SIOUXLAND BLOOD BANK VISITING IDA GROVE MORE FREQUENTLY IN 2010

Goal Is To Increase Donations From Community Members

Posted 05/28/2010

Residents in Ida Grove, Iowa may have noticed that the Siouxland Community Blood Bank has been holding more blood drives than ever before.

In fact, since January, four blood drives have taken place in Ida Grove compared to the 7 total drives held in all of 2009.

"When we began our strategic planning for 2010, one piece of information we examined was the fact that the average person donated blood about two times in 2009," said Heather Marreel, Director of Recruitment at the Siouxland Community Blood Bank. "We started to ask ourselves why this number could be so low. One possibility we came up with is that by coming to Ida Grove only every other month, we were limiting the availability to our donors who would donate more frequently if we were in town more often."

Another fact taken into consideration was the population of the community. "According to Census estimates, there are about 2100 people that live in Ida Grove," said Marreel. "Roughly 37% of them-or 770 people-are eligible to donate blood. By being in the community more often, we hope to encourage those who have never donated blood to give the gift of life and help out their fellow neighbors."

The extra drives seem to be working. In 2009, 559 units of blood were collected in Ida Grove. So far in 2010, 163 units have been collected. "We are right on track of where we anticipated to be," said Marreel.

"The response from the donors has been fantastic," said Cristy Van Beek, Siouxland Blood Bank Recruitment Manager. "People are excited to know that our blood drives are scheduled about a month apart. If they can't make it to one drive, there is one scheduled shortly after that they can attend instead."

The Siouxland Community Blood Bank has been the provider of blood products and services to Horn Memorial Hospital since 1997. "When someone donates to the Siouxland Blood Bank, that unit is immediately sent to Sioux City for testing and processing. Within 24 - 48 hours of that initial donation, that unit of blood is ready to come back to the local hospital to be given to a patient in need," said Marreel.