Silver Valley continues generous blood donations
Photo by JOSH MCDONALD Jonnie Nelson (left) smiles big during her donation at the Iona Huber Memorial Blood Drive at the Kellogg Elks. Heather Evans gets ready for her poke. More than half of the Silver Valley’s donations came from drives at the Kellogg Elks.
It takes right around 200 donors per day for Vitalant (formerly known as the Inland Northwest Blood Center) to provide enough blood for local hospitals and medical facilities throughout the year.
Over the years, the Silver Valley has become a major part of the Vitalant’s donor pool and 2018 and so far in 2019, the area has continued their strong support.
Nearly 52,000 square miles of Idaho and Washington are part of the vast region that Vitalant serves.
“As the sole supplier of blood to more than 35 hospitals across the Inland Northwest, Vitalant relies on at least 200 donors each day to maintain a safe supply of blood for our region,” said Vitalant’s North Idaho Territory Manager Rob Balison. “Our region is defined as Spokane to Moses Lake, north to Bonners Ferry, Idaho, east to the Montana border, and as far south as Grangeville, Idaho. The demographic of our donors is just as vast and the Silver Valley is no exception. In 2018 the donors of the Silver Valley gave 427 units of lifesaving blood at various blood drives throughout the area.”
As of Wednesday, the area is right at the 150 mark for 2019.
“As you can see, the people of Shoshone County are amazing, with so many moving parts, we could not do this without all of you,” Balison said. “It is only with the support from the communities — like the ones found within Shoshone County — that we are able to provide these lifesaving blood products to those in need, as there is no substitute for human blood.”
Blood drives have been throughout the valley at locations like Wallace High School, Real Life Ministries, Shoshone County Fire District No. 1, Kellogg High School, Shoshone Medical Center, as well as the Kellogg Elks.
For more information, contact Rob Balison at 509-828-3577 or email him at RBalison@vitalant.org.
Here are the total amount of blood donations received at the various drives in 2018.
- Silver Valley Community Blood Drive at the Kellogg Elks — 224 units
- Wallace High School — 76 units
- Kellogg High School — 70 units
- Shoshone County Fire District No. 1 — 35 units
- Real Life Ministries of Pinehurst — 12 units
- Shoshone Medical Center — 10 units