Blood drive planned honoring former Springfield police officer Aaron Pearson

(From the Springfield Police Department)

A great opportunity to help ensure the region’s blood supply is coming up on Friday. A blood drive honoring former Springfield Police Officer Aaron Pearson and other hometown heroes will be held Friday, March 20.

Pearson was injured in the line of duty in 2015 and required over 20 blood transfusions during his recovery.

The drive will be held at Community Blood Center of the Ozarks’ Thomson Donor Center at 220 W. Plainview Road. Donation hours are from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Donors that day will receive a commemorative T-shirt that expresses support for Pearson and police departments across the region.

To donate, please bring photo identification and be sure to eat well and drink plenty of fluids prior to the blood drive. To make your donation process even quicker, schedule an appointment on CBCO’s website.

Learn more about Pearson’s story at https://www.cbco.org/police-officer-20-units/.

Since last week, over a dozen scheduled blood drives have been postponed or cancelled altogether, resulting in the loss of hundreds of previously scheduled or future blood donations.

As mobile blood drives continue to postpone their blood drives, CBCO is focusing on increasing donations at CBCO donor centers in Springfield, Joplin, Bentonville and Springdale. Here are some points the public needs to know.
CBCO has increased its already stringent standards to ensure the health of our donors and our employees. These will include, but are not limited to:
Sanitation stations at various points in the donation process.
Increased availability of personal protective equipment for donor use. These will include hand gel, social distancing protocols, along with protective gloves when handling objects used by the public.
A temperature check of potential donors will be administered both when a donor comes in to give and at the physical findings check that is required for each donor.
An increase in aseptic procedures that will ensure a clean environment for your donation.
CBCO is strongly urging donors to make an appointment to give at https://donate.cbco.org/donor/schedules/centers. Appointments will help us to make certain that the donor’s experience will be as smooth as possible by better managing donor flow at donor centers and blood drives. Donors are also encouraged to use the QuickPass feature which allows you to begin the blood donation process from the comfort of your home or office, saving you time at the blood drive Find QuickPass on the CBCO website at https://www.cbco.org/quickpass/.
There is the strong possibility that future blood drives and donation levels will continue to be negatively impacted over the next several weeks. Please check the CBCO website for the latest drive information, donor center hours of operation and special events.
CBCO, the sole supplier of blood and plasma to patients at more than 40 area health care facilities, is urging healthy individuals to continue to donate blood at an upcoming CBCO donor center or blood drive in the region. Donors and community partners are asked to help keep adequate blood reserves available by maintaining a regular schedule of giving.