FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. — The Fort Leonard Wood Blood Donor Center staff wishes everyone a very Happy Holidays and hopes the season of giving doesn’t stop with presents under the tree.
“We hope it calls everyone to help us put blood in the arms of service members and their families, who are battling illness and injury this holiday season,” said Paul Newman, Fort Leonard Wood Blood Donor Center technical supervisor.
Staff here said collecting blood in December is much harder than the rest of the year because most of the center’s donor pool is away for the holidays.
“We need everyone’s help all year, but especially during the last two weeks of December and the first week of January,” Newman said. “The service members in training here are our primary donor pool. Since they leave during Holiday Block Leave, our largest source of blood donations all but vanishes, but the need for blood doesn’t stop.”
The military healthcare system requires hundreds of units of blood each day and that remains constant throughout the holidays. Medical providers look to the Armed Services Blood Program for this life-saving blood, and the ASBP then looks to healthy people willing to give others a helping hand.
The Fort Leonard Wood community can donate blood to the ASBP in two ways during HBL:
- The Blood Donor Center — located in Bldg. 759, on the corner of Buckeye Avenue and 11th Street, across from Cunningham Gym — will be open for walk-in donors from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Tuesday and Wednesday next week, Dec. 31 and Jan. 3.
- The Main Exchange is hosting an ASBP blood drive from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Jan. 2 in the mall area near the General Leonard Wood Army Community Hospital pharmacy.
Anyone who has access to Fort Leonard Wood can donate as long as they weigh at least 116 pounds, are at least 17 years old and have been feeling well for at least three days before donating. It’s also recommended that donors be well hydrated and eat something beforehand. A government-issued photo ID — a military ID or driver’s license, for example — is also required.
All donors will receive a free ASBP T-shirt, juice and cookies, and a heart-felt thank you. Those completing their third donation with the ASBP will receive a Certificate of Achievement worth five promotion points.
Additionally, civilian employee regulations encourage blood donations to the ASBP, allowing up to four hours excused absence to recuperate and travel to and from the donation site.
Blood and blood products help patients of all ages: a child with a blood disorder, a teenager needing surgery, a Soldier wounded on the battlefield or a retiree battling cancer. Each unit is critical. A single trauma victim can use 40 or more units of blood and one unit of blood can sustain a newborn’s life for two weeks.
“This holiday season, we’re asking everyone to celebrate with us,” Newman said. “As all the relatives come in for the holidays, make donating a family affair. What better way to celebrate this wonderful, giving time of year than by providing someone a second chance at life or helping them recover from injury or illness?”
For more information on upcoming blood donation opportunities here, call 573.596.6150 or e-mail Carl.A.Norman2.civ@health.mil.
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