CAMP BONDSTEEL, Kosovo -- U.S. Army Soldiers deployed in support of Kosovo Force and assigned to Multinational Battle Group-East donated blood to the National Center for Blood Transfusion of Kosovo, Feb. 8, 2016, at Camp Bondsteel, Kosovo.
This is the first blood drive held on Camp Bondsteel since the camp opened in 1999. The National Center for Blood Transfusion of Kosovo receives an average of 100 requests for blood every day from local hospitals. The donations will be deposited in the blood center in Pristina, where it is used for patients in need at any medical center throughout Kosovo.
"The British military had a blood drive sometime in the last decade for KFOR, but this is the first one held by the U.S. at Camp Bondsteel," said U.S. Army 1st Lt. Yira Rodriguez, the operations officer for MNBG-E's Task Force-Medical and Camp Bondsteel's hospital.
"We met members of the local blood center at a U.S. Embassy blood drive and worked out the details to hold this one," Rodriguez said.
"We would like to express our special thanks and gratitude to all the Soldiers of Camp Bondsteel who expressed their readiness and will to donate blood with the intent to save a human life in Kosovo," said Albana Gashi, the manager for Promotion and Information at the BTC.
"We hope this cooperation between BTC of Kosovo and Camp Bondsteel will continue to grow in the coming years," Gashi said. "The Soldiers are a positive role model for others and donations like this just strengthens the bonds between us."
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