Community Blood Center’s Sedalia Blood Drive is December 13

The Community Blood Center will be hosting a blood drive from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the First Christian Church in Sedalia on Tuesday, December 13.

"We usually see over 100 donors every time we come out here," said Chelsey Webber with the Community Blood Center. "We are critically short on O blood right now, that's O negative blood and O positive blood. The great thing about the Sedalia drive is that half of the donors that come to this drive have O blood. We're really looking forward to this drive, really looking forward to partnering with Sedalia to restock our O blood supply." Webber says that all donors are welcome. "We'll take all types of blood. We will not turn you away if you do not have O blood, but if you have O blood, we would like to see you come through the door."

Walk-ins will be welcome during the drive, but it is also possible to make an appointment in advance. "If you want to make an appointment you can go online and do that at esavealifenow.org." The Community Blood Center can be reached by phone at 816-968-4000.

Webber says that regular donors will be eligible to give blood again as long as they have waited the appropriate amount of time. "If you're just donating whole blood, that requires a wait of 56 days. If you've donated on the automated red cell machine, that's a 112 days, so it's just double."

The Community Blood Center holds five blood drives in Sedalia each year. "We do the Sedalia drive every eight weeks, consistently," said Webber. "At each drive, donors are very loyal in this community. We're seeing over 100 donors at every drive we have."