Communities pitch in for Superior blood drive
<p>The Mineral County community came out to help with a blood drive in Superior organized by the Retired Senior Volunteer Program.</p>
MINERAL COUNTY - Mineral County has been instrumental in providing blood through donations to local hospitals around the area, according to Julie Brehm of the American Red Cross.
So far this year there have been 38 units collected from St. Regis, 44 from Superior and 21 from Alberton for a total of 103 donations from blood drive events in Mineral County.
“We have already seen a big increase in blood collected from Mineral County since 2013,” Brehm said. Brehm serves as the senior donor recruitment representative for the Red Cross in Missoula. “Last year we only collected 156 total units from Mineral County and so far this year we are well on our way to surpass that number.”
Brehm said this could be the case because St. Regis and Alberton are now hosting more blood drives than in recent years.
“The units we have collected from Mineral County alone can potentially save three lives for each unit,” Brehm said. “There is the potential for 300 patients that could have been impacted by the blood collected locally.”
The blood collected from within the county will be used to meet the local need at the Mineral Community Hospital and at the Clark Fork Valley Hospital in Sanders County before being transported elsewhere, Brehm said.
There is also a volunteer courier that comes to the Mineral Community Hospital every two weeks to rotate the blood supply.
On May 30, at least 24 people scheduled an appointment to donate, and 19 pints were collected at the Superior blood drive. The event was held at the ambulance station, according to Mary Jo Berry, coordinator for Retired Senior Volunteer Program.
Berry said the Red Cross has been coming to Mineral County to do blood drives for at least 15 years.
The ambulance station was transformed into a lab with at least three blood drawers from the Red Cross taking blood. There was a snack table where those who were generous enough to donate received juice and a cookie after or during the procedure depending how the person felt.
The donors were escorted to a dentist-style chair where they comfortably wait. They squeezed a ball to help the phlebotomist find the vein quickly and easily. The specialist used iodine to clean the affected area before inserting the needle into the arm.
Depending on the patient, a single pint of blood may take 10 minutes to fill the collection bag.
“Each phlebotomist does at least nine draws a day,” said Jason Jolley from the Red Cross.
The Red Cross provides 2,100 units a week to hospitals in Montana, according to John Peterson, spokesperson for the Lewis and Clark service region that spans Montana, Wyoming and Utah.
“The need is constant,” Peterson said. “Each drive can range from 15-500 units in a single day. It can vary widely.”
The event was entirely operated by RSVP volunteers who put in hours calling people to remind them of their appointments.
The group also operated the check-in table, and managed the snakes.
“We’re small but we like to help out the Red Cross when they come to Superior,” Berry said.
Upcoming blood drives in Mineral County:
July 2 at the St. Regis Community Center, contact Brooke Hill at 544-3798 for more information; August 21 in Superior from 1-5:30 p.m. at the Superior Ambulance Station, contact Mary Jo Berry 822-4800.