BEATRICE – A one-day holiday blood drive was being held Friday, at the Holiday Inn Express Conference Center in Beatrice. 

The 7 am. to 6 p.m. drive had early appointments made by 147 donors, with the goal to receive 156 units of blood.  Walk-in donors were also welcome.

American Red Cross External Communications Manager, Samantha Pollard says, “In Nebraska and southwest Iowa, we have seven holiday drives that we hold, where we have a  bunch of people in one day and one big goal, to make sure that we are boosting the blood supply over the holiday time, because we do see a dip in donations, this time of year”. 

As for blood types needed, Pollard says, “we definitely need types O-negative and O-positive.  O-negative is the universal blood donor type, so we need that a lot.  Hospitals need that on the shelf in case of a trauma, when there’s no time to figure out what somebody’s blood type is.  They’ll use that type of negative.  O-positive is always needed because it is the most common blood type in America…so most people need it”. 

Holidays are sometimes a difficult time for persons to donate…..but Pollard said Christmas and New Year’s falling on the middle of the week this year, actually has worked in favor of generating more donations.

The entire process of donating takes about an hour with a health survey and registration…..but the actual blood draw takes about eight minutes.