• The American Red Cross, Great Lakes Region, Blood Drive.

UPDATE: MERIDIAN TOWNSHIP - Meridian Township residents, volunteers, and American Red Cross employees, gathered at the Township Municipal building on Thursday to participate in the American Red Cross, Great Lakes Region, blood drive.

Mobile Unit Assistant, Jason Powell said, "My job is to come to the blood drive, and set up the blood drive for the day." Powell drives the truck for the American Red Cross which transports the blood to hospitals.

In the Great Lakes Region, there are anywhere between seven to twelve drives a day and are spread out between thirty-three counties. The American Red Cross collects blood in Meridian Township every fifty-six days.

Before donation a person has to be considered a healthy donor, which is based upon certain criteria. A donor must weigh at least 110 pounds and have blood pressure, body temperature, and a pulse within a range that is considered normal. One of the more important things in determining a healthy donor is their iron count.

Jodie Miller, a registered nurse for the American Red Cross, states, "we check their iron count right on the spot by doing a finger poke, and that iron count has to be within a range that is healthy enough to take a pint."

A pint is measured in milliliters and a donor ends up giving 600 milliliters of blood in one sitting. This is equivalent to 1/10 of a donor's blood supply. After donating, it is recommended a donor drinks an extra four glasses, eight ounces each, of non-alcoholic liquids and eats immediately after to replenish what the body has lost.

The American Red Cross uses anywhere from 500-600 pints of blood in the Great Lakes Region alone. This is why Miller says it is so important for the Red Cross to meet their goal at every blood drive.







ORIGINAL STORY: MERIDIAN TOWNSHIP - The American Red Cross recently held it's bi-monthly blood drive in Meridian Township.