Wallingford Rotary will be hosting its first Blood Drive

Tuesday, November 24, 2015

1 p.m. to 6 p.m.

According to the Red Cross, here are some blood facts:

• Every two seconds someone in the U.S. needs blood.
• More than 41,000 blood donations are needed every day.
• A total of 30 million blood components are transfused each year in the U.S.
• The average red blood cell transfusion is approximately 3 pints.
• The blood type most often requested by hospitals is Type O.
• The blood used in an emergency is already on the shelves before the event occurs.
• Sickle cell disease affects more than 70,000 people in the U.S. About 1,000 babies are born with the disease each year. Sickle cell patients can require frequent blood transfusions throughout their lives.
• More than 1.6 million people were diagnosed with cancer last year. Many of them will need blood, sometimes daily, during their chemotherapy treatment.
• A single car accident victim can require as many as 100 pints of blood.

Donors can sign up online for an appointment and a Rapid Pass to speed up the donation progress. Go to http://www.redcrossblood.org/  to sign up today!

US-Navy Storekeeper 3rd Class Robert Franke donates blood (Photo credit: Wikipedia)