Having large quantities of blood stored up in blood banks is important for dealing with disasters and emergencies. It's even become important for patients undergoing surgery to get the blood necessary before hand, but it's difficult to keep up those stores when there isn't a constant flow of donations. That's why the Belize Red Cross is holding a blood drive in Belize City this Saturday, and they're inviting everyone to come out and donate. We spoke to a Red Cross official today, and he told us more about the drive.
Fredrick Hunter -Belize Red Cross
"People always come to the Red Cross when they need blood, because we have a network of volunteers and contacts countrywide and we always get on the phone, and this is from the 10 years I've been here, from day 1. We need some blood A+ or O- or something and we get on the phone and we start to send out the emails and texts and start to contact all our people around the country."
"However, three years ago, San Pedro Branch, decided to start a formal blood drive and quarterly they take a day and they collect the blood, they store it and they pass it on to the Ministry of health to store that blood. You know that recently it has become more and more of a requirement for people to have their blood that they will need before they take a scheduled surgery. For us, the Red Cross, the humanitarian priority comes first of all, to save lives. So, we decided to expand on the initiative started by the San Pedro Branch instead of waiting for requests to scramble around and gather the blood, we started to do, okay let's start a quarterly blood drive in Belize City as well. We spoke to the MInistry of Health and they were very enthused by the whole thing, so we'll have the first scheduled blood drive tomorrow, August 12, from 7-3 in the morning over there at the Blood Clinic next to the main entrance to the hospital."
"We'll have a waiting area, a screening area where potential donors will be screened, and we'll take it from there. We hope that everyone turns out and contributes."
The Red Cross plans to hold a drive once every three months along with the one that's already established in San Pedro.
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