Over the past three weeks, the Blood Center has been forced to cancel dozens of blood drives (68, and counting) leading to a loss of more than 2200 donations due to record cold tempatures, snow, and ice. If you are able to safely travel to donate blood this week, please do. To find a donation location near you, call (800) 747-5401, visit www.bloodcenterimpact.org, or use the Blood Center’s IMPACT mobile app.
With another winter storm on the way to portions of our service region, we will continue to provide information on the impact of winter weather at www.bloodcenter.org/weather.
Through our Youth Education Programs, we provide resources to teach students about the biology of blood, the Blood Center’s role in the community and the importance of blood donation. We believe community outreach through the schools is an important part of educating the next generation of volunteer blood donors.
Our classroom presentation materials are now ready for science and health instructors to use in their classrooms. We have developed a slide show presentation and teacher’s guide that includes information about blood, blood components, blood type compatibility, blood disorders, and the donation process. This includes:
Classroom presentation: a PowerPoint slide show presentation (and teacher’s guide) focused on blood, blood components, blood type compatibility, blood disorders, and the donation process.
Activities: two matching games: one that tasks students with correctly determining a patient’s blood type and matching the correct units of blood, and the other that allows students to make decisions for a patient based on limited information. There are also a couple of puzzle activities that contain blood facts.
We offer these materials to schools within our service region free of charge. Our objective is to use the power of education to dispel myths and fears about blood and the donation process, and encourage young people to support the Blood Center as donors when they become eligible to give blood.