Mitchell High School collects 44 units of blood during Thanksgiving blood drive

Cassie Williams, The Daily Republic, Mitchell, S.D.
·1 min read

Nov. 27—MITCHELL — Over 44 units of blood were collected on Wednesday, Nov. 23 from LiveServe Blood Center's blood drive, hosted at the Mitchell High School.

According to LifeServe Blood Center spokesperson Abbie Arneson, over 40 donors were able to donate to Mitchell's local blood supply, 37 of which were first time donors.

"The units donated at the blood drive can help save up to 132 lives," Arneson said in a press release on Friday. "There was also one milestone donor, Danielle Erdmann, who donated one gallon."

According to Arneson, high school blood drives account for 20% of the nation's blood supply.

"We could not help patients in our 29 (South Dakota) hospitals, including Avera Queen of Peace, without schools like Mitchell High School and its blood donors," Arneson said.

According to LifeServe's website, the non-profit blood center collects approximately 156,000 units of blood per year. Since Blood Center of Iowa and Siouxland Community Blood Bank merged into LifeServe Blood Center in April of 2010, LifeServe Blood Center has provided blood products to over 150 hospitals, primarily in Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota.

To learn more about blood donation through LifeServe Blood Center, click

here.