DAYTON — More than 234 donors filled the Dayton Community Blood Center Friday, Jan. 3 for the January Ohio Blood Donor Awareness Month Kickoff Blood Drive. They helped erase a brief shortage of type O and B-negative blood, replenished the holiday blood supply, and launched a New Year of saving lives.
January Ohio Blood Donor Awareness Month began the day after New Year’s with busy blood drives in Botkins, Piqua, Liberty, Springboro and Springfield. The Miami Valley’s official observance got officially underway with Friday’s Blood Donor Month Kickoff Blood Drive.
Everyone who registered to donate got a free $10 gift card for Kroger, Target, or Amazon. They could also choose the new “Donor Strong” long-sleeve t-shirt or the CBC Blood Donor Winter Scarf.
The blood drive continued Saturday, Jan. 4 at the Dayton CBC from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. with free $10 gift cards again to registered donors.
State Sen. Stephen Huffman (R-5th District) is an emergency room physician and a life-long blood donor who introduced House Bill 252 to designate January as Blood Donor Awareness Month in Ohio. The process began in the summer of 2017, it was signed into law in February 2018, and the first celebration was January 2019.
The first goal of the Donor Month Kickoff Blood Drive was to help boost the blood supply after the holidays with no mobile blood drives on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. It was also an opportunity to emphasize CBC’s strategic goals for 2020:
- CBC must increase blood donations in 2020 in order to provide blood to more hospitals outside our traditional 15-county service area. CBC must expand its hospital partnerships to remain viable in the blood industry and to continue serving the Miami Valley region.
- This will include increasing whole blood donations, continued focus on recruiting new platelet and plasma donors, and a new emphasis on double red blood cell donations.
- In 2020 CBC seeks to harness the spirit and strength of the Dayton Strong movement to inspire more blood donors and engage more blood drive sponsors, especially in the downtown Dayton community.
