Members of the public are encouraged to sign up for a blood drive hosted by the City of Santa Maria, from 12:15-4 p.m. Thursday, April 21, 2016, in the parking lot between the lawn bowling green and the Paul Nelson Aquatics Center along South McClelland Street, directly across from the Santa Maria Public Library. 

City employees also will be donating blood to United Blood Services in its white blood mobile.

 
To sign up as a donor with a reserved time, contact city blood drive coordinator Mark van de Kamp at 805.925.0951 x2372.

While donations of all blood types are encouraged, donors with type O negative blood are especially needed because O negative red cells can be transfused to anyone. 

O negative red blood cells are often used to help patients when there is no time to determine the patient’s own blood type.

Donors with type AB (positive or negative) are also needed. Type AB plasma can be given to all patients and is the only plasma used for trauma patients and neonatal babies.

Blood donation is a community responsibility. Donated blood can help a family member, a friend, a surgery patient, someone with cancer, a burn victim or a newborn. 

Consider the following needs for donated blood: 
 
» About 1 in 7 people entering a hospital need blood.
» More than 95 percent of Americans will have a relative or friend who will need blood.
» More than 75 percent of Americans reaching age 72 will require a blood transfusion during their lifetimes.
» Blood is needed every three seconds (nation-wide).

Donating only takes a short time and is well worth it.

— Mark van de Kamp is the public information officer for the City of Santa Maria.