Local bone
marrow, blood drives coming up
Two
different events in the next week will give Wood River Valley residents
the chance to give back to the community.
The first
event will be a bone marrow drive, hosted by local Girl Scout Troop 701,
in cooperation with St. Luke’s Wood River Medical Center and St. Luke’s
MSTI Marrow Donor Center.
Scheduled
for Saturday, Aug. 3 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at St. Luke’s, volunteers
need only fill out a short health questionnaire and have a small drop of
blood taken, which allows for entry into the marrow matching program.
Once
participants are entered into the database, they will be contacted if a
patient with the same tissue type requires a donation. Donating is
completely optional.
The
second event is the American Red Cross’ semi-regular blood drive at
the LDS church in Ketchum, Thursday, Aug. 8, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
With
seasonal shortages common during the summer, qualified donors are
encouraged to give blood every 56 days.
The
entire donation process usually takes no more than an hour, but
participants should call Susan at 788-7930 to make an appointment.