Lifeline has 2 big drives flanking holiday weekend

The end of August and beginning of September is an important time of year for Lifeline Blood Services.

Their biggest blood drive special of the year is wrapping up, and a 2020 Ford Mustang donated by Joe Mahan Ford in Paris is up for grabs.

“This contest runs Memorial Day through Labor Day, and everyone who’s donated in that time is registered for the drawing,” said Melinda Reid, the communications coordinator for Lifeline. “And we’ve had a nice bump in donations in recent weeks, largely because of the car drawing.”

And that increase in donations is good because Labor Day weekend is coming up.

Donations tend to briefly decrease around a holiday weekend.

“People go out of town or get out of their routines, some of them forget or delay their donations,” Reid said. “So we fall behind on our supply.”

But donations tend to be more needed during and immediately after holiday weekends, particularly the ones in summer like Labor Day, Memorial Day or Independence Day.

“They’re holidays where we spend more time outdoors or traveling, so sometimes things can happen that cause a person to need medical attention and possibly a blood transfusion in the process,” Reid said. “So we generally need more donors before and coming out of a weekend holiday.”

Reid said earlier is preferred because once a donation is given, that blood has to be sent off to the lab for testing, which takes 24-48 hours.

The drawing for the Mustang will happen on Tuesday.

Less than a week after that will be another big day for Lifeline as they will host their annual Battle of the Badges drive.

This one pits the first responder organizations against each other in Jackson and Madison County.

And for a week, donors from the general public can come to Lifeline on Sterling Farms Drive or any of their mobile drives in the region, and when they do, there will be a list on which the donor can sign their name and which agency they want their donation to be with.

“This includes EMS, law enforcement, fire departments, city, county, Tennessee Wildlife Refuge Agency … they’re all a part of this,” Reid said. “And then on that Monday – 9-11 – we’ll have a special drive on location at the Carl Perkins Civic Center.”

Reid said the hope is that the combination of the two significant drives will help stabilize the blood supply for all of West Tennessee through the holiday weekend and allow them to enter the fall months in good shape ahead of their Vein Drain on Oct. 26.

“For anyone who’s never donated blood before, if you’re donating whole blood, the entire process from the time you walk into our door until you leave is between 30 and 45 minutes for nearly everyone,” Reid said. “And you’re actually in the chair donating for less than 10 of those minutes, so it really is a quick process that everyone can make an impact with without having to sacrifice any money or much time.”

Brandon Shields, brandon@jacksonpost.news