CHRISTUS St. Michael Health System Partners with Carter BloodCare, Blood Drives set for August

CHRISTUS St. Michael Health System is joining with Carter BloodCare to meet the needs of local patients and donors with upcoming blood drives scheduled for Aug. 2.

“Partnering with such a well-known, established brand like Carter BloodCare will allow us to reach a larger donor pool and expand our services across the region,” said Jessica Johnson, blood bank section and laboratory supervisor at CHRISTUS St. Michael. “A whole blood donation generally takes less than 10 minutes, and you can enjoy the accomplishment of knowing you are helping to save lives.”

Johnson said the health system transfuses an average of 400 units of red blood cells a month.

Those units cannot be manufactured, leading to a reliance on donors. CHRISTUS St. Michael and Carter BloodCare will host their first blood drives at both CHRISTUS St. Michael Hospital in Texarkana and CHRISTUS St. Michael Hospital in Atlanta on Aug. 2.

The blood drives will take place from 9 a.m.- 6 p.m. in the north conference room at CHRISTUS St. Michael Hospital – Texarkana, and from noon – 5 p.m. on the donor bus at CHRISTUS St. Michael Hospital – Atlanta.

The blood drives are open to the public, and those that are interested can either walk in and donate, or schedule an appointment by calling (903) 614-2137 or by searching by zip code at www.carterbloodcare.org.

“Carter BloodCare has enjoyed a partnership with other CHRISTUS ministries and is excited to expand with CHRISTUS St. Michael,” said Clint McCoy, director of mobile donor recruitment and regional operations, Carter BloodCare. “This partnership will allow Carter BloodCare to better serve the relentless demand for blood in the ArkLaTex region."

McCoy said that all blood types are needed, but O negative and O positive are critical, as O negative is a universal blood type and is the only type used to treat premature and unborn babies, while O positive can be used in emergency situations such as traumatic bleeding. “It is literally within you to save a life,” he said.