, MOBILE BLOOD DRIVES: Vouchers for $10 gift cards (same options as above).

•  June 14; June 26 – July 9; August 28 – September 10, ALL DONORS: 2X Points for IMPACT Donor Loyalty Store

Donations of all blood types are needed, but there is a special need for type O-negative and O-positive whole blood donors, type AB plasma donors and platelet donors. Discovered by Karl Landsteiner, who we celebrate on World Blood Donor Day (June 14, commemorating his birthday), O-negative red blood cells and AB plasma are “universal,” meaning they can be transfused to recipients of every blood type. Landsteiner’s discoveries have fostered safe transfusions, for all blood types, saving billions of lives over the last century.

About Mississippi Valley Regional Blood Center

Mississippi Valley Regional Blood Center (MVRBC) is the exclusive provider of blood products and services to 86 hospitals in Illinois, Iowa, Missouri and Wisconsin, including Genesis Health System and UnityPoint – Trinity hospitals. The Blood Center is based in Davenport, Iowa, where MVRBC’s testing, processing and primary distribution center produces transfusable blood component products from more than 200,000 whole blood and platelet apheresis donations each year. For more information, see www.bloodcenter.org.