The Mississippi Valley Regional Blood Center is a local blood center that partners with various schools and businesses in the area. Volunteers can donate blood for those in need at local blood drives.
Recently, Monmouth College held a blood drive here on campus so that volunteers could take a few minutes out of their day to donate blood. “We are planning on having a drive in the 2020 spring semester with Monmouth College, however, the date, time, and location are not yet confirmed,” said Gina Slavens, the Community Development Advocate for the Mississippi Valley Regional Blood Center. “At this time of year, we encourage everyone to ‘Be the Giving Type.’ I cannot emphasize enough the importance of donating blood, especially as we head into the holiday season. When schools go on break at the holidays, we see a decrease in donations, even though the need for blood components at our local hospitals remains the same,” said Slavens. For most, when donating, knowing that the blood they are donating is staying locally in the area, is a key factor. The Mississippi Valley Blood Center is the provider of blood components for OSF Holy Family Medical Center in Monmouth, OSF St. Mary Medical Center in Galesburg and hospitals in the Quad Cities and Peoria. For this drive, current students helped out at the snack station as well as assisting donors with whatever they needed while they were there. Pictured below are the students of the Health Promotions class, left to right: Dom DeCello, Brock Crothers, Shyanne Sheehan, Brady Boyd, and Nathan Willig. “It was a lot of fun helping out at the Blood Drive, even though I had to do it for my class, it was fun to talk to all of those who were donating,” said Shyanne Sheehan.
Don’t want to wait until the College holds its next blood drive to donate? You can walk into the Blood Center in Galesburg anytime to donate; it is located near Buffalo Wild Wings. If you would like to be more involved on campus, volunteer, or would like to learn more about blood donations, you can contact Gina Slavens at gjochimsen@mvrbc.org.
Alison Barrington - Staff Writer
