January is National Blood Donor Month and LifeServe Blood Center is currently in crucial need of blood from local communities.

According to LifeServe, someone needs blood every two seconds, less than 10% of the US population donates annually, there is no substitution for human blood, one in seven people who enter a hospital need blood, and one unit of blood can be separated into several components. LifeServe collects approximately 156,000 units of blood a year and all of their donations stay local. Mikala Niemeier is the LifeServe territory representative for Marion County and she says it is crucial to receive donations all year, but January is especially important. 

“With the winter we never know when there is going to be a big snow storm and a lot of times we have to cancel blood drives and people can’t come in the door. If you are able to donate in these colder months and bundle up just because you never know when we’re going to get inclement weather and we still need people. Sometimes there are car accidents with the bad weather and we need blood.”

There is a LifeServe blood donation center in Pella and appointments can be made here. Hear more from Niemeier on Monday’s Let’s Talk Knoxville.