Memorial Blood Centers need life-saving blood

Memorial Blood Centers invites all eligible blood donors to roll up their sleeve and give blood.

Right now, your local nonprofit Memorial Blood Centers are facing a serious challenge in maintaining an adequate supply of life-saving blood needed by patients at local hospitals in Minnesota and northwestern Wisconsin communities.

Every two seconds someone needs blood, from a heart transplant and cancer patients to accident victims. The need for blood is constant, but the supply is not. Only volunteer blood donors can make a life-saving difference to someone in need.

One in three people will need blood. And there is no substitute. Only volunteer donors can help save the lives of people in need, like those featured on our website under recipient stories.

Step up to give blood at a blood drive in your neighborhood and help save lives. Donating blood is convenient and safe when you are: in good health; free of antibiotics for 24 hours, unless taken daily for skin condition; symptom-free for at least three days following a cold or flu; and 17 years or older.

While walk-in donors are always welcome, Memorial Blood Centers encourage appointments to be made in advance. To register for a blood drive, go online to www.MBC.org or contact the sponsoring organization directly.

Patients in local hospitals depend on Memorial Blood Centers to be there with the right blood type they need to survive. All types are needed, especially O-negative and O-positive.

Memorial Blood Centers has been saving lives for over 65 years as an independent nonprofit supplying life-saving blood to area hospitals and other partners throughout the U.S.

Operating 11 donor centers and conducting hundreds of blood drives each month, Memorial Blood Centers also provides comprehensive testing and expert technical services as a national leader in transfusion medicine.

For more information, call 1-888-GIVE-BLD (1-888-448-3253) or visit www.MBC.org.