Vitalant will hold a blood drive this weekend, Saturday and Sunday, at the El Paso County Coliseum from 9am - 3pm each day.

You can make your donation quick and easy by scheduling an appointment in advance. Call 1-877-258-4825 or, click here. (Use the code ELPS.)  According to a press release from Vitatant:

Appointments are strongly encouraged. All blood drives adhere strictly to CDC guidelines and all surfaces are thoroughly disinfected between donors. All Vitalant personnel wear masks and donors must be wearing a face covering.

Blood donations tend to fall off during the Summe months and the pandemic has made the 2020 shortfall particularly bad. All blood types are needed and a single donation can save up to 3 different lives. By giving up just 15 minutes or so ... and a pint of blood ... you could make the biggest difference in the world to someone else and their family. There are many reasons why maintaining an abundant blood supply is important. Some of those include certain illnesses that call for blood transfusions as well as both scheduled and unscheduled surgical procedures. Physical injuries resulting in both external and internal bleeding probably cause the biggest demand. Even minor incidents can result in extreme blood loss and if replacement blood isn't available, death is inevitable.

In truth, no one really knows if or when they will need blood. Even scarier is the fact that there's no "guarantee" blood will be available when the need arises. Help make sure it's there for someone else this weekend and hope that others follow suit later; in the event that you someday need some yourself.

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