On April 1st, the Hilltop Schools held a blood drive and many community members made it out to donate and show their support. The need for blood is something that remains constant. The actual donation process takes about 8-12 minutes. A healthy donor can donate red blood cells every 56 days and platelets can be given every 7 days, but no more than 24 times in one year. Every day, patients across the U.S. need an average of 44,000 units of red blood cells. That’s about 16-million donations transfused to 5 million patients each year.
There are many ways to become involved with the mission of the American Red Cross. To donate blood or find other opportunities contact the Red Cross at redcrossblood.org or (800) 733-2767.