Medic Sets Downtown Donor Days for July 20-23

Communications Director

Kristin Farley
[email protected]
(865) 215-2589

400 Main St., Room 691
Knoxville, TN 37902

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Medic Sets Downtown Donor Days for July 20-23

Posted: 07/21/2009
Downtown Knoxville workers and others can choose from six blood donation locations in downtown Knoxville during MEDIC Regional Blood Center's annual Downtown Donor Days on July 20-23.

Downtown Donor Days is part of MEDIC's effort to make blood donation an easy and convenient way to help save lives. MEDIC needs to collect an average of 350 units of blood every working day of the year in order to fulfill the demand of the 27 local and regional hospitals they supply.

"In addition to making blood donation convenient, we hope seeing our mobile units all over town will remind people to take time to donate," said Jim Decker, chief executive officer of MEDIC Regional Blood Center. "If you can spare 45 minutes out of your schedule, you can save a life in our community."

Donors during Downtown Donor Days will receive a coupon for a free Chick-fil-A sandwich and a free cholesterol level reading. Also, donors are eligible for a random weekly drawing to win two tickets to any Tennessee Smokies home game or a $100 Pilot gas card. And now through Labor Day, all MEDIC blood donors will be entered into a monthly drawing for a gas grill from The Home Depot.

Donors must have positive identification, be at least 17 years old and weigh at least 110 pounds. All blood types are needed.

As always, blood donors will qualify for MEDIC'S Individual Coverage plan. Under this plan, one blood donation per year exempts the donor and his or her IRS dependents from paying blood supplier processing fees at any hospital in the country if a transfusion is needed. A donor can also designate this benefit as replacement or substitution coverage for someone else.

"The Individual Coverage program is a unique benefit for our donors," said Decker. "We think it is the most valuable program we offer, and it can add up to real savings in medical costs."

Following is date, time and location information for Downtown Donor Days:

Monday, July 20; 9 a.m.-5 p.m.; Mast General Store (Bloodmobile) Tuesday, July 21; 8 a.m.-5 p.m.; First Tennessee Plaza (Bloodmobile) Wednesday, July 22; 8 a.m.-4 p.m.; City County Building, Small Assembly Room Wednesday, July 22; 8 a.m.-5 p.m.; Market Square (Bloodmobile) Thursday, July 23; 8 a.m.-4 p.m.; City County Building, Small Assembly Room Monday-Friday, July 20-24; 8 a.m.-6:30 p.m.; MEDIC Headquarters, 1601 Ailor Avenue

MEDIC Regional Blood Center was established in 1958 by Carl Nelson, M.D., under the sponsorship of the Knoxville Academy of Medicine. Area physicians supported the independent, not-for-profit blood center because they wanted a source of blood from volunteer donors, and they desired centralization of blood collection, testing and distribution. MEDIC's operational and capital costs are financed by blood supplier processing fees charged to hospitals. As sole provider of blood and blood products for the 27 hospitals in the 21-county region of eastern Tennessee and southeastern Kentucky, MEDIC must collect blood from 325-350 donors every working day in order to meet demand.

For more information, contact 865-524-3074 or visit http://www.medicblood.org.