Thursday’s Blood Drive is a Big Rolling Boulder

by Robyn Marlow

You know that big boulder that rolls out of the cave chasing Indiana Jones into the jungle? This Thursday’s blood drive is a lot like that.

Of course, we would never compare something as life-and-death serious as giving blood with a 1980’s adventure movie – even though it is a pretty good movie. Stay with me for a second.

This Thursday, Mississippi Blood Services is holding a blood drive here at North Sunflower Medical Center from Noon to 6:00 p.m. Mississippi Blood Services provides lifesaving blood to over 60 hospitals across Mississippi – including North Sunflower. Just to keep up with the demand for blood they provide to cancer patients, car accident victims and hundreds of other medical procedures, they need to collect between 250 and 300 pints (or units, as they call them) every day just to keep up with demand.

That’s a big boulder to stay in front of.

And currently, Mississippi Blood Services is facing a critical blood shortage. We spoke with Emily Austin at Mississippi Blood Services. She told us that a good amount of the blood they receive is given at high schools throughout the state. “In the summer, when the students and teachers are away, many of their donors are off enjoying their summers. But the need for blood never takes a vacation. Every 2 seconds, someone in Mississippi needs a pint of blood.”

Like I said, it’s a big boulder.

This past spring, we did a video about Dana Whitfield Kirk. She had their life saved after a car accident, thanks to the blood given at a blood drive just like the one we are having on Thursday from noon to 6:00.

Click HERE to learn more about Dana’s incredible story.

Please consider taking an hour out of your day to help save a life.

What: Mississippi Blood Services Blood Drive
Where: North Sunflower Medical Center
When: Thursday, July 26, Noon to 6:00 p.m.