Blood drive to restock local hospitals         

[FEB. 2, 2007]  SPRINGFIELD -- Because of low temperatures and bad roads, winter weather can reduce blood donations. However, family members and fellow citizens continue to need blood transfusions for surgeries, cancer treatments, trauma cases and as burn victims. To help, there will be a blood drive Feb. 9 from 1:30 to 5:30 p.m. at the Elkhart Christian Church, 113 S. Gillett in Elkhart.

For your convenience, please call Bev Boyer at 947-2217 to schedule an appointment, or sign up online at www.cicbc.org. Citizens from throughout the area are asked to donate blood.

The Springfield Clinic High School Challenge is under way. Donate blood at this blood drive and ask that your donation be credited to a participating high school in your community. The challenge goes through May 11, and the winning school receives a $1,000 scholarship from Springfield Clinic to award to a graduating senior who plans on furthering his or her education.

If you have donated blood before, thank you; you've experienced the personal satisfaction of knowing that you gave life to another person. For those who have never donated, the total time necessary is about an hour, which includes a confidential medical survey, mini-physical and about 10 minutes in the donor chair. We never know when we, or someone close to us, may need an emergency blood transfusion. You assume the hospital will have the blood, but it only comes from the generosity of blood donors. Please help us help others.

The CICBC supplies blood for patients in 19 hospitals in central and southwestern Illinois, including Abraham Lincoln Memorial Hospital in Lincoln, Boyd Memorial Hospital in Carrollton, Carlinville Area Hospital in Carlinville, Hillsboro Area Hospital in Hillsboro, Hopedale Medical Complex in Hopedale, Illini Community Hospital in Pittsfield, Pana Community Hospital in Pana, Passavant Area Hospital in Jacksonville, St. Vincent Memorial Hospital in Taylorville, and Memorial Medical Center and St. John's Hospital in Springfield.

The donor room at the Central Illinois Community Blood Center, 1134 S. Seventh St., in Springfield is also open Mondays 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday 7 a.m.-6 p.m.; and Fridays 8 a.m.-4 p.m.

For information about blood drives throughout the area served by the CICBC, call 217-753-1530 or visit www.cicbc.org.

(Text from file received from Central Illinois Community Blood Center)