MOUNT GILEAD — The American Red Cross set a goal of 58 donors for their Mount Gilead High School Blood Drive held at the Church of Christ on Tuesday.
Morrow and Knox County Red Cross Account Manager Becky Glass was delighted that 62 were scheduled for appointments. She predicted that 70 would be in by the end of the day.
Donor Jessica Marcum said, “I thought, I’m just sitting here at home and this is something I can do to help.”
Marcum lives in Chesterville and works at Chase Bank at Easton, but has been working at home the past couple weeks. Marcum said she is a regular donor, but had missed the last few times.
Glass said there were several “regular donors” who had not been able to be in for awhile. She was glad that they came in Tuesday because blood donations have been down with several sites closing in Ohio.
Donors’ temperatures were taken at the entrance as they came in and everyone got a dollop of hand sanitizer. Chairs and donor stations were spaced farther apart than usual to allow for required social distancing.
The extra space needed between stations is causing a little more waiting time for donors. They aren’t able to get as many stations in and everything has to have more distance. Due to new regulations cleaning after each donor takes a little longer.
“The most important thing for donors is to schedule an appointment,” Glass said. “We are able to take a few more because of cancellations, but we always take those with appointments first.”
Glass thanked Mount Gilead High School NHS and student Emily Randall who coordinated the blood drive with the American Red Cross and the church.
“The NHS people helped with organizing and set up and made sure we had brownies to give to donors,” Glass added.
Red Cross workers where glad to see several first-time donors and a few high school students Tuesday.
Donor Brent O’Keefe is a regular donor. He said he is usually working for MI Homes corporate office. He’s working toward a goal of 30 units of blood.
“The blood drives are harder to manage with the added requirements,” Glass said. “It’s good to know that we are helping to replenish the clinical supply of blood today.”
For information about blood drive locations go to: www.redcrossblood.org. Two locations in the county will be April 15 from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. at Morrow County Hospital and April 30 at Cardington High School from 8 a.m.-2 p.m. Since there are changes in scheduling from day to day, Glass recommends checking the website before going.
To schedule an appointment go to www.redcrossblood.org/RapidPass.
