Red Cross blood drive in downtown Aiken nets 66 pints
May 26—Downtown Aiken had an extra attraction for several hours May 25, with the American Red Cross holding a blood drive and offering donors the chance to set aside an hour and possibly save a life.
The drive, held at Amentum Center for the Performing Arts, resulted in 66 donations.
"It goes a long way, so I'm eager to help out in any way that I can," said donor Franki Stevens, after going through the process.
It was also familiar territory for Rosetta Franklin, an Aiken newcomer who moved from Preston ("right between Davenport and Dubuque"), Iowa. "I have donated blood in the past, and I try to keep up with it as much as I can, and I took my kids to do their first donation, too, and ... they still donate every chance that they get, and one of them's in Indiana, one's in Illinois and one's in New Mexico," she said, while waiting her turn in line.
For Nancy Johnson, the donation tradition dates back to her teenage years. She said, "When I was a youngster, way back when, in high school, they would let you get out of class if you were old enough to give blood, so ... we would all sign up to give blood, and I just found that I felt good about myself after doing that, and continued to give blood my whole life ... I try to at least do it a couple of times a year."
The donation process had a family factor for Laraine Clark. "Today's my mother's birthday, and when I saw it in the paper, I said, 'Hi, Mom — up in Heaven. I'm going to give you a birthday present. I'm going to give some of my A-negative blood,'" she said.
Ajay Krishnakumar said his blood type — O-positive — means that his donations can be used in a variety of situations, being also acceptable for people in A-positive, B-positive and AB-positive categories. This week's donation was his 23rd, dating back to when he was 17 years old.
The Red Cross' website indicates that the need for blood or platelets arises every 2 seconds in the U.S., and the daily need for red blood cells is for about 29,000 units. Type O is the variety most often requested by hospitals, and about 6.8 million people in the U.S. donate blood in the course of a year.
Aspiring donors have other local options in the next couple of months: 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. June 19 at VFW Post 5877, 116 Midway Circle (just off Whiskey Road, near New Ellenton); noon to 4 p.m. July 22 at Hillview Baptist Church, 1974 Jefferson Davis Highway; and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. July 25 at the H. Odell Weeks Activities Center, 1700 Whiskey Road. For more information, visit redcrossblood.org.
