Stan Meisner: "It's just like when you get a physical at the doctor's takes blood from you ... only they take more of it…"
Stan and Ruby gave blood this week at the Central California Blood Center in central Fresno. But the staff hopes to see the chairs fill up, for this week's Pint for Pint Blood Drive ... the annual event that gives donors a pint of Baskin Robbins Ice Cream for a pint of blood. Blood Center officials say, in the valley ... the need for life-saving blood is up 30-percent ... Compared to last year As communities grow ... so does the demand for blood.
Central California Blood Center CEO, Dean Eller says it takes just one major trauma ... to drive the blood supply to a critically low level.
Dean Eller: "We could be 100-percent full at 8am in the morning and at noon we could be empty...one accident is all it takes to wipe blood supply, out."
Eller also says the valleys own level of medical excellence ... has caused our own growing pains.
If you or a loved one ever needs help at a hospital ... This is where the hospital comes for blood. Donor centers like this one in Fresno supply all of our major medical centers and as those hospitals expand their services ... more people are choosing to stay here in the Valley for their major surgeries or procedures ... putting even more demand on the blood supply.
People aren't going to Stanford and the UC Campuses ... they're staying right here in the Central Valley between our hospitals and the South Valley ... it's been tremendous.
Blood drives like Pint for Pint ... are a big boost for the valley's supply ... but regular donors
Like the Meisners are the true life-blood of giving a priceless gift.
Ruby Meisner: "You feel good afterwards because you feel like you've saved someone ... you've helped someone live, you've helped somebody else."
