UCHealth needs new donors to help prevent summer blood shortage

Kelly Tracer

Seasonal lull in donations could impact local supplies

FORT COLLINS, Colo. (June 25, 2018) – Officials at UCHealth Garth Englund Blood Centers are asking regular donors – and those who have never donated blood – to help prevent a seasonal lull in local blood supplies.

Summertime activities and travel often prevent people from sticking to their regular blood donation schedules, according to Larisa Maristany, the supervisor at the blood donor centers. The seasonal lull impacts local blood supplies when the needs of patients actually increases. Facing low blood supplies in northern Colorado, Maristany and her team are encouraging all eligible donors – including new donors – to make an appointment to give blood sometime in the next four weeks.

Fort Collins resident Linda Maher knows first-hand the importance of blood donations. In November 2015, she suffered life-threatening injuries in a car crash. She needed 22 units of blood and platelets as surgeons repaired her bladder, kidneys, stomach, intestines and pelvis at UCHealth Medical Center of the Rockies in Loveland.

“You just never know when it could be you,” she said. “And you take for granted that there will always be a supply, but that’s not the real truth.”

 Donations of all blood types are needed and important, Maristany said. However, the center especially needs donors with A negative and O negative blood types, because those are especially rare types.

Donations can be scheduled at either of Garth Englund’s blood donor centers in northern Colorado – the center at 1025 Pennock Place in Fort Collins or the center at MCR, 2500 Rocky Mountain Ave., in Loveland. Interested donors should call 970.680.8053 to schedule an appointment at either of these locations.

To donate, a person must be at least 18 years old (or 17 with a parent’s permission) and show a photo identification. New donors must weigh at least 120 pounds and be in good health. Prior donors must weigh at least 110 pounds. Whole blood donations take 30-40 minutes. Platelet donations take anywhere from 45-110 minutes. More information about eligibility requirements, the donation process and donation center hours is posted at bit.ly/uchealthblood.

All blood donated through UCHealth Garth Englund Blood Centers stays local. It helps patients at PVH, MCR, Longs Peak Hospital in Longmont, Greeley Emergency and Surgery Center and Estes Park Medical Center.