SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — While blood donations have been down nationally, that’s not the case locally. That’s due in part to the Heroes Behind the Badges competition.
“You can either give on behalf of PD or on behalf of fire. We definitely like to have you give on behalf of fire. But yeah, it’s a great time for the community give to give back and just to help out their fellow people,” SFFR Division Chief, Steve Fessler said.
“We are at 434 with fire and 380 with police. But those total means we have saved up to 2400 lives so far since the beginning of the competition. So it’s been going really, really well,” Community Blood Bank program coordinator, Lauri Hoffmann said.
However, they still need blood donations.
“We are in need of O-positive and O-negative blood and you wouldn’t think so with how much we’ve gotten, but it’s always being used. So it’s really important that we get those donors and we’ll take any kind of blood. I mean, we’ll take all types, but we are looking specifically for O-positive and O-negative,” Hoffmann said.
With the holiday season, usually comes an uptick in the need for donations.
“It’s vacation time. You know, kids are out of school. And so we’re just trying to, you know, ramp up our numbers as we go into the new year,” Hoffmann said.
“You’re still going to have your surgeries, automobile accidents, traumatic events, things like that, that people are going to need those that blood for. But, you know, it’s one of those things where year round, if we can get people to come in and give blood all the time, it’s a great thing,” Fessler said.
And whether you give in honor of the police department, fire department, or neither, it’s important to give.
“It’s not very scary. People seem to think it is. It isn’t. It’s pretty easy. It’s like a 30 to 40 minute process and you’re done and out the door and you’ve saved three lives with that one donation,” Hoffmann said.
Click here for information on where and when you can donate..
