The need for blood is critical as two Northwoods blood drives happen this week.
Red Cross regional blood representative Marc Sutton says this is a special month to think about the needs of other people...
"..We have one blood drive coming up in Antigo Tuesday, January 8. That is going to be at the Antigo Community Church 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. If people can come out and donate, we can definitely use the blood. The month of January is blood donor month to recognize people who donate, but also to encourage people to donate since January is one of the hardest months that we have for blood donations...."
Sutton says there are a number of factors that can make January a tougher time to get blood donations...
"...There's a lot that goes into it. For the month of January we're coming off a holiday where people were on vacation so we see a bit of a dip in donations. It's also cold and flu season so there's a lot more people not able to donate if they're sick. And, we live in the Northwoods and there's a lot of cancellations due to the weather. Those things combined make January one of our hardest months..."
Sutton says all blood types are welcome.
He says they also will be in Three Lakes this week...
"We have a blood drive coming up on Wednesday January 9 at Three Lakes High School. That will be going on from noon to 5 p.m. People who would like to donate this time of year, come on out to Three Lakes High School. The other thing with the high school blood drive is we run a scholarship at the high school based on the blood drives. So you not only help the blood drive, you help the scholarship fund...."
Sutton says for more information, he recommends going to the website redcrossblood. org
